Weblog - 10 March 2011 | People & Opinion

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A round-up of the latest insurance stories online

A pattern is starting to emerge as takeover speculation in the insurer space grows ever more rife. Web traffic on our site continues to spike when reports linking insurers with bids for their rivals emerge.

One firm in particular, RSA, continues to grab the spotlight. Just two weeks ago, our story on market rumours about a potential RSA takeover caused an explosion of online activity.

This week, online readers clambered onto the site once again, as reports of a possible bid from one-time prey Aviva emerged. It might be just market tittle-tattle for now, but don’t be surprised to find takeover stories ranking highly in the online top 10 again soon.

Our story on four staff leaving Jelf, revealed first on the site last week, was a huge hit with online readers. As we head into the annual reporting season, AIM-listed Jelf was also one of the first companies to post results – in its case, a healthy return to profit. Over the coming weeks, expect to see insurer and broker results feature prominently on the website.

The transfer window for football teams in England slammed shut last week, with an incredible £225m spent in one month. On the same day, Towergate pushed through its own deal, selling a sizeable chunk to private equity firm Advent for £200m. Subscribers to our online alerts were quick to log on to the site when news of the completed deal appeared in their inboxes.

And our Fair Fees campaign leap back to life after the FSCS announced another increase in brokers’ 2011/12 fees and levies. Our online petition, which has attracted hundreds of names since launching last year, exploded once more as angry brokers vented their frustration.