Green is the new black, angry birds, new peacemakers, and who’s marking a new chapter with a rebrand? What has the insurance industry been up to this month? You heard it here first…
Green is for…
Last month, 17 March marked St Patrick’s Day, also known as the Feast of St Patrick or St Paddy’s. It is a cultural and religious celebration of the death of Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland. It is traditional to wear green on this day to show patronage to the Irish flag and Ireland’s Catholic heritage.
The insurance industry did not disappoint. Donna Scully, director at law firm Carpenters Group, attended all Zoom and Microsoft Teams meetings in head-to-toe green, as well as sending a St Patrick’s Day-themed hamper to all her staff working from home. The hamper included an Irish cream cappuccino, a cookie shaped like a shamrock, Ireland’s national symbol, tea, chocolate gold coins and a note from Scully herself.
Even Insurance Times’s business development manager Leah Keating joined in, dressing in the colours of the Irish flag for virtual calls, including Irish flag-inspired headband and makeup.
Brand new
Ecclesiastical Insurance has unveiled a new brand identity, representing its ethos to be “shaped by tradition, while looking to the future”.
The specialist insurer has retained its name and trademark orange colour scheme, but has adopted a new star logo. Its new identity has been launched across Ecclesiastical’s insurance businesses in the UK, Ireland and Canada.
Speaking about the rebrand, Richard Coleman, Ecclesiastical’s UK general insurance managing director, said that as the insurer is “one of the last great British insurance brands, dating back more than 130 years, we wanted to conserve that heritage by keeping the Ecclesiastical name, but with a fresh and modern look”.
Newest ‘peacemaker’
Worry+Peace founder and Insurtech UK co-chair James York celebrated the arrival of his “newest peacemaker” last month, as he and wife Emma welcomed son Albie to the family, weighing 6.5 pounds.
In a LinkedIn post, York congratulated his wife for her hard work and said: “Giving birth is clearly the most intense, impressive and incredible job I’ve ever seen anyone do. Third time around, no less awestruck. I got the cuddles.”
Punctured and pecked
For anyone that has not seen Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 American horror-thriller film The Birds, it centres around a series of sudden and unexplained violent bird attacks on the people of Bodega Bay, California.
Aviva encountered a suprising claim of this nature regarding a customer’s hot tub, which ended up “punctured and pecked” by birds.
The insurer’s figures revealed that hot tub insurance claims tripled last year, with a year-on-year increase of 188%. Other claim scenarios involved a grass strimmer bursting an inflatable hot tub, as well an engagement ring ripping a hot tub’s lining.
Meanwhile, Dr James Lindow, Ecclesiastical’s director of art and private clients, said one of the strangest claims he encountered was when squirrels descended down a chimney after being trapped in a building and mauled a painting in their plight to find an escape route.
The Speculator
With the deal to buy RSA on track for its expected completion in the second quarter of 2021, according to Canadian provider Intact Financial Corporation. It was confirmed that RSA boss Scott Egan will stay on as the “go-forward” chief executive of UK and International, following the completion of the proposed takeover. RSA has also named ex-Aviva chief executive Mark Hodges as its new chair and Charlotte Jones – the insurer’s current chief financial officer will stay on in her role for the UK and International as an executive member of the board for an initial period of 12 months to support the deal’s closure and integration activities.
The new board will oversee RSA’s UK and International operations. Subject to the receipt of relevant regulatory approvals. In March, Egan said the UK and International business has made “real progress” and that the “focus is on maintaining this momentum”. But what will RSA look like post takeover?
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