Canine colleagues, esports, crash for cash fraudsters and a new role for an insurance veteran. What has the insurance industry been up to lately? You heard it here first…
The ulti-mutt hire
Meet Sam, financial technology company Revolut’s newest hire. The one-year-old Shiba Inu puppy joined the firm in February as its chief pet officer. Revolut entered the insurtech market that same month with an app and subscription-based pet insurance proposition for cat and dog owners.
High score for charity
Superscript’s second annual charity esports tournament, called Unbound, raised a whopping £2,878 for climate emergency and extinction charity Rewilding Britain.
Held in January and February 2022, other charities that benefited from the event’s fundraising included Versus Arthritis, Railway Children, Rainforest Trust UK, YoungMinds and ShelterBox.
More than 50 insurance professionals took part in the esports competition, such as Arma Karma, Flock, Simply Business, CFC, Insurtech Insights and Potter Clarkson.
Teams competed in one of two online games, Call of Duty Warzone or Fifa 2022, which were live streamed alongside live commentary.
For every team that entered, £250 was donated to a charity of their choice. In-game initiatives helped add to the charity pot too.
Fundamentally dishonest fraudster
A Nuneaton-based fraudster was jailed in January 2022 after being found guilty of instigating a crash for cash accident with a mother and young child. Following the incident, the scammer made a claim against the mother, who was insured with NFU Mutual.
However, nearby CCTV revealed that the fraudster intentionally positioned his car in the mother’s path, therefore causing the collision. Despite this evidence, the fraudster proceeded to take his claim to the County Court before discontinuing proceedings shortly before the scheduled trial.
The insurer invited the court to find the fraudster fundamentally dishonest.
Veteran’s next steps
This will be effective from 1 March 2022, when Mistry will instead move to become non-executive director on the operational board of intermediary business The Clear Group. Mistry has spent 44 years in the insurance industry.
The Speculator
In February 2022, Axa UK and Ireland bought the renewal rights to Ageas UK’s commercial business for an initial consideration of £47.5m.
The deal, which forms part of the insurer’s growth strategy, aims to strengthen its commitment to commercial business customers and broker partners, particularly in the SME and scheme market segments.
Axa Commercial’s chief executive Jon Walker said the acquisition is a ”positive step” in its commercial business growth.
But how might this shake up the schemes landscape? Will brokers find themselves facing less choice when placing business and how much premium has Ageas UK said goodbye to with its commercial lines arm?
What will be the impact on the market of Ageas UK placing all of its eggs into the personal lines basket?
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