Virgin replaces BDML with Ageas

Virgin Money has selected Ageas as its new home and motor insurance partner and announced that the two organisations will be developing a range of products during 2015. Ageas will underwrite the household products and will develop a panel of insurers for Virgin Money's motor product. Ageas will be providing the sales, servicing and claims capabilities for the new partnership. 

Although the new deals marks the loss of a major "affinity brand" for BDML, it is understood that the volume of Virgin Money insurance customers has never been significant and that the partnership does not entail the transfer of an existing book to Ageas. 

Nevertheless, Virgin Money does have a wide range of channels including "stores" and "lounges", although at present, this branch network does not offer mortgage advice, or presumably, an obvious "point of sale" household insurance opportunity.  

Virgin Money continues to work with Insure & Go for its travel insurance and UK Insurance for pet insurance. 

Nationwide remains with LV= for 3 more years

Nationwide and LV= have announced the extension of their motor insurance partnership for a further 3 years. The insurer has underwritten the building society's car insurance product on an exclusive basis since 2008. 

LV= has suggested the shared mutual status of the 2 organisations as an important factor in the extension, but it is perhaps worth noting that Nationwide continues to work with UK Insurance for the much larger household insurance partnership and with Legal & General for life cover. 

LV= also provides the motor breakdown cover for Nationwide through its Britannia Rescue brand.   

Ageas extends Tesco Bank partnership for 7 more years

Ageas UK and Tesco Bank have extended their home and motor partnership for a further 7 years. The partnership was established in 2009 with the creation of Tesco Underwriting (TU); 50.1% owned by Ageas and 49.9% owned by Tesco Bank. 

The partnership extension is an impressive result for Ageas and it is claimed that TU now underwrites 1.2 million customers and is responsible for £440 million in Gross Written Premium. This makes it one of the UK's most significant affinity partnerships. However, as recently as 2011, TU was said to be insuring 1.5 million customers and accounted for GWP of £655 million. 

Some of this decline may result from Tesco Bank working with a wider range of insurers in the last couple of years. The home insurance panel is comprised of TU, Towergate, AXA, RSA and Legal & General; the last of these added as recently as November 2014. The motor insurance panel is comprised of TU, Sabre, Covea, Chaucer and Aviva.

Outside of the TU joint venture, Tesco Bank partners with Ageas for travel insurance, RSA for pet insurance and Aviva for life cover. 

Tesco Bank partners with AXA Assistance for home emergency

Tesco Bank has selected AXA Assistance to provide the claims service for its home emergency cover. This will be provided through AXA Assistance's network of independent contractors. 

AXA Assistance has secured the partnership following a tender exercise and has replaced Homeserve as the claims handler. Tesco Bank's home emergency cover continues to be underwritten by Inter Partner Assistance S.A. (IPA), which is itself part of the AXA Assistance Group. 

Home emergency cover is generally sold as an add-on to Tesco Bank's home insurance product, which is underwritten by a panel of insurers including Tesco Underwriting (Ageas), RSA, Towergate and AXA. 

Tesco Bank works with a panel of insurers for car insurance and partners with Ageas for travel insurance and RSA for pet insurance. 

Lloyds Banking Group discards household panel

Lloyds Bank General Insurance has become the sole underwriter of household insurance for the major brands within the Lloyds Banking Group - Halifax, Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland - and their three million policyholders. 

It is understood that the bank's insurer was already the dominant player in what is probably the UK's largest household insurance "affinity", but it does mark a significant potential loss of "partnerships' business" for major insurers including RSA, Allianz and Legal & General. 

The bank has portrayed the switch from a panel as a means of ensuring "consistency of quality and service" for customers.  

The three brands continue to partner with Junction (and its panel) for motor insurance. For travel insurance, Lloyds Bank works with AXA and Halifax partners with Cigna. 

NatWest partners with Brightside for van insurance

NatWest has launched a new van insurance partnership with insurance broking group, Brightside. This appears to follow on from Brightside's earlier success in winning the tender for Direct Line Group's (DLG) van insurance business earlier in 2014. 

This led to a van insurance partnership with Churchill being launched in March 2014. It is worth noting that whereas the Churchill deal is underwritten by UK Insurance and administered by Brightside, the NatWest partnership uses the extended Brightside panel. 

It is understood that the NatWest product will be marketed through a number of channels, including in-branch and ultimately on the aggregators.