Affinity arm to become Budget's flagship division
Budget's affinity arm, Junction, is set to become the intermediary's flagship offering growing to £500m gross written premiums (GWP) within three years.
Phil Zeidler, managing director of Junction, said: "We expect to be at the forefront of Budget's growth. We are actively targeting new brands and have a number of discussions going on."
Junction currently writes £150m GWP, through 550,000 policies. "In three years time we want to be three times the size, with 1.6 million policies writing £500m GWP," said Zeidler.
The division is currently restucturing its management teams to bring more focus to core growth areas.
Zeidler explained: "We are gearing up for the second phase of our growth. That means revisiting existing clients to see how we can improve our offerings as well as creating new products for new clients."
Junction has embarked on a recruitment spree with the aim of bringing in a raft of middle and senior management to underpin the push.
Three new divisions have been created: corporate relationships, business development and finance. Associate directors will be appointed to head the new strands.
Nigel Asplin will become director of corporate relationships, with two newly appointed associate directors sitting under him.
Zeidler said: "One associate director will concentrate on external relationships, while the other will work internally."
The business development unit will be responsible for market intelligence "helping to decide our strategy and delivery targets", said Zeidler. The head of finance will be an internal position.
Budget Group has seen significant reduction in face to face sales, with the internet now accounting for the majority of the group's distribution.
Zeidler said high street sales had not declined in financial value.
Since creation in 2002, Junction has grown to become Budget's largest income provider in the UK.
