UK General Insurance Group announces restructure of its Branch Network

4th March 2010

UK General today reaffirmed its commitment to regional independent brokers as it unveiled the latest stage of its strategy for the SME commercial market. The company, which came together after the merger last year of Primary General  and Longhawk, is in the final stages of a strategic review which will make the business one of the UK's leading providers of product and distribution to niche and specialist markets.

Michael Warren,  UK General Chief Operating Officer, also confirmed that Fortis will act as capacity provider for SME business and Rural, UK General's specialist agricultural insurer.  Mr Warren said: "We are delighted to have Fortis on board as our main capacity provider. Our partnership with them creates a strong platform for profitable growth in our chosen markets."

Turning to the SME commercial strategy, Mr Warren announced that UK General will centralise its underwriting, processing and some other back office activities at the Leeds headquarters. He said: "We know from our research that our brokers need us to provide quotes quickly and efficiently, they require access to our best underwriters and want rapid claims processing, and a centralised operating model will enable us to achieve this." The company will continue to maintain a local presence through its network of UK General business development managers.

He added: "To support this move, we are also embarking on an IT investment programme, giving us an integrated platform to deliver what brokers need faster, such as on-line documentation. We will also strengthen our IT links into broker systems to remove rework and create seamless processes." Mr Warren expected the new platform would be fully operational by the beginning of next year.

"The IT programme is further proof of our ambition to be a leader in our chosen markets, and that servicing the needs of regional independent brokers is a core part of our business strategy," he said, pointing out that the recent partnership with UKGI, the leading General Insurance compliance specialists, would also enable the business to offer brokers market leading compliance services alongside the UK General product set.  "We are, moreover, fully committed to growing our regional businesses in both Scotland and Northern Ireland, where a local presence is essential."

Mr Warren acknowledged that current market conditions remained tough, and there was little sign of rates hardening. "The marketplace is crowded, competition intense, and there are new players entering all the time. Brokers tell us that quality underwriting and razor sharp service are, alongside pricing, the major drivers of success; our restructuring plans illustrate our determination to drive continuous improvement in all these areas."

Mr Warren said they would review some non-specialist business lines where there was intense competition, such as hotels, motor trade, take aways, D&O and professional indemnity, and switch the focus to specialist and niche lines, such as property owners, commercial combined and tradesmen,  where UK General's proven expertise and sector knowledge will deliver growth. "There will be a small number of people leaving the business as a result of these changes, but we will do our best to make sure that, wherever possible, they exit on a voluntary basis."

Michael Warren, said he expected this restructuring to position UK General for growth in the coming months. "We are fully focused on completing our restructure by June this year so that we are well positioned for future growth," he said, adding: "We want UK General to become the number one provider to the independent broking community, and our new business model will give us the chance to service their needs to the very highest standards."