Barclays' SME partnership with Allianz

Barclays has selected Allianz as its partner for a full range of commercial insurance products for its UK customers. 

Within the "long-term" deal (no details currently available), Allianz Commercial will provide a range of tailored packages for different market sectors. The sales, service and claims capability provided by Allianz will be fully branded and operate from the insurer's specialist centre in Lancaster. 

Allianz refers to the partnership as a "substantially different proposition to the bancassurance sector". Allianz also partners with Lloyds TSB for SME insurance; whereas HSBC and Santander work with AXA and RBS partners with UKI under its NIG brand. 

Barclays had previously worked with Aviva as its provider of SME insurance. 

RAC renews motor partnership with Junction

The RAC has announced the extension of its motor insurance partnership with Junction, the affinity arm of BGL Group, for a further 5 years. 

The partnership was originally formed in 2008 and is now estimated to cover over 300,000 policyholders. The 2 organisations claim that future growth of the partnership will rely heavily on technology focused initiatives; not least the use of breakdown and third party data to achieve competitive rates from Junction's panel insurers. 

The RAC has approximately 7 million members in the UK and partners with Heath Lambert for home insurance and ACE for travel insurance. 

LifeSearch partners with Which? Mortgage Advisers

Which? Mortgage Advisers has announced a partnership with LifeSearch, in which it is referring its customers seeking advice on protection products to the specialist IFA. 

LifeSearch has been successful at establishing a number of advice-based partnerships and in 2012, it launched similar services for customers of Gocompare.com (see earlier blog dated 24th September 2012) and Comparethemarket.com. 

Cancer Research partners with Towergate Insurance

Leading charity, Cancer Research UK has announced a partnership with Towergate Insurance, to provide additional funds for the charity. The partnership, covering home, travel, boat and caravan policies will be branded as "Help Beat Cancer Insurance". 

The partnership is for 3 years and the broker will provide Cancer Research UK with 30% of its commission for each "Help Beat Cancer" policy sold. The partnership builds on a long-standing CSR relationship between the 2 organisations and aims to generate £3 million to the charity over the 3 year partnership.

Policies will be available to the general public and not just supporters of the charity. Nevertheless  the £3 million target looks very ambitious, given that the charity, despite its fantastic brand, does not have any obvious channels to market the policies to a wider audience. However, Towergate has confirmed that aggregator distribution may be part of its plans in 2013. 

Suzuki selects Carole Nash as motorcycle partner

Suzuki GB has selected Carole Nash, the specialist broker to provide its official motorcycle and scooter insurance scheme. Carole Nash plans to launch a quote and buy website in early 2013 and will provide sales support to the Suzuki dealer network. 

The decision follows a tender process and means the replacement of CIA Insurance, the broker which had held the Suzuki partnership since October 2009. 

Carole Nash is one of the broking businesses that was not included in the sale of the UK Groupama Insurance Company to Ageas in September 2012. 

The Suzuki car insurance partnership continues to be managed by Original Insurance Services, with cover underwritten by Zenith Insurance. 

Moneyfacts partners with Just Retirement for equity release

Moneyfacts.co.uk, the financial comparison website, has agreed a partnership with Just Retirement Solutions to provide an equity release advice service for its customers and users. 

In press coverage, Moneyfacts has made reference to the service being "comprehensive", but the panel of providers is restricted to just 4 - Aviva, Just Retirement Limited, Bridgewater and Stonehaven.