Ex-R&SA MD is Direct Group chair

Steve Broughton, former managing director at Royal & SunAlliance, has been appointed chairman of Direct Group with effect from 1 October following completion of the £40m management buyout exercise with the backing of Lloyds Development Capital.

Broughton who is also on the boards of insurer Fortis UK, software house SSP Holdings, motor claims management company Ai Claims Solutions and chairs the Sun Alliance Pension Fund brings a wealth of experience of the UK insurance market to theboard. He was formerly chairman of Polaris UK, the industry owned joint venture also responsible for i-market, and of Swinton.

Derek Coles, the chief executive officer who led the recent management buyout at Direct Group commented: “Steve joins us at an exciting time and his depth and breadth of experience across all aspects of the insurance market will, add significant value to our business. Richard Watson will continue as deputy chairman as we strengthen our senior team”.

Broughton said: “I am delighted to join Direct Group. It has a great opportunity to assist both insurers and intermediaries or affinities to reduce their costs and increase their marketing penetration in a variety of personal lines product lines with its extremely impressive systems and management information capabilities. We will also be looking to expand further through a number of targeted acquisitions.”