Tesco Underwriting structure revealed

Fortis Insurance UK and Tesco Bank have announced the structure of their general insurance partnership.

The new insurance company, which will be named Tesco Underwriting (TU) subject to FSA approval and registration, will provide technical underwriting and claims management for Tesco Bank’s 1.5 million motor and home insurance customers and will start managing new customers and renewals by the end of the year.

Tesco Bank will be responsible for customer strategy including sales and service call centres, retail pricing, marketing and proposition development. Fortis will provide underwriting and claims management expertise.

Geoff Carter has been appointed as chief executive of Tesco Underwriting. Carter has been managing director of Fortis Insurance Solutions since 2007. He has been involved in establishing Tesco Underwriting and will take up the new role on 1 May 2010. Fortis Insurance Solutions will continue to be overseen by Andy Watson, Fortis UK’s newly appointed managing director of retail.

Stephen Grainge has been appointed finance director, joining in May from RSA.

Andy Baughan will become chief underwriting officer and will take up his position later in the year. He was most recently at Zurich.

Both will report to Carter. Fortis said further appointments to the board will be made in due course and all appointments will be subject to FSA approval.

Geoff Carter said: "I'm delighted to be taking on this significant new role in the UK insurance market. Having been involved in the set up of the new company, I'm extremely excited to have the opportunity to lead Tesco Underwriting. Combining Tesco's marketing and customer insight with Fortis' technical underwriting and claims expertise will be highly attractive to customers."

In addition to the board appointments, Fortis said recruitment is already well underway for the 1,500 new roles that will be created through the partnership. Tesco Bank is creating 1,000 new jobs in Newcastle at its general insurance customer services centre, while Fortis is recruiting around 500 in Gloucester, Eastleigh and Stoke.

The five year partnership involves over £500m in annualised total gross written premium and is expected to grow. The company is 50.1% owned by Fortis and 49.9% owned by Tesco Bank.