Insurance

Aviva has appointed Amanda Thomson as branch manager for Scotland and Northern Ireland. She will be responsible for overseeing trading across the entire Northern Ireland and Scotland region, leading a team of more than 50 underwriters based at Aviva's offices in Glasgow and Belfast. 

The UK economy grew by 0.4% in July, faster than analysts’ expectations, and offering some relief to battered markets. Some economists had predicted no growth and the latest figure builds on growth of 0.3% in June and zero growth in May.

Baillie Gifford, Aberdeen Group and BlackRock lead the pack with multiple nominations at this year's Scottish Financial Services Awards shortlist, which has just been revealed. The flagship industry celebration recognises the contribution that both firms and their people have made to the financial s

Standard Life expects £800 million in ‘net synergies’ from its £2 billion acquisition of Aegon UK which will be complete by the end of the year. This is likely to be achieved by savings and adding value and noted it was poised for a “step-change” in strengthening

Swedish private equity firm EQT is to acquire a majority stake in McGill and Partners for $2bn from Warburg Pincus. Founder and chief executive Steve McGill will continue to lead the firm, while chairman John Lloyd will remain actively involved. Both will remain as significant shareholders alongside

Sandy Begbie has a message for anyone convinced artificial intelligence is about to wipe out entry-level jobs in Scottish financial services: it isn't happening, not yet, and not the way the debate suggests. "No one is saying to us that there's any major job losses," the Scottish Financial Enterpris

M&G has swung to a £165m loss for the six months of the year, driven by a £325m write-down, due to the Labour government's introduction of a cap on existing ground rent. The insurer and asset manager still managed to beat market expectations. Adjusted operating profit, which excludes

Lloyds of London saw its profits before tax decrease to £3.5bn in the first half of 2026, down 16.8% from £4.2bn for the same period, warning that "geopolitical instability" is threatening syndicates. Lloyd's explained that its investment returns of £1.8bn, down from £3.2bn,

Hedge funds, insurers and pension funds across the City are scrambling to close out internal misconduct investigations before new FCA rules, designed to stop so-called "rolling bad apples", take effect next month. The term refers to rogue employees who move between firms without ever facing conseque

Life insurer and asset manager Aegon has increased its planned second-half share buyback program after recording an operating result of €804m in the first half of 2026. Aegon announced on the same day as its results that chief financial officer Duncan Russell would step down and leave the compa

Aviva's UK and Ireland general insurance chief executive Jason Storah (C) Aviva Aviva's UK and Ireland General Insurance chief executive Jason Storah has revealed the insurer wants to "ramp up" its specialty personal lines provision by leveraging newly integrated Direct Line.

Specialist international reinsurance broker Willis Re has agreed to buy BMS Groups' US reinsurance division. The broker is hoping the deal will allow it to sharpen the focus of its global reinsurance business as it snaps up BMS Re US, BMS Intermediaries, BMS Capital Advisory and its reinsurance brok

Aviva's UK and Ireland general insurance chief executive Jason Storah has avoided answering questions around the impact of its Artificial Intelligence (AI) investment on the workforce as it continues to adopt the technology. Mr Storah acknowledged that the firm was exploring "how many people do we n

Major banks, insurance companies and building societies have tightened up their inclusion policies to require staff and visitors to use single-sex spaces matching their biological sex, rather than  their gender identity, in order to comply with the Supreme Court ruling. Admiral, Coventry Buildi

Aviva has beaten market expectations as its integration of Direct Line and general insurance division drove its operating profits for the first half of 2026 by 24%. Chief executive Dame Amanda Blanc's £3.7 billion bet on taking over motor insurer Direct Line has paid off, helped by the number