Daily briefing: Wednesday - It's buoyant Bluefin

The economic storm clouds are dark and getting darker, judging by today’s figures showing that the economy contracted 0.2% during the final quarter of 2011. But amid the wider gloom, one individual at least is feeling perky.

Bluefin chief executive Stuart Reid was in typically ebullient when announcing the AXA-owned broker’s results this week.

He certainly has a lot more to be bullish about than he did 15 months ago when Bluefin presented its 2009 results.

Then the company recorded a £5.3m loss. By contrast, this week Reid is able to report a £17.8m profit – up 17% on 2010’s figure of £15.2m.

The sour note is the news that 23 finance jobs are being lost as part of a restructuring of the company’s back office, which will see 12 posts created in the new centralised office in Milton Keynes. It follows what Reid termed the “change plan” when talking to Insurance Times this week.  

Reid argues that the company’s turnaround is not just down to cost-cutting. For proof, he can point to the Bluefin apprenticeship scheme, which has been picked up as an example of good practice by government ministers no less. The company has also demonstrated its commitment to investment by launching a graduate trainee scheme.

Meanwhile, Reid has led from the front, undertaking a year-long tour that has seen him visit every office in the far-flung Bluefin empire, giving weight to his assertion that he runs the show.

2012 looks set to be another tough year for Bluefin’s core SME customers, despite which Reid has targeted increased profitability.  

But Reid and co appear to have placed the company on firm foundations to negotiate the challenges ahead.  

Straw isn’t going anywhere

Jack Straw’s bid to reform motor insurance regulation appears to have run into the sand.

But the former justice secretary will be sanguine about the fact that his Ten-Minute Rule Bill has not been moved for debate.

He was always candid that he didn’t expect the legislation itself to get anywhere. MPs generally use the Ten-Minute Rule Bill as a tool for raising the profile on a topic.

He’s already achieved one of his key aims: to get the government to legislate on banning referral fees. A second – cutting claimant lawyers fees – looks set to be implemented too, judging by recent comments by prime minister David Cameron.

Even his crusade to raise the bar for securing whiplash compensation has met with some success, with the Transport Select Committee taking up the cudgels on the topic in its recent follow-up report on the cost of motor insurance.

Only on one point, banning postcode pricing, has there been no progress, for which the industry will be thankful. It is difficult to see how such a ban could be implemented through legislation.

Don’t expect Straw to go away though. Having probed the subject, he’s clearly got the bit between his teeth on insurance.