Brendan McManus’s fresh approach is bearing fruit, but other corners of the market are looking less healthy
When Brendan McManus took the helm of Giles, it looked as though the indebted broker would move onto the front foot.
The former Willis boss has not disappointed: his open, honest style has raised Giles’s profile and given the market and its employees a clear idea of where the broking group is headed.
The new, more positive Giles has been rewarded this week with high-profile hires from rival broking houses.
Giles has been particularly adept at capitalising on the fall-out from Steve Burrows’s buy-out and subsequent delisting of Cobra.
Giles’s Ink Underwriting division has hired former Cobra Broking strategic account manager Ray Heap to its wholesale broking subsidiary FSJ Broking.
There was always going to be fall-out from Cobra’s buy-out, either through cost control, redundant functions or people not buying into the new private business model. The fact that these well-respected executives have chosen Giles is testament to the polish that McManus has applied to the previously slightly battered-looking broker.
If that were not enough, it emerged today that ex-Barbon managing director Nick Sharp has joined Giles Insurance Brokers as an executive director.
McManus’s work is already bearing fruit, and with this latest crop of talent he should be able to take Giles to the next level.
Direct Line joins Aviva in announcing job cuts
As brokers are hiring staff, insurers continue to shed them. Direct Line Group revealed today that 891 jobs are at risk under its £100m cost-cutting plan. About 500 of these jobs will be lost through the closure of its Teeside operation.
It is no surprise that Direct Line is cutting jobs: chief executive Paul Geddes made it clear last month that the new efficiency drive would result in redundancies.
Unions are unlikely to be happy, however, as this comes hot on the heels of Aviva’s proposed cull of up to 800 jobs in the UK.
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