Insurance Times Review of the Year – Q1 2023

As we approach the new year, Insurance Times takes a look back at some of the biggest and most popular stories that occurred during each month in 2023.

In Q1 2023, highlights included Penny James stepping down as Direct Line Group’s (DLG) chief executive, insurer RSA announcing that it would exit the UK personal lines motor market and research highlighting that insurance industry salary increases were failing to keep pace with inflation. 

You can see what happened over January, February and March below:

January

In January, the biggest story on Insurance Times was the news that DLG’s then chief executive and director Penny James had stepped down with immediate effect, following what she called ”significant headwinds at the end of 2022”. 

James was eventually replaced by Adam Winslow, who left his position as chief executive for general insurance in the UK and Ireland at Aviva in August. 

Also in January, as news of the economic deterioration in the UK swirled, Insurance Times reported on a piece Consumer Intelligence research that found 43% of insurance customers had looked to cancel their policies when seeking to cut costs.

February

As January drifted in February, reports started to filter in around the multioccupancy buildings insurance scandal, with Insurance Times’ most popular story for the month laying out the issues that would eventually lead to the practice of commission sharing to be banned. 

Later on in the year, in November, housing secretary Michael Gove introduced a new bill to parliament that gave leaseholders more control over their properties and banned ”exorbitant” buildings insurance commissions.

Stories around economic problems remained important in February too, as Insurance Times reported on research from recruitment firm Reed that found insurance industry salary increases were failing to keep pace with inflation. 

March 

In March, tough economic conditions for the sector created a surprising story, as insurer RSA announced that it would exit the UK personal lines motor market.

As it turns out, RSA was only the first of a number of insurers to exit the market, with profit margins significantly impacted by factors such as tough competition and claims inflation. Since March, RSA has entirely pivoted its business into commercial lines – having acquired DLG’s commercial lines operations in September and completing its personal lines exit by selling its remaining brokered personal lines business to Admiral in December.

March also saw the first reports of a high net worth insurance story, as editor Katie Scott noted that many Range Rovers were becoming almost uninsurable because of a rise in theft, particularly across London.

And in December, Insurance Times reported that Jaguar Land Rover had begun to offer its own bespoke insurance solution for its customers in response to this growing problem.