Well known industry name joins Aston Charles

Well known industry name joins Aston Charles

We are delighted to announce that Nigel Law will be joining Aston Charles on an interim basis with effect from 1st March ‘12. 

As many of our readers will be aware, Nigel is an extremely well known individual within the UK insurance community and has held many senior posts including Managing Director of Broker Network Insurance Brokers (BNIB), Regional Manager for both Norwich Union (North East) and NIG (North West), and most recently, Operations Director at JM Glendinning Insurance Brokers.

Nigel will be focusing on senior level appointments and introducing Aston Charles to his extensive network of contacts throughout the UK. In addition, he will be heavily involved with Aston Charles’ Mergers and Acquisitions offering.

Director, Richard Jones, comments, ‘We have been in dialogue with a number of brokers who are weighing up their succession planning opportunities, as well as both consolidators and independents who have significant war chests and a real commitment to acquiring firms of all sizes.  Having someone like Nigel on the Team, who, having been MD of BNIB, is a real coup for us. He has a wealth of experience under his belt and thoroughly understands different brokers’ appetites for acquisitions, including the due diligence and subsequent integration processes, along with all of the cultural and operational challenges that mergers and acquisitions present. Couple this with Nigel’s strong personal reputation and I believe this pushes us to the forefront of specialist insurance recruitment agencies that offer a bespoke M&A service.

Nigel comments, ‘ After over 40 years in the insurance industry with both insurers and brokers I am really excited about putting my experience and contacts to good use with a great bunch of people at Aston Charles.’

If you would be interested in having an off the record, initial chat with Nigel about Aston Charles Mergers and Acquisitions offering, please call Nigel Law, in confidence on 0845 8388 664.

NORTHERN FLOOD CONFERENCE 2012

NORTHERN FLOOD CONFERENCE 2012

Sharing a Voice to Protect our Communities

Saturday 24th March 2012

9:30am -4pm, Richard Rose Academy, Carlisle.

Come and join us for another interactive conference on the issues affecting communities that flood.

We will progress discussions on Insurance and the Water Act, helping YOU to understand the implications for your village, town or district.

This year you will have to opportunity to choose 3 out of our 4 break out sessions and we will again have a panel discussion including local MP’s.

Land Management for Flood Protection. Alastair Starling and John Malley, The National Trust

The National Trust’s thirst for catchment scale environmental ambition through water.

All National Trust properties are experiencing the impacts of a changing climate.  A fifth of the NT land holding is in the Lake District – a quarter of the National Park.  To ensure the sustainability of our operations we must adopt and adapt to new and sustainable approaches to flood-risk management.

 Lead Local Flood Authorities their role and how they fit into the new flood risk management landscape Iwan Lawton Cumbria County Council

Iwan is an Environment Agency secondee to Cumbria County Council. He will provide an overview and review of the new requirements of the Water Act and how that might translate to actions on the ground. Particularly looking at the likely interactions with the existing flood risk management authorities, and how that relates to affected communities.

Community Funding for Successful Flood Groups.  Cockermouth FAG and Morpeth FAG

We again bring together some of the more established flood action groups to share their experiences around raising funds, including the new Payment for Outcomes system, raising profile and getting resident groups together to build an active and successful flood group for your community.

Community Agreement/Template for Action for Flooded Communities. Damien Morris, Impact Housing and Kirstine Riding, CVS Cumbria

A working group to look at the links between communities and the organisations that support them  following a flood event.  We hope the break out sessions will help develop this document to an established draft. Copies of the initial draft will be available to delegates before the event.

For more information or to book your place: 

http://northernfloodconf2012.eventbrite.com

Or contact: Emily Thompson, Emily@livingcontinuity.co.uk  Mobile 0797 1877 424

Northern Flood Conference, C/O Keswick Flood Recovery Group, 50 Main Street, Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 5JS

This event is free to members of Flood Actions Groups, and only £20 per delegate for all other parties.

 Many thanks to our sponsors including Keswick Flood Action Group, the Environment Agency and Derwent and Solway Housing Agency.

Insurance Leaders’ Predictions for 2012

Insurance Leaders’ Predictions for 2012

We asked a number of our clients, contacts and friends in the insurance industry to make some predictions for 2012.  Below (in the order that we received them) is the first tranche of responses.  We’re hoping to release another blog in the coming days with more predictions, so if you would like to contribute to this, or future blogs, please contact info@astoncharles.co.uk


Julian Hale, Director – Hale Kavanagh Insurance Brokers Ltd – www.hkib.co.uk

I will avoid the obvious and say that NIG will have new owners within the next 12mths. I think there has been a top level decision to fatten GWP whilst keeping gross profit lean. This will therefore become an excellent opportunity for any new suitor in future, but not in the next 12mths.

There are too many major UK insurers with growth agenda to expect a hard market in Insurance over the next 12mths. I think the market has to ‘thin-out’ before we see a true, hard market [umph!]

The UK residential property market will continue to be challenging for anyone wishing to regain previous lost value (I’m calling the bottom of the residential property market in qtr 2 2014).

2012 will see another full 12mths of BoE interest rates been at 0.5%

The troubles in the Euro Zone will continue well into the summer 2012 when I think the politicians will concede to the fact that the currency cannot continue with the existing mix of members and 2012 will see the first steps of a break up of the Euro Zone, with the stronger economies (Germany, Scandanavian members etc) splitting from the weaker (Southern European) members and 2 separate currencies emerging.

The Americans will still be laughing at Ricky Gervais in 2012 even though he stopped being funny after ‘The Office’.

Merry Christmas & a happy new year!


Jim Rainford, Business Development Executive – CBG Group www.cbg-group.co.uk

I think for me the key thing for 2012 is keeping your fleet up and running. It is a major necessity for many businesses. In some cases, depending on the industry your company is involved in, your vehicles may be your livelihood, and without them business would grind to a halt. With the economy still riding on a rollercoaster, if there was ever an important time to get things right financially, it’s now!


Nigel Law, Operations Director – JM Glendinning Insurance Brokers – www.jmgib.co.uk

Glendinnings have had a wonderful 2011 with double digit growth which is underpinned by high client loyalty. We look forward to more success in 2012 which sees us celebrate 40 years since John and Joan Glendinning set the business up from their home in Otley.


Martin Bellamy, Chairman – Walmsleys Commercial – www.wcib.co.uk

2012 – Onwards and Upwards!

Amidst all the doom and gloom that lies ahead in 2012 we can all be sure that life as a Commercial Insurance Broker won’t get any easier; our clients will be under pressure to make savings; their turnovers and sales will be down; and they’ll be contacted by at least half a dozen other brokers making wild promises of massive savings to be made this year. So what are we planning to do at WCIB? Simple, really; we’ll keep on being ahead of the competition; giving first class customer service and maintaining our client relationships at all levels.

As brokers, we believe we have a lot to offer: we’ve got Chartered Status, we fervently believe in our independence whilst at the same time benefiting for our membership of Brokerbility and we empower our professional staff to look after our clients as they want to be looked after. Add in our excellent relationship with our insurer partners and the development of our automotive niche and we see 2012 as a great opportunity to push on with project Walmsleys Commercial!

Now all we need to do is persuade insurers to stop navel gazing , to see the current economic climate as an opportunity not just a threat and to be a bit more honest in their settlement of claims and we’ve cracked it…

I won’t be holding my breath though. We seem to be seeing a trend at the moment for claims handlers to look for ways of reducing claims payments in a way which certainly doesn’t fit with the FSA’s TCF culture. I’m not sure how we overcome this at a time when competition is so fierce and capacity abounds in the commercial market, holding pricing down whilst claims inflation increases all the time. I am sure, though, that it is unfair for genuine claims not to be paid in full and it does our sector no good to be seen as representing an industry which is happy to take premiums but unwilling to settle claims.

For me, it just shows the value of a good broker – how businesses who insure direct with an insurer achieve a fair settlement is anybody’s guess!


Caspar Barrington, Relationship Manager (Education) – Chartered Insurance Institute www.discoverrisk.co.uk

The CII in 2012 celebrates the centenary of its Royal Charter. While we will be looking back over the last 100 years and looking forward to the next 100, we will continue to support our members during these challenging economic times.

We will also continue to make our profession an attractive one for young people, through delivering our Discover Risk and Discover Fortunes events in schools, colleges and universities. If you’re interested in giving something back, or looking at your future employees, get in touch and email discover@cii.co.uk

 
Bob Stephenson, Business Development Manager – Hine Insurance Brokers – www.hine.co.uk

Despite the credit crunch, the problems with the Euro, the Japanese/New Zealand/Natural Disasters, UK General Insurance has not moved back to a hard market situation (at least in the Commercial Insurance sector).

It is not likely too in the next few years either as there would appear to be a lot of capacity available and if the weather is good this Winter then this will only assist the continuation of the softness.  The insurance industry is still well capitalised and in most cases showing reasonable profits.

However insurers Margins are beginning to feel the pinch because of the commissions that have been paid to the likes of the Networks and inflationary pressures and claim settlements are not helping.

Only insurers can cause a market change but Aviva’s attempts a few years ago did not work because other insurers did not assist for the benefit of all.

On the Personal side of the coin dual pricing does not help Brokers.   Existing customers are not helping this environment and are forced to assist the soft market scenario by constantly trying to get cheaper and cheaper quotations.  Insurers should look closely at this issue and provide an answer that protects their book of business as well as the brokers.

The broker sector appreciates regulation to ward off the ‘bad boys’ but lets hope the new regulators, know exactly what is required, but here at Hine it is expected we will get a regulatory visit in the early part of 2012.

Unfortunately we will not be seeing a return to the hard market days in the foreseeable future, but at Hine we have established systems and procedures to withstand what we are to be subsequently faced with.

Time to Go Ape!

Once home to a band of merry men, Sherwood Forrest seemed an unlikely choice of venue for a team of normally ‘suited and booted’ Recruitment Consultants to spend the day preceding the bank holiday weekend.

However, as a reward for their hard work, the team decamped en masse to Go Ape in Nottingham, one of Britain’s leading outdoor adventure companies. To the uninitiated, Go Ape is best described as a ‘Tree Top Adventure’, encompassing numerous zip wires, Tarzan swings and rope bridges, and unfortunately for the team on this occasion, some pretty unseasonal weather!

A key highlight for all but one of the team was Aston Charles’ very own Maid Marian, Saraya Fawcett, who when zip lining between trees, collided with the docking station and shot half way back up the wire. This resulted in Saraya being stranded 30 feet above the ground between trees in the pouring rain, much to her colleagues’ amusement (sorry Saraya!)

Director and self proclaimed ‘Friar Tuck for the day’, Richard Jones comments, “All the party found Go Ape to be a highly enjoyable team building exercise and a great way to get to know each other’s strengths away from the confines of the office’.

Go Ape has a number of activity centres across the country and for more information, please visit www.goape.co.uk

 

Promotion for Richard Jones

We are delighted to announce that, with effect from July 2011, Richard Jones has become  a Director of Aston Charles Ltd. Since joining the company two and half years ago, Richard has done an outstanding job of recruiting into the general insurance broking market throughout Yorkshire and the North West. Aston Charles’ Managing Director, James Heald comments, “Richard is one of the most passionate recruiters I have ever met and has gone above and beyond the call of duty to help grow our business and produce some excellent results during particularly challenging trading conditions. I am truly delighted for Richard and there is no one more deserving of this promotion than him.” Richard will continue with his fee earning duties, with additional operational responsibility for our new, specialist Financial Services team. Congratulations Richard!

 

Aston Charles Sponsors the Annual Insurance Institute of Leeds Golf Day

Aston Charles was very proud to sponsor the 2nd Insurance Institute of Leeds Golf Day, which took place on Friday 13th May at Cookridge Hall Golf Club.

This was a fantastic, yet very wet day, which saw 13 teams battle it out for the ‘top spot’ in some of Yorkshire’s most picturesque countryside. A wide range of companies entered, from global insurance companies, brokers, loss adjusters and business continuity specialists, as well as a highly reputable specialist insurance recruitment consultancy! Players ranged from semi pros down to the most inexperienced of entrants, Aston Charles’ MD, James Heald. James ‘learnt’ to play golf especially for the day, having taken a number of lessons with Julia Wilding, Past President of the Insurance Institute of Leeds. James and Julia were part of the team, ‘Diversity’, which despite its huge effort, came last. “I was just pleased to make it round the whole course,” said James in his soggy trousers. “It was the infamous pie and pea supper at the end that kept me going.” It turned out that James had been practising the night before at Cookridge Hall, but had had a rather unsuccessful dress rehearsal. He tells us that he lost a whole pack of new balls attempting to tee off on the 6th over 150 yards of lake, only to realise that he’d been using a pitching wedge instead of a 7 iron. “My coach told me how critical club selection is and I’ve let him down,” said James. Despite Aston Charles’ poor score, the day was still a great success. £1,750 was raised for the Insurance Charities and Leeds Children’s Charity. Some fantastic prizes were donated and won, including golf vouchers, tickets to the cricket at Headingley, luxury hampers and champagne. Well done to J M Glendining Insurance Brokers for winning the competition and thank you to Cookridge Hall Golf Club for being such great hosts. We look forward to seeing you again next year.

Aston Charles Toasts A Great Start To 2011

After a very successful first quarter, the Team at Aston Charles celebrated a great start to the year by spending the afternoon playing golf at Oulton Hall in Leeds.

Aston Charles’ MD and rookie  golfer, James Heald, explains, “Although we’re now officially out of the recession, we’re still in challenging trading conditions. The Team have really pulled together and we’ve witnessed exceptional sales growth in quarter 1, which has far exceeded our forecasts.

We wanted to do something that really rewarded everyone’s efforts, and where better to do than at one of Yorkshire’s best hotels and golf courses? If only I knew how to play golf!”

The team agreed to meet at HQ early and attend to any urgent business matters, in order to take full advantage of the glorious weather that had been promised. By mid morning, they had downed tools and ‘upped clubs’, and were soon enjoying their pre-teeing off refreshments. Despite circumnavigating Yorkshire 3 times, with a taxi driver who clearly had his mind on other things, the Team eventually arrived safely at Oulton Hall, and the competitive nature soon got underway. After a short warm-up on the driving range, Allan Parker soon established an unassailable lead, which he maintained all afternoon,  eventually being crowned ‘Aston Charles Golf Champion – 2011’. As delighted as Allan’s colleagues were for him, they are now petitioning for a rematch as a matter of urgency.

Following golf, the Team enjoyed a bar meal on the balcony of the Claret Jug, aside from Richard Jones, who was still stuck on the 17th hole, complaining about the wrong kind of sand being in the bunker!

James continues, “I really believe in rewarding hard work, and I look forward to even bigger and better events to celebrate our continued successes. To date, our staff have enjoyed some great rewards including hotel mini-breaks, meals out, and spa days and one day, I hope to be lucky enough to win one of these myself!’

As part of its strategic growth plans, Aston Charles is now looking  to expand into other professional services markets including Financial Services, Legal, Accountancy & Finance, HR and IT. If you think your career would benefit from working with like-minded recruitment professionals, in a friendly and supportive environment, and a culture where hard work is recognised and rewarded, please contact James Heald in the strictest of confidence on 0845 8388664.

 

Aston Charles reigns supreme at the Harrogate Insurance Institute Quiz

The Team at Aston Charles were rewarded for braving a trip to North Yorkshire, on a cold winter’s night, by coming first in the Harrogate Insurance Institute Quiz. Held annually at Harrogate’s Rugby Union Club House, the ‘Harrogate Quiz’, as it’s most commonly known, is a firm favourite of the social calendars of institutes across Yorkshire.

Buoyed by a record turnout for recent years, the quiz set off at a frenetic pace, and the Aston Charles Team,  having received ‘10 out of 10’ for the first three rounds, established a firm lead. This is thanks, in no small part, to Bluefin’s ‘Recruiter for the night’ Mark Wilding, who quickly proved himself to be a regular fountain of all knowledge. To his credit, and the rest of the Team’s embarrassment, Mark sportingly offered his team members the chance to answer, before coming up with the correct result.

A sprit of good natured competition soon filled the Club House, with many a joke answer put forward before teams got down to the serious business of putting pen to paper. This includes one hilarious gaff by Aston Charles’ MD, James Heald, who admits that sporting trivia is not his strong point. James boasted to knowing the answer to ‘at which Olympics was the film Cool Running’s based?’ – his team mates’ shocked stares were met with James proudly stating ‘the Winter Olympics, right?’.

From round four onwards, Aston Charles started to falter and their lead all but disappeared over the music round, resulting in a nail biting finish on the few last sets of questions. Fortunately, the penultimate round was on Mark’s specialist subject , History(after Sports, Trivia, People and Places, Literature, Science and Nature….) and the Team from Aston Charles managed to cruise to a reasonably comfortable finish.

Aside from enjoying a pleasant evening with colleagues, clients and friends, Aston Charles were delighted to win the inaugural ‘Julia Pattimore Memorial Trophy’. Julia, who sadly died in 2009, was a prominent figure within the local insurance community, and a big supporter of the ‘Harrogate Quiz’.

James comments, ‘Having worked with Julia Pattimore when I started my insurance career at Smart & Cook, I am honoured that Aston Charles are the first team to lift the trophy bearing her name, and look forward to setting the quiz next year and continuing this fine tradition’.

The Insurance Institute of Leeds donates over £800 to local charity

Council members of The Insurance Institute of Leeds visited Ripon Community Link, the President’s nominated charity, to provide them with a cheque for £815. Amongst the attendees was Aston Charles’ MD, James Heald. James explained “Ripon Community Link do a fantastic job of providing support to people with learning difficulties. We were made to feel very welcome and it was great to see such a diverse range of activities available. We know that the money that the Institute has raised will go a long way to enriching people’s lives”. He continues “These funds were raised from the recent Insurance Institute of Leeds Annual Golf Day, together with a donation from the President’s annual discretionary fund. This is a great opportunity for the industry to give something back”. Pictured – Insurance Institute of Leeds President, Julia Wilding, council member, Daniel Storr from Brit Insurance, and staff and members of Ripon Community Link.

Cumbrian Floods – 12 Months On

It’s been over 12 months since Aston Charles first reported on the devastating floods, which hit Cumbria in mid November 2009. Our intrepid blogger, Richard Jones, has returned to Keswick to see how life has changed for those who live and work in the Lake District.

One of the first ports of call on Richard’s whistle-stop tour of Cumbria was the Bed & Breakfast he first visited after the floods. “Having been in occasional dialogue with the proprietors throughout 2010, I knew they were still going through the restoration process, but was saddened to see that the B&B was still not visibly any closer to trading than it was during my last visit to Cumbria in June”  Richard continues, “In early November, the floor was still to be dug out and resealed with a waterproof membrane as it had been laid incorrectly, and extensive plastering was required using a specialist product designed for flood prone properties”. Richard goes on to explain, “Perhaps more saddening is the effect that such major loss claims have on policyholders. This claim has been dragging on for over a year now, the insured have been living in rented accommodation and relying on Business Interruption payments, and it’s truly disheartening to see the lack of progress”.

As Richard anticipated in his last report from Cumbria, the value of claims rose way in excess of the £100M initial estimate made by the ABI (It is now rumoured to be in excess of £175M and counting).   The latest figures from the AXA Parliamentary Flooding Event in Westminster show that household insurance for homes in high flood risk areas is being subsidised by £511 per year, meaning policyholders are only paying 42% of the true cost of insurance to protect against flooding.

So what next for those who live in those areas deemed to be a high flood risk, and can the inhabitants of towns like Keswick, Cockermouth and Workington seek solace from pledges made by the Coalition Government’s predecessors during a time of biting austerity measures and in light of ‘U turn’ by Nick Clegg on tuition fees?

Evidence obtained from the Environment Agency suggests that with nearly half (47%) of households and businesses in flood hit areas taking steps to protect their own properties, many have little faith in the authorities to provide effective flood defence schemes anytime soon. As a result, a quarter of these households and businesses are taking it upon themselves to make permanent structural changes to their properties.

Aside from the worries of being insured at a reasonable rate, those who live in flood risk areas feel they need support from the insurance industry or from Government grants to help bear the significant costs involved in making a property flood resistant. There is a clear need for unbiased professional advice on what measures are best to take, as many builders do not seem to understand how to make a property flood resistant/resilient and are unfamiliar with the products now available  – back-flow valves, waterproof concretes, plasters etc.

With this in mind, it is clear that many people who have been personally effected by the 2009 floods have little faith in a large scale, cohesive response by the Government.  As we head into the New Year only time will tell what the future holds for people who live in flood risk areas.