T&Cs you can’t put down for World Book Day, confirmed cricket collaboration, PAS provider paints the town with projection and one software firm pranks the industry with April Fool’s Day joke – what has the insurance industry been up to of late? You heard it here first…
Riveting reads
Insurance documentation is not often described as a riveting read, however analysis by consumer group Fairer Finance has revealed word count similarities between insurance policy terms and conditions and literary classics during last month’s World Book Day on 6 March 2025.
Professionals who would rather dive in to travel insurance and investment product terms and conditions rather than Shakespeare’s flowery old English could still digest an average of 24,000 words – the same length as the playwright’s tragic love story Romeo and Juliet.
Meanwhile, those that settle down to read Danske Bank’s personal banking terms and conditions will find themselves skimming around 72,000 words – only slighter shorter than JK Rowling’s magical tome Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, which has 77, 325 words.
Sponsorship good innings
Global financial services company Acrisure last month (March 2025) secured a new three-year sponsorship deal with Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club (NCCC), which is based in West Bridgford’s Trent Bridge.
As the official insurance partner for the club, Acrisure will sponsor the Trent Bridge Fox Road stand, which has been renamed the Acrisure Stand, and have its branding displayed on women’s squad The Blaze’s playing shirt.
Mark McIlquham, chief executive at Acrisure UK, said: “We feel there’s a strong cultural alignment between NCCC and Acrisure – an international venue, a strong commitment to community outreach and a proactive approach to the development of women’s cricket in the UK. We’re excited for the new season and to be able to promote the sport, the venue and the city.”
Painting the town
Go-Insur, the digital policy admin system (PAS) from software and web services firm Pancentric Digital, has spent the last few months shouting from London’s rooftops about its award win at Insurance Times’ Tech and Innovation Awards on 19 September 2024 – it picked up the prize for Technology Partner of the Year.
To bolster its brand recognition further following the event, Go-Insur has been busy projecting its brand logo onto iconic London landmarks, including Lloyd’s and the Gherkin, to name a few.
Most recently, in April 2025, the PAS provider lit up Leadenhall Market with its logo (pictured) – the site is a well known haunt for City-based insurance professionals.
Pancentric Digital director Simon Fenn said: ”The City of London defines the specialty insurance category, so it felt like a good idea to project our logo on the buildings where it’s all happening.”
April’s Fools
Insurance software provider and the industry’s practical joker Genasys once again threw itself wholeheartedly into April Fool’s Day on the first of this month with a prank product launch for pre-parametric insurance.
In a press release supporting the prank, the technology firm described its new proposition as providing ”real-time, pre-emptive indemnification prior to the manifestation of an insurable event”, reversing ”the traditional flow of time and risk” and ”indemnifying events before they happen”.
This year’s joke followed 2024’s collaborative prank in conjunction with Insurance Times, where the company publicised its imagined sponsorship of fake insurance-based PC game Insurance Simulator 2024.
The Speculator
Direct to consumer personal lines insurer Esure has been touted as the next large scale takeover target in UKGI, with Reuters publishing in September 2024 that Esure’s owner – private equity firm Bain Capital – was exploring possible sale proposals and lining up advisors for a potential process.
Bain Capital acquired Esure back in 2018 for £1.21bn. Now, however, Insurance Times understands that fellow personal lines insurers Ageas, Allianz and Aviva are all sniffing around the underwriter to see if an M&A opportunity can be leveraged.
April’s cover star Ant Middle, Ageas UK’s chief executive, told Insurance Times that the insurer does not ”comment on market speculation”. However, he did confirm that ”M&A is an option” for the business.
“We are disciplined about [M&A], but we can’t talk about [Esure] specifically,” Middle continued.
Considering that an acquisition bid from Ageas UK was spurned by Direct Line Group in 2024’s Q1 – only for the insurer to subsequently sell to Aviva in Q4 last year – it does appear that Ageas’ UK arm is champing at the bit to get a sizeable M&A deal under its belt. But will it win out with Esure or once again lose to nearby rivals?
During her tenure so far, she has taken home prizes such as Best Trade Award and Publication of the Year from Biba’s annual Journalist and Media Awards, been annually shortlisted in the General Insurance Journalist of the Year (B2B) category at Headlinemoney’s yearly awards event, as well as received numerous highly commended prizes in the Insurance and Risk Features Journalist of the Year category at WTW’s annual Media Awards.View full Profile
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