Weblog - 4 November 2010 | People & Opinion

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Danny Walkinshaw on the latest stories online

It has been almost three months since Towergate found its way into the Weblog top 10. But this week it is back with a vengeance, nabbing the top spot after our story detailing the consolidator’s four new hires from NFU Insurance became a clicking success with our online readers.

Towergate stories have historically featured prominently in the top 10 over the last couple of years owing to their popularity with online readers. Could this be the start of a mini revival?

One of our more popular photo galleries also features high up the rankings this week. It contained snaps of the finalists for this year’s Insurance Times Awards. They came to collect their nominations at an event hosted earlier this month by Insurance Times. Online readers took great pleasure in checking out who is in line for an award on the big night in London in December.

There were two major industry stories on the site that also grabbed headlines across the web. The jailing of former PWS chief executive Julian Messent, which was also reported on the BBC site, caused a rush of web traffic. The same happened when Brit Insurance announced its deal to the stock exchange to sell the company to private equity.

M&A was a recurring theme this week, as reports emerged online that IAG has vowed not to sell Equity Red Star; and The Royal Bank of Scotland appointed advisers to prepare for the disposal of its insurance business.

Rumours surrounding a bid for JLT resurfaced, with chatter focusing on a Marsh bid for the company. In our subscriber-only Insight channel, we detailed the reasons why this speculation continues to surround the London-based broker.