Nationwide household partnership remains with RBSI



Post Magazine has reported that Nationwide Building Society has renegotiated its household insurance partnership with Royal Bank of Scotland Insurance. This follows a major tender exercise and represents a significant vote of confidence in the insurer.

Details of the terms of the new partnership remain unclear, but it has also been reported that up to 100 Nationwide claims handling staff will be axed as RBSI, through its underwriting entity UKI, will take over responsbility for claims handling.

Lloyds TSB pulls plug on charity credit cards

Lloyds TSB has announced that it will no longer provide affinity credit cards for a number of key charities, including Cancer Research UK, the NSPCC and the Scottish SPCA.

The partnerships, inherited from Halifax Bank of Scotland, are no longer seen as cost effective although they have generated considerable revenue for the charities - in the case of Cancer Research UK, this is estimated at £15 million during the life of the programme. 

The bank has offered to look at new providers for the charities, but options may be limited with MBNA and Co-operatve banks as the major players left in the charity card market. Given the length of time it can take to create a partnership programme it is hoped that that these discussions are already far advanced.

Junction renews partnership with M&S Money

January 2012 sees the re-launch of a further 5-year car insurance partnership between M&S Money and Junction, the affinity brand of BGL. This follows the announcement of the new deal in July 2011.

The relationship between the 2 organisations started in 2004.

M&S Money, itself part of the HSBC Group, has single insurer relationships for its home and travel business with AXA, and with RSA for pet insurance.

M&S Money will continue to make use of the Junction car insurance panel and the partnership follows a tender process. As in the original partnership, it is understood that Ageas contnues to be the "lead insurer" on the panel created for M&S.

AXA Assistance signs 5 year deal with Hastings

Axa Assistance has announced a new 5 year deal with Hastings Insurance to supply motor breakdown and misfuelling insurance. The covers will be underwritten by Inter Partner Assistance; a fully owned Axa subsidiary.

The announcement followed a recent tender process, although Inter Partner Assistance was already the motor breakdown provider for the Hastings Direct brand.

iGO4 & Markerstudy - partnership, direct or aggregator Play?

iGO4 has announced its first "partnership" with Markerstudy, under the Zenith Insurance and Zenith Insurance Plus brands.

Markerstudy has, to date, relied heavily on broker distribution and this development enables the organisation to launch a direct capability, offered primarily through the aggregators, where iGO4 has rapidly built a strong position.

The development of "direct" brands by previously broker-focused insurers is by no means a new phenomenon and nor is the use of aggregators for this purpose.

What does look more interesting is whether this forms a partnership, direct or aggregator play and Markerstudy's reliance on a third party organisation, which will utilise its real-time pricing capability and aggregator relationships, whilst sitting outside of the insurer. 

Barclays selects Aviva and L&G

Barclays has announced significant life and general insurance partnerships for its UK retail customers.

 

Aviva already has a general insurance partnership with the bank and this has been extended to include a range of non-advised covers (life assurance, over 50s life cover and personal accident), available through branches, online and via the telephone. 

 

Legal & General will provide family and mortgage life assurance and critical illness protection covers on an advised basis, supplementing the mortgage protection distribution arrangement it has held since 2001. 

 

The significance of these partnerships is considerable and looks as if Barclays is cementing its position with 2 of the UK's largest bancassurers in preparation for the impact of RDR.