A round-up of the latest insurance stories online

An extraordinary week of headline-grabbing news stories affecting the insurance sector sent online traffic sky-high. Among the highlights were a number of exclusives by Insurance Times.

Top of the pile was our story revealing details of up to nine defections from Lloyd’s insurer Mitsui Sumitomo. Our online readers went into a clicking frenzy before the full story appeared in last week’s magazine.

Photos again ranked highly, with lots of users logging on to check our gallery from the Global Leaders’ Forum.

Two much-anticipated events that created a mass of headlines outside the insurance world also led to a stir on the site.

The first covered the points that matter from Lord Young’s eagerly awaited health and safety review, while the second gave details of cuts to flood defences, set out in the coalition government spending review. As might be expected, these led to a host of industry responses, which features prominently on the site.

The spending review was a web extravaganza, with plenty of sites covering the story and offering analysis. It was one of the most popular topics to trend on Twitter in the hours and days preceding the announcement.

Away from Whitehall, Beazley's “cheeky bid” for Hardy came out of the blue – and our scoop revealing the launch of a Lloyd's business by Stuart Randall ranked highly.

Our exclusive on Paul Meehan's exit from AXA also attracted lots of clicks.

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Online Top 10

Rivals in staff raid on Mitsui

In pictures: Industry big hitters at the Global Leaders Forum

Young backs claims overhaul

Spending Review: Osborne unveils flood defence cut

Beazley bid for Hardy rejected

Randall's Ataraxia in Lloyd's insurer launch

Meehan leaves AXA

Quinn retains one UK commercial client

Allianz to bid for Channel Tunnel rail link

Brit appoints four directors

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