Jackson Lee Underwriting launches market first Fleet GAP with temporary replacement vehicle product

Jackson Lee Underwriting has launched the market’s first Fleet GAP policy with a built-in temporary replacement vehicle solution.

In a total loss situation, where there’s no recoverable asset, fleet motor policies don’t provide temporary replacement vehicles whilst the insured’s claim is being processed. For any driver this would be problematic, but for commercial fleet customers where vehicles are often business critical, this is a serious issue.

In response to broker demand, Jackson Lee Underwriting has launched the market’s first Fleet GAP policy with built in mobility. As with other Fleet GAP products, the policy protects clients from a financial shortfall following a total loss, but now for the first time it also provides clients with a temporary replacement car or van up to 3.5t GVW, for up to 42 days following a total loss. The temporary replacement vehicle also includes comprehensive motor insurance.

The policy is supported by a UK wide network of hire points, delivering vehicles direct to the policyholders’ premises. The product is available for commercial clients, covering vehicles leased, financed or owned outright.

Nick Mohan, joint Managing Director at Jackson Lee Underwriting, comments: “A temporary replacement vehicle is vital for businesses that need to keep drivers in their fleet up and running. In the past this has proved costly and business critical. We could see that this was a significant gap in the fleet motor market, and we’re delighted to be the first to bring this to market as part of our Fleet GAP proposition.

“Jackson Lee has a proud heritage providing mobility solutions tailored to specific niche markets, such as Driving Instructors’ dual controlled vehicles for example. This new variant of the GAP product has appeal to the broader broker market and provides cover where conventional motor insurance policies fail. The automotive sector is constantly evolving, offering innovative funding solutions to business operators where now as much as 90% of the market sources vehicles on a form of finance agreement. Fleet GAP is an essential product for businesses where the financial exposure following a total loss can be significantly more than the motor insurers’ total loss settlement. The many brokers who offer fleet GAP to their clients enjoy a renewal retention rate of 91% and we are confident the mobility enhancement will be an additional valuable benefit.”

Jackson Lee Underwriting has been the BIBA approved scheme provider for GAP insurance since 2012. All of its products are underwritten by A rated insurers. The MGA specialises in bringing a broad range of innovative niche insurance products to the broker market. The new product is available to insurance brokers via Jackson Lee’s online broker facility ABEL.

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For further information, please contact SJ Wrigley at Spotlight Consulting on 07909546104 or sj@spotlightconsulting.co.uk

Notes to editors

Jackson Lee Underwriting is an MGA with more than 25 years’ heritage. It has offices in London, Devon and Warwickshire. It has been the BIBA approved GAP scheme provider since 2012 and is also the BIBA approved Leisure scheme provider. It specialises in bringing a broad range of innovative niche insurance products to the broker market.

Beware new precedent set on Public Contract Awards

Risk of public contract award cancellations emphasised by Faraday ruling, leading to sharp rise in insurance.

CLS Risk Solutions, a leading MGA for legal indemnity and transactional property risk solutions, warns that successful challenges to public contract awards could be more likely following the Court of Appeal ruling in Faraday Development Ltd v West Berkshire Council last year. CLS has seen a ten-fold rise in enquiries for Public Procurement Indemnity Insurance since the ruling.

Procurement law requires public bodies (such as government departments, schools, and NHS Trusts) to follow strict procedures when awarding qualifying contracts. In certain circumstances, a public body’s award of a contract may entitle a third party to seek a ‘declaration of ineffectiveness’, which effectively cancels the contract. The procurement legislation does contain steps that can be taken to mitigate the risk of a declaration of ineffectiveness, including publication of a valid voluntary transparency notice (VTN) and contract award notice (CAN).

Until the decision in Faraday, no English court had ever awarded a declaration of ineffectiveness. Successful bidders and their advisers took some comfort from this and their ability to mitigate the risk of a declaration. The decision in Faraday, has knocked that confidence not only by declaring the contract awarded by West Berkshire Council ineffective, but also finding that the VTN published by the Council to be insufficiently clear and not detailed enough. In the judgement, the Court signalled the need for greater scrutiny of public bodies’ justifications for departing from procurement legislation.

Public Procurement Indemnity Insurance protects developers against the consequences of a successful challenge to the award of a contract, and as a result of the ruling, legal advice is now to insure the risk.

Developers now assess the period they might be at risk to be the 6 month time-frame for a challenge to be brought as opposed to the shorter standstill period that follows publication of a VTN or CAN. This 6 month ‘at-risk’ period could put successful bidders in danger of facing abortive costs and

becoming liable for contractual penalties. These losses could be greatly increased in the event that a declaration is granted, and a contract made ineffective.

Chris Gwynn, Lead Underwriter for Public Law Risks at CLS Risk Solutions, comments: “The Faraday case has set a precedent for the award of declarations of ineffectiveness in England and Wales and created much uncertainty for all those parties involved in awards and carrying out of public contracts. This is prompting a cautious approach from contractors, funders, and their advisers, which is stalling contractual negotiation and jeopardising projects.

“All of this is resulting in a much greater demand for Public Procurement Indemnity Insurance. CLS are leaders in the market for creating bespoke solutions for legal risks affecting property. Public Procurement Indemnity Insurance is typically arranged via brokers or lawyers, who now have a significant opportunity to support developers, and provide the necessary comfort for stakeholders to allow a development to proceed.”

For further information please contact: SJ Wrigley at Spotlight Consulting on 07909546104 or at sj@spotlightconsulting.co.uk

About CLS Risk Solutions

CLS Risk Solutions is a leading MGA creating and providing risk solutions for real estate development projects and transactions. Established in 2010, it is part of the successful CLS group with a turnover of circa £40m, employing 110 staff, with 7 businesses in 5 offices.

Its products include Legal Indemnities, Structural indemnities, Rights of Light Indemnities, Environmental Indemnities and Judicial Review/Planning Law Indemnities. Each product enables the client to define, quantify and transfer risk that is otherwise capable of frustrating the acquisition, funding, development or disposal of a real estate asset. CLS RS has an established reputation for innovation, expertise and service.

The CLS group includes seven interdependent businesses working in close collaboration:

– CLS Property Insight: a leading supplier of searches, insurance and data services to the UK property legal market

– CLS Data: Innovative solutions and products for the lender and surveying market

– Future Climate Info: Environmental Information market leader through progressive environmental data aggregation and supply

– Conveychoice: an exclusive platform for intermediaries to offer expert conveyancing services to clients through a panel of the most established property lawyers in the UK

– CLS Risk Solutions UK: a leading MGA for bespoke legal indemnity and transactional property risk solutions

– CLS Risk Solutions Europe: legal indemnities for renewable energy projects and real estate transactions in Europe

– CLS Group Services: One-stop service company for the CLS group companies and their commercial partners

Senior Industry Telematics Expert joins InsurTech Inzura

Inzura.ia, the UK based InsurTech, has appointed Andrew Bennett to Business Development Director for UK and Europe.

Andrew was previously Director and Co-Founder of ITS Telematics Solutions. Prior to that he was a Director for nearly six years at Coverbox and was a founding member of the insurethebox telematics broker start-up team. He has almost 20 years’ experience in the General Insurance industry, acquired with market leaders such as Allianz, BGL Group, Direct Line and General Motors subsidiary MICL.

Richard Jelbert, CEO of Inzura, comments: “We’re privileged to have Andrew on board at Inzura; he is one of the industry’s leading names in telematics and his experience in the motor market particularly reads like a ‘who’s who’ of insurance. We’ve known Andrew for years and have wanted to work together for a while, so we’re excited now to have that opportunity and to explore his extensive experience and network in personal lines, IoT and telematics technologies.”

Andrew regularly speaks at industry events across Europe, China and North America on Digital Insurance, connected car, IoT and Telematics. During the last eight years he has led teams that established two telematics/IoT insurance brands. He also set up a Telematics Solutions business (PaaS TSP). He has pioneered the use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for use in Risk Scoring, Fraud Detection and Crash Notification, resulting in further significant loss ratio improvements.

Andrew Bennett comments: “Working with Inzura was an opportunity too good to miss. There’s nothing more professionally rewarding than using your experience to see new businesses with exciting propositions grow and flourish. Inzura works with brokers and insurers to deliver enhanced digital versions of their insurance products through smartphone apps, leveraging telematics, integrated dashcams and artificial intelligence (AI). With some solutions deliverable in just 6 weeks and customers already achieving over 30% improvements in loss ratio, together with a 100% growth target in two years set for the company, Inzura is the new InsurTech on everyone’s lips. I’m excited to be a part of the success story.”

Richard Jelbert continues: “Digital transformation is underway across the insurance industry and we make this process as rapid and simple as possible. Our products engage policyholders and monetise data. We are currently working with global insurance brands and brokers to cut their operating costs and improve risk by leveraging data, Artificial Intelligence and engaging smartphone apps, and we do all this without having to replace legacy systems. We’re on an exciting journey and I’m delighted to welcome Andrew to the team.

For more information on Inzura, please contact:

SJ Wrigley, Spotlight Consulting, at sj@spotlightconsulting.co.uk or on +44 (0)7909546104

About Inzura – www.inzura.ai

Inzura.ai is an InsurTech company that helps insurers and intermediaries quickly deploy advanced smartphone centric digital insurance products to maximise user engagement and company profits. Inzura supports a one-app multi-insurance-line approach to enhance existing insurance products, as well as a flexible on-demand engine for new insurance products and business models. The Inzura Digital Insurance Platform is a flexible product delivery engine and includes; white-label native apps for Android and iOS, operational infrastructure, app-based telematics / UBI, a digital media vault with photo recognition powered by advanced machine learning and AI.

Since its launch in December 2015 Inzura.ai has rapidly made a name in the emerging digital transformation space with Analyst firm Ptolemus ranking Inzura at number 3 in Europe (UBI Technology Service Provider 2018), and Digital Bridge listing Inzura as a Key Market Competitor (top 25) in their report on digital Insurance Platform providers in 2019. Inzura continue to innovate and recently announced its integrated Telematics and Dash Cam solution via its partnership with MiTAC Digital Technology Corporation (MDT) of Taiwan, the world’s largest dash cam manufacturer.

Autoline’s ChilliDrive App Leads The Way With a Major Upgrade Featuring Dash Cam Technology with Automatic FNOL

Newry-based Autoline Insurance has launched exciting features to its new and improved ChilliDrive young driver insurance product, further supporting its commitment to road safety.

Autoline was one of the first insurance companies globally to introduce smartphone technology to an insurance policy in 2012. With the continued focus on innovation and safety, new ChilliDrive customers can now benefit from an optional dashcam product integration. The new app monitors location, speed, dates and times of every journey and records footage in the event of an accident, which is automatically sent to insurers with no user intervention required.

Autoline has partnered with MiTAC Digital Technology Corporation (MDT), the world’s largest dashcam manufacturer, and UK InsurTech company, Inzura, to introduce the new technology.

The combination of the app and dash cam offer added protection for drivers. The dashcam automatically starts recording in the event of an incident whilst driving, capturing the moment of impact in a collision. As well as instant access to accident footage, which is backed up on the customer’s smartphone, the new ChilliDrive offering includes driver assistance features such as lane departure alerts, forward collision warning systems and fatigue alerts. For the first time the technology can automatically provide FNOL (first notification of loss) to the insurer, without the need for user interference (including accident footage), solving one of the insurance industry’s biggest challenges with existing telematics products.

The new ChilliDrive product continues to place customer support at the core of its offering. With a sophisticated, intuitive design, the app upgrades include a new in-app chat to allow easy access to a dedicated Support Team and enhanced Mentoring and Feedback from the Institute of Advanced Motorists.

A spokesperson for the Newry-headquartered insurance broker said the significant investment in the ChilliDrive app reflected the need to continually evolve alongside the latest technological developments to improve driving standards on our roads. Julie Gibbons, Managing Director, Autoline Insurance said; “We are passionate about education around road safety and in particular the increasing role that technology can play in achieving this aim,” explained Julie.

“That’s why we launched the original ChilliDrive and also why we remain committed to continually enhancing our app in line with technological advancements.

“In addition to being able to track and score driving behaviour, feedback is available post-journey enabling young drivers to modify behaviour and take corrective action, encouraging them to think twice about how they drive. There is also a dedicated support team that can be contacted via the app, an easy way to get advice when needed.”

Richard Jelbert, CEO at Inzura, commented; “Autoline is a great example of a motor broker of the future. It has fully embraced digital strategies to bring something entirely new and customer-centric to differentiate itself and deliver impressive insurer cost savings on their book. We are thrilled to be the InsurTech partner behind ChilliDrive.”

Steve Chang, President of MDT commented; “Mio is a worldwide well-known dashcam expert and our core value is to produce products that better people’s lives. That’s why our Mio MiVue 733™ WIFI dashcam offers a wealth of safety features so young drivers can feel safe and empowered to drive conscientiously, resulting in safer roads for all. If any incidents do occur, motorists can be confident there is proven evidence of who’s at fault and do not need to worry about liability at such an emotional time, especially for first-time drivers.”

The new and improved app has received backing from the UK’s largest independent road safety charity, IAM RoadSmart. Spokesperson for the charity, Paul Woozley, commented; “IAM RoadSmart is privileged to be working with Autoline, providing hints and tips for drivers whose telematics scores indicate they could benefit from some guidance or support in developing certain aspects of their driving.

“Telematics provides an effective measurement of driving risk and by helping drivers develop their skills we are hopefully mitigating the risk of an incident or claim and possibly reducing their future premiums.”

The new and improved ChilliDrive app is free to download but it is only available to new customers when purchasing their policy and existing customers at the point of renewal.

Winner of the Insurance Times Broker of the Year Award in 2015 in recognition of the launch of ChilliDrive, Autoline, owned by Prestige Insurance, provides personal line, business and commercial insurance.

CLS Property Insight Doubles Online Indemnity Limits to £10m – Announcement is part of a wide review and relaunch of its ordering platform and policies

CLS Property Insight, part of the CLS group of companies, announces that it has doubled the indemnity limit from £5m to £10m on its leading online legal indemnity policies. The move means more policies are available online, creating a significant time saving for solicitors.

In addition, CLS Property Insight has launched its new online ordering platform introducing a 2-click quote for all policies to further speed up and simplify the buying process. It has also reduced the prices on some of its policies, making them more competitive.

CLS Property Insight is a leading supplier of Title, Legal Indemnity, Environmental, and Probate/Executry Insurance alongside essential property data and services to the UK property legal market. It is a sister company to one of the leading insurance MGAs, CLS Risk Solutions and the innovative Environmental Report Provider, Future Climate Info.

A £10m limit of indemnity means that brokers, solicitors, conveyancers and other intermediaries looking for a straightforward legal indemnity policy for clients, can purchase policies online for a whole host of risks that would otherwise have required an offline referral process to the underwriting team. The net result is a much quicker and cost-effective service for everyone involved.

Legal indemnity cover for residential conveyancing transactions is typically a low-cost, last minute transaction. With the new ordering platform, CLS can now provide an online 2-click quote for all online legal indemnities. This introduces significant efficiencies for teams dealing with high volume cases every day.

CLS offers market leading Legal Indemnity Insurance products for both residential and commercial property transactions. Its online suite of products offers over 60 types of policies, ranging from Lack of Building Regulations and Defective Lease to Forfeiture of Lease (Housing Act) and Contaminated Land Indemnities. The policies protect lenders, property owners and/or developers against third party claims arising from problems affecting the title, use or development of land.

Roy Partington, Director at CLS Property Insight, said: “We focus on delivering solutions that mitigate risk, in the most cost-effective way possible. Doubling our indemnity limit to £10m means that solicitors and our intermediary partners can quote and bind a policy that would previously have taken days to arrange, now in a matter of a few clicks. We have listened to feedback and after a thorough review we have invested in making our system quick, modern and simple, and our online policy offering broader and more competitive, to help save time for our clients and ultimately to give customers what they want.”

For risks that do not meet the new £10m limit risk criteria, CLS has a dedicated specialist Underwriting team for more bespoke policies offline. CLS has delegated authority up to £350m from secure A rated capacity.

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For further information please contact: SJ Wrigley at Spotlight Consulting on 07909546104 or at sj@spotlightconsulting.co.uk

About CLS Property Insight

CLS Property Insight is a leading supplier of insurance, ancillary searches and data services to the UK property legal market. It is part of the successful CLS group of companies with a turnover of circa £40m, employing 110 staff, with 7 businesses in 5 offices.

The CLS group has an established reputation for innovation, expertise and service and includes seven interdependent businesses working in close collaboration:

CLS Property Insight: a leading supplier of searches, insurance and data services to the UK property legal market.

CLS Data: Innovative solutions and products for the lender and surveying market.

Future Climate Info: Environmental Information market leader through progressive environmental data aggregation and supply.

Conveychoice: An exclusive platform to intermediaries to allow them to offer expert conveyancing services to clients through a panel of the most establishes property lawyers in the UK.

CLS Risk Solutions UK: a leading MGA for bespoke legal indemnity and transactional property risk solutions.

CLS Risk Solutions Europe: legal indemnities for renewable energy projects and real estate transactions in Europe.

CLS Group Services: One-stop service company for the CLS group of companies and their commercial partners.

Intermediated Commercial Insurance Sales Triple in 12 months to June 2019

General insurance provider, Berkeley Alexander, has reported an almost three fold increase in Commercial Insurance sales via intermediaries in the 12 months to July 2019, with an increase of 184%. The increase is a third more than was projected earlier in the year.

Mark Hutchings, Managing Director at Berkeley Alexander commented: “Commercial insurance opportunities have clearly witnessed growth in the market. A combination of economic headwinds and commercial uncertainties combined with increasing risk exposures for businesses today, have in large part driven this growth, alongside Mortgage Brokers and Advisers recognising the opportunities within their client bank.

“At Berkeley Alexander, we have invested in the commercial insurance opportunity, appointing a dedicated commercial lines Business Development Manager to work alongside mortgage brokers and advisers to help them maximise income opportunities from commercial insurance across their portfolio. In addition, we have expanded our sales desk by 25% so far this year and continue to look to recruit additional sales staff.”

Berkeley Alexander has also seen strong growth in our other product areas with new business sales up 116% across the board, compared to 2018.

Mark continues: “We are delighted to report these results. There has been a clear up swing in Commercial sales in particular which is indicative of the economic environment as well as our business development growth strategy. As always, we will not stop here – we will continue to invest further across all areas of our business, as well as looking at other products to meet evolving client demands, and to ensure we continue to be the adviser’s general insurance provider of choice.”

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For further information please contact:

SJ Wrigley, Spotlight Consulting: sj@spotlightconsulting.co.uk 07909546104

About Berkeley Alexander Ltd:

Berkeley Alexander Ltd is a general insurance provider, offering IFAs and mortgage brokers a wide range of personal and commercial lines of insurance. Drawing on a large number of insurers, it’s known for its broad range of competitively-priced products; and for its innovative approach to distributor partnerships.

CLS makes two senior appointments to its Property Insight business

CLS Property Insight, part of the CLS group of companies, announces the appointment of Lianne Goddard as Managing Director and Chris Green as Business Development Manager.

CLS Property Insight is a leading supplier of insurance and data services to the UK property legal market. It is a sister company to one of the leading insurance MGAs, CLS Risk Solutions.

The two appointments are part of the growth strategy for the CLS Property Insight, capitalising on the collaborative benefits of the wider CLS group, which gives them economies of scale, massive data hosting and development power, market leading A rated insurance capacity and a strong expert management team; making CLS a force to be reckoned with.

Current products include Surveys, Chancel, Environmental, Land Registry and other ancillary property searches, and a suite of more than 60 online legal indemnity policies, all available through an online ordering platform.

Lianne Goddard joins CLS from Epiq Global where she was Director of European Commercial Strategy, working with four of the five Magic Circle Law Firms and nine of the ten leading Financial Institutions. Prior to joining Epiq Global, Lianne led the strategic, commercial and residential sales strategy for eight years at SearchFlow as Director of Sales.

Lianne comments: “The property and conveyancing market is ripe for disruption. CLS is well known for innovation across the group and we have exciting plans to capitalise on this innovation, using the collective strength our group has to offer, for the benefit of our clients and their customers, particularly in the area of big data.

“We are on a mission to make the concept of value a reality in the legal indemnities space, using expertise, innovation and leveraging technology and data to put customer needs first. Our ambition at CLS Property Insight is to affect nothing short of a revolution in the legal indemnity market.”

Chris Green joins CLS Property Insight from PSG Connect where he was latterly Regional Manager and before that, Director for 10 years. Prior to joining PSG Connect, Chris spent nearly three years as Account Manager with the conveyancing panel provider LMS and has excellent connections in the property conveyancing market.

Chris comments: “It’s an exciting time to be joining the company. CLS is on a path that, if clients are willing to innovate, will have a direct and dramatic positive benefit for them and their clients and I’m excited to get out to the market to spread the word and show our clients what we have to offer.”

For further information please contact: SJ Wrigley at Spotlight Consulting on 07909546104 or at sj@spotlightconsulting.co.uk

About CLS Property Insight

CLS Property Insight is a leading supplier of searches, insurance and data services to the UK property legal market. It is part of the successful CLS group of companies with a turnover of circa £40m, employing 110 staff, with 7 businesses in 5 offices. CLS has an established reputation for innovation, expertise and service.

The CLS group includes seven interdependent businesses working in close collaboration:

– CLS Property Insight: a leading supplier of searches, insurance and data services to the UK property legal market

– CLS Data: Innovative solutions and products for the lender and surveying market

– Future Climate Info: Environmental Information market leader through progressive environmental data aggregation and supply

– Conveychoice: an exclusive platform for intermediaries to offer expert conveyancing services to clients through a panel of the most established property lawyers in the UK

– CLS Risk Solutions UK: a leading MGA for bespoke legal indemnity and transactional property risk solutions

– CLS Risk Solutions Europe: legal indemnities for renewable energy projects and real estate transactions in Europe

– CLS Group Services: One-stop service company for the CLS group of companies and their commercial partners.

Berkeley Alexander adds Pen Underwriting to GI Panel

General insurance provider, Berkeley Alexander (BA), has today announced it has added the Pen Underwriting Home Insurance product to its online panel.

This makes the Berkeley Alexander’s panel the broadest intermediary panel available on the market, with 17 products.

The Pen Home policy covers risks that e-traded systems normally exclude, for example underpinned properties, listed buildings and buildings undergoing renovations or building works. It also covers more unusual property types such as holiday homes, unoccupied properties and homes used for business while accommodating a wide range of occupant types including people with criminal convictions and people with adverse financial or insurance history. Properties with previous subsidence will also be considered on an individual basis, depending on the details of the risk.

It offers blanket sums insured for buildings up to £1million and contents up to £75,000.

Mark Hutchings, Managing Director of Berkeley Alexander, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Pen Underwriting to the panel. Pen really brings something new to the table in terms of its underwriting appetite, with such broad and flexible cover options and limits available. We’re proud that through our panel, brokers have access to one of the widest choices of quality GI policies available anywhere in this sector of the market to suit every level of customer need and budget.”

Andy Westby, Managing Director of Pen Underwriting’s e-Solutions business, added: “Being easy to do business with remains a top priority for Pen, so we’re really pleased to join Berkeley Alexander’s online panel with our non-standard home solution. Our innovative auto-rating of hard-to-place risks without need for separate referral to an underwriter, combined with Berkeley Alexander’s distribution, means we can provide more brokers, with faster access to more cover options for a much wider range of risks. And for non-standard customers, that means more choice, more often.”

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For further information please contact: SJ Wrigley, Spotlight Consulting: sj@spotlightconsulting.co.uk 07909546104

About Berkeley Alexander Ltd:

About Pen Underwriting:

Pen Underwriting is a multi-class, multi-territory managing general agent (MGA) that operates as a virtual insurer, meaning it can fulfil all the typical functions of an insurance company — from sales, distribution, pricing and product innovation through to claims, analytics and governance — except carry risk.

Pen Underwriting has four divisions — Commercial, Specialty, International & Financial Lines and Volume — offering a wide and growing range of specialisms from e-Solutions and delegated authorities for volume business through to specialty products with individual underwriting for hard-to-find placements. With a national branch presence across 15 locations, more than 350 insurance professionals and generating more than £500m GWP, Pen Underwriting is one of the largest underwriting agencies in the UK.

Berkeley Alexander Expands Relationship with New Leaf Distribution

General insurance provider, Berkeley Alexander, has been appointed by New Leaf Distribution as its preferred provider of commercial insurance to its nationwide network of IFAs and brokers. This represents a strengthening of the relationship already in place following its appointment in 2013 as one of its GI panel partners.

Under the terms of the deal New Leaf Distribution members will have access to Berkeley Alexander’s leading panel of commercial insurers to help intermediaries maximise the service they deliver to their commercial clients, via its introduction service.

Speaking about the deal Dan Hobbs, Managing Director New Leaf Distribution, commented: “We’re delighted to be expanding our relationship with Berkeley Alexander. They have one of the largest panels available on the market and this, together with their expertise in commercial lines, makes them an obvious choice. Perhaps more importantly for our members, is BA’s excellent referral service. We work with advisers with a broad range of skills and levels of experience and place a great emphasis on professional training and development. For those advisers where it makes more sense to refer their commercial business, it still allows them to receive a competitive commission even if they’re not placing the business themselves directly. This makes Berkeley Alexander a first rate and trusted partner and I’m delighted to be expanding our relationship.”

Simon Medhurst, Sales Director, at Berkeley Alexander commented: “We’ve been working with New Leaf for a number of years now and so this latest deal is testament to the strength and success of our relationship to date. What really makes us stand out from the crowd, and the reason why we can add real value to members of networks like New Leaf, is our referral service as well as the close relationship we have with our insurers. Being able to combine efficient online distribution with the traditional approach of speaking directly to insurers, ensures we get the very best cover for even the most complex of risks at the most competitive premium. This gives intermediaries the edge in a competitive market. We look forward to working with New Leaf members to establish and grow their GI book.”

For further information please contact: SJ Wrigley, Spotlight Consulting: sj@spotlightconsulting.co.uk 07909546104

Berkeley Alexander Ltd is a general insurance provider, offering IFAs and mortgage brokers a wide range of personal and commercial lines of insurance. Drawing on a large number of insurers, it’s known for its comprehensive range of competitively-priced products, and for its innovative approach to distributor partnerships.

InsurTech Inzura.ai secures £1m funding from insurance industry leaders

Inzura.ai the UK based global InsurTech, has today announced it has raised a further £1m in a pre-A funding round. This follows a seed investment round in early 2018 and rapid growth in the UK and South East Asian markets.

Inzura works with brokers and insurers to deliver enhanced digital versions of their insurance products through smartphone apps, leveraging telematics, integrated dashcams and artificial intelligence (AI). With some customers already achieving over 30% improvements in loss ratio, Inzura’s digital products are customer focused, cost significantly less to operate, reduce fraud, and enable greater pricing accuracy.

Inzura’s revenue growth of over 65% in the last 12 months is expected to increase to 100% in the next year as a result of this latest investment round. The funding has come from well-known and respected insurance industry figures. Investors include Phil Bunker (ex. LV and NIG), Michael Blaney (Founder of Autoline), Julian Edwards (Chief Executive of MCE), and Paul Cosh (ex. Budget & Highway). Their support recognises the significant value of Inzura’s technology which has been designed to be deployed across the insurance industry and is applicable worldwide.

Headquartered in the UK, Inzura has clients in the UK, Singapore, Thailand and most recently in Indonesia. The new funds will be used to hire additional sales and support staff for these territories. Funding will also be used for ongoing research and development, particularly data analysis including machine learning and AI for dynamic pricing.

Inzura.ai Chief Executive and co-founder Richard Jelbert comments:

“Digital transformation is underway across the insurance industry and we make this process as rapid and simple as possible. Our data-rich platform enables products to constantly evolve. We are currently working with global insurance brands and brokers to deliver enhanced and personalised insurance services to their customers, without having to replace legacy systems. We have exciting growth plans for Inzura. We have already created a strong international presence with major global insurers selecting us to deliver their digital strategies.”

Julian Edwards, Investor in Inzura and Chief Executive of MCE Insurance comments:

“I continue to be hugely impressed with the Inzura team and their approach to modernising insurance. Inzura represents an impressive investment opportunity for myself and the other experienced investors in this round.”

For more information, please contact: SJ Wrigley, Spotlight Consulting, at sj@spotlightconsulting.co.uk or on +44 (0)7909546104