Collinson strengthens underwriting arms under one division

Collinson Group has launched two new brands to bolster its underwriting and claims divisions.

Astrenska is the new underwriting arm that brings together all the underwriting divisions and is headed by Gareth Absalom.

Intana is the new claims and assistance division led by Martin Weintz. The team will offer emergency medical assistance, claims handling, roadside assistance and home emergency support.

Collinson Group managing director David Evans told Insurance Times the Astrenska consolidation creates a division forecast to write around £100m in premiums for its next financial year to April 2015. Its carriers include Ageas, Munich Re, Great Lakes and Lloyd’s.

The underwriting division will target an annual growth of 20% over the next three years.

Evans said the move was aimed at simplifying its business and bring all of its underwriters and claims and assistance team under two separate brands following the acquisition of Aria Assistance and Preferential, in 2013 and 2009 respectively.

The underwriting arm writes policies for specialist niche products, such as travel, dental and personal accident insurance.

Evans said: “We have made a number of acquisitions over the past couple of years. We wanted to simplify the proposition, refresh what we were doing and bring the businesses together and this required a launch of our key capabilities.

“By focusing and splitting out insurance and assistance, it has been a real deep dive on how we are going to do that and what we are going to do to deliver to the market place.”

The insurance arm of Collinson includes the broking division CIB and retail arm Columbus Insurance Services. The latter incorporates Columbus Direct, Insure for all and Trinity. Excluding Astrenska, it generates an additional £20 million of fee revenue.

Evans said: “In the last few years we have invested heavily in these divisions and we will continue to invest in our access to distribution and product and technology development. 

“The platform that we have created for Intana, CIB, Astrenska and Columbus Insurance Services creates a fresh culture and approach.”  

Collinson Group as whole, which also includes customer loyalty and lifestyle programmes, is expected to generate a total income of £350m over the next year.