Brown to depart insurer after 25 years

Adrian Brown, RSA’s chief executive UK and Western Europe, has resigned from the insurer after 25 years for a role with broker Arthur J Gallagher, Insurance Times has learned.

Brown is understood to be joining Gallagher as an executive chairman to head its underwriting and personal lines activities.

Brown has been chief executive of RSA UK since 2008 and was previously its chief operating officer with responsibility for claims, sales, service, IT and change across personal and commercial lines.

Before that, he was UK director of personal lines and instrumental in the launch of the insurer’s direct personal lines brand, More Th>n.

RSA declined to comment and spokesmen for Gallagher were unavailable to comment.

Brown’s departure will come as a disappointment to RSA’s new group chief executive Stephen Hester. RSA was named General Insurer of the Year at last year’s Insurance Times awards – a category voted for by brokers.

Brown has also been instrumental in RSA’s actions to improve its financial strength after a series of profit warnings and the discovery of claims and accounting irregularities in Ireland.  

Gallagher has grown significantly in the UK retail space and has bought Oval, Giles, Oamps, Barbon’s property and commercial book and Belmont in the last 12 months alone.

According to Insurance Times calculations, the buys have transformed Gallagher into a £575.4m broker in the UK, with £1bn of retail premiums under its control.