West Brom partners with Towergate for financial advice

West Bromwich Building Society has launched a partnership with Towergate Financial, to provide a financial advice service in its 37 branches. The service will provide whole of market advice in pensions, protection and investmenets and is being managed by 20 former West Brom staff who will be employed by Towergate. 

West Brom previously worked with AXA, but the insurer withdrew from offering an advice service in Summer 2013. 

Towergate Financial has been active in working with small and medium sized building societies and, using a variety of models, it already has partnerships with the Loughborough, Melton Mowbray, Nottingham, Saffron and Scottish Building Societies. 

Sun Life Direct renews partnership with Golden Charter

Sun Life Direct has appointed Golden Charter as the sole provider of funeral plans for its term life and over 50s life assurance policyholders, following a recent tender. 

The two organisations have worked together for 4 years, but previously Golden Charter was one of a number of providers. It has been suggested that following this deal, Golden Charter will have a market share of over half of the UK pre-paid funeral market. 

Partnerships are a major feature of the pre-paid funeral market, with Dignity, Co-Op Funeralcare and Golden Leaves actively involved. 

Golden Charter, for example, also works with a number of partners including Saga, Friends Life, CUNA Mutual and Scottish Friendly. 

Affinion selects AmTrust as its underwriting partner until 2020

The lifestyle and loyalty benefits provider, Affinion International, has announced that Am Trust Europe has been selected as its underwriting partner until 2020. Affinion previously worked with Allianz. 

Affinion International provides a range of products and services to its partners, including mobile phone and gadget insurance, motor breakdown and warranty. Affinion has highlighted that the change of underwriter will allow it to exercise more control of claims handling, particularly with its mobile phone insurance product.  

Affinion is a significant player in administering loyalty programmes throughout Europe and has relationships with among others, Aviva, Santander, Nat West and American Express. 

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.