Ageas partnership with Vauxhall extends to vans

Ageas has announced that its partnership with motor manufacturer Vauxhall has been extended to include Van Insurance. The two organisations originally signed a 5-year partnership in late 2011, which covered private motor insurance for the Vauxhall and Chevrolet brands. 

All policies are underwritten by Ageas Insurance Limited and are administered through Ageas Insurance Solutions, based in Stoke-on-Trent. The new arrangements include a free 5-day "driveaway" policy for Vauxhall van customers, buying through Vauxhall dealers. 

The Ageas partnership with Vauxhall is widely considered to have worked well since 2011 and this extension arguably leaves the insurer well-placed for any future renewal or tender process for the wider Vauxhall account. 

Markerstudy buys BDML from Capita

Markerstudy has bought a number of Capita's loss-making insurance businesses including affinity specialist, BDML, which the outsourcer bought back in 2005. The deal includes other Capita brands including Sureterm, Lancaster and Delta Underwriting and all will be positioned within Markerstudy Retail. 

Within the partnerships' market, BDML is an interesting player and one which has come under pressure from other affinity brokers in recent years. For example, it lost partnerships with ASDA and Argos to Brightside - a business which some suggest remains a target for Markerstudy.   

BDML continues to manage the home and motor panels for Virgin Money and is a significant provider of pet insurance partnerships for ASDA, Debenhams, pdsa and Pets at Home. 

AA and Saga enter the legal services market

The AA has announced the creation of "AA Law" in a joint venture with Bristol-based solicitors, Lyons Davidson. As with earlier market entrants such as Ageas and Admiral, AA Law has secured an ABS (alternative business structure) licence in partnership with an established law firm. 

AA Law will launch on 1st December and is planning to handle personal injury (PI) and other litigation linked to motor accidents involving its 16 million members and customers. Contract and employment services are scheduled to follow next year. Lyons Davidson already provides the AA's legal helpline and motor legal expenses policy and has already set up a similar ABS arrangement with Admiral. 

Also today, Saga has announced the creation of "Saga Law" in partnership with Parabis Law, which has provided legal services to the over-50s specialist for over 10 years. The new service is expected to launch in 2014. 

Equity Insurance Partnerships bought by NMG

Equity Insurance Partnerships (EIP) has been sold to NMG Group (subject to regulatory approval), an international consulting and advisory group.

The sale of EIP had been expected since the change of ownership of its parent, Equity Insurance Group at the start of this year. EIP is a significant affinity broker with a number of motor manufacturer partnerships (including Renault, Honda and Mazda), as well as others with First Direct, Royal British Legion and Costco. 

One of the more interesting aspects of the purchase is that NMG currently has a major stake in iGO4, a specialist provider of insurance solutions for brands operating on the aggregators. The corporate press release mentions the "synergies" of the two businesses working closely together and it will be interesting to see what this means in practice. 

Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks partner with Origen for financial advice...but only for private banking and business customers

Yorkshire and Clydesdale Banks have announced a partnership with Origen Financial Services to provide financial advice for their business and private banking customers. 

Origen, a subsidiary of Aegon, will act as a "referral partner" for the two banks and its advice service will cover corporate and personal pensions, investments, protection and retirement planning. 

The service does not extend to retail banking customers of Yorkshire and Clydesdale. Until April 2013, the banks offered an "in-branch retail advice service" in partnership with AXA, but this ended with the closure of AXA's bancassurance arm. The banks have stated that they have no plans to replace AXA. 

FirstAssist re-brands as Cigna with a new focus on health?

FirstAssist Insurance Services has re-branded as Cigna Insurance Services and, at the same time, has announced "ambitious growth plans for the UK affinity market". 

FirstAssist has over 160 partnerships, but has traditionally been best known for its activity in the travel insurance sector where it has some significant partnerships including Halifax Bank, Sainsbury's and esure. 

It appears that Cigna now sees particular opportunities for affinity partners in providing low-cost health products (as an alternative to NHS or PMI provision) and we believe that this is where much of its sales and marketing effort will now be focused.