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Danny Walkinshaw looks at the latest insurance stories online

Over the past week, online traffic has been dominated by events at the UK’s largest insurer. The restructuring of Aviva, which resulted in its UK life business being merged with its UK general insurance business, led to thousands of visitors to insurancetimes.co.uk as news of chief executive Igal Mayer’s imminent return to North America to manage the insurer’s Canadian and US businesses landed in the inbox of online subscribers.

But it was Mayer’s response to the events, which will see Mark Hodges take the hot seat as chief executive of the combined business – revealed by insurancetimes.co.uk in the story ‘Mayer speaks out over UK departure’ – that sent online visitors into a clicking frenzy.

His statement to the market touched on his two-year tenure in the role and Mayer spoke of his regret of not being able to continue to build his strategy, which has won many friends but ultimately made many high-profile enemies.

Further developments are expected as Hodges begins shaping the business, and insurancetimes.co.uk will be on hand to deliver the latest news.

All the major news websites carried the revelation as the story spread. The Financial Times website reported that the shake-up included a “Walker review-inspired role of chief risk officer”, with Robin Spencer, currently chief executive of the Canadian business, taking up the role.

The Telegraph website said analysts were already tipping Hodges as a possible future successor to Aviva group chief executive Andrew Moss.

Elsewhere on the site, CCV’s acquisition of a quartet of small brokers was a hit for visitors starved of acquisition headlines during the year.