Former AA chief is making an "entrepreneurial" statement
When Saga completed its £6bn merger with the AA four months ago, it was widely agreed that there would be casualties.
Nonetheless it came as a surprise when Kevin Sinclair, the chief of the latter – and the UK's seventh largest broker – departed.
The sense of alarm was compounded by the fact he had served in the post for scarely more than two years.
It was a certain case of déjà vu this week, then, we he returned to take the helm at the upstart online underwriting agency, iprism.
Yet considering both what has gone and what lies ahead, Sinclair's choice appears to be an entirely logical one.
Firstly, his new employers are a good business.
Now they could get a whole lot better.
Since its its founding in April last year, iprism has enjoyed a period of steady and accelerating growth. In May it dubbed itself the "next generation" quote engine for SME businesses – a boast that appears to be vindicated by the fact that, in the Autumn, the company signed five strategic partnerships in as many weeks.
It has signed up a panel of 10 major insurers, which will grow to 15 this year, underscored, it says, by a trio of major deals that are in the offing.
Second, Sinclair is an underwriter by trade. Coupled with his understanding of the needs of brokers, and how best to service that need, it is easy to see why he was so aggressively coveted; or, as iprism chief executive Gary Burke puts it, "snatched from the jaws of the competition".
Indeed, it can't hurt his confidence that iprism have been prepared to wait eight months to find the right man to fill the post.
Third, Sinclair is an entrepreneur. Nowhere is he likely to have more opportunity to get creative than in the online trading space, at a company that is bound by neither legacy nor bureaucracy.
"My time at AA was invaluable and gave me a real taste for working in a highly entrepreneurial environment," he says.
"iprism offered the perfect opportunity to do just that."
