In Brief

Cover to sort all suits
Brokers' scope for quotes will widen with six new commerical property products from NIG. The Tradesman and Retailer commerical products can already be accessed using the CSC Gilt Edge quotation system that provides full point-of-sale documentation. Office, Property Owners, Commerical Property Owners and Licensed Trade are to be added to the system by the end of 2000.

Pretty vacant policy
Uxbidge-based Orbis Property Protection has a new risk management product for vacant housing that caps the financial risk to landlords in the event of vandalism or theft. The product is underwritten by Royal and SunAlliance, and supported by JLT Risk Municipal Risks.

Get away with Argos
High Street retailer Argos has launched a travel insurance, airport parking and car hire service.Argos Travel Insurance offers a choice of single trips, annual and extended stay policies, with special rates for couples.

Finsure is king of MC Edwards
Finsure Premium Finance has won the contract to be the sole provider of premium finance for brokers MC Edwards Group of Companies. MC Edwards has more than 50,000 customers and premium income of more than £10m. Finsure has just launched a commercial lines arm to complement its personal lines service.

Moore help with risks
Insurance accountant Moore Stephens has developed a new outcome and risk analysis service. Dynamic Risk Solutions gives insights into business planning which, it claims, could benefit buyers and sellers of insurance and reinsurance coverage.

Bringing the house down
Demand for household insurance is likely to slow as the housing market shows further signs of cooling.
Mortgage lending fell by 6.1% in the year to July, as the number of first-time borrowers declined, says the Council of Mortgage Lenders. The CML forecasts house prices will continue to fall further as first-time buyers are priced out of the market.

GISC lands member 435
Euclidian Insurance Services signed up to the General Insurance Standards Council, the new regulatory body for firms selling general insurance products, this week. The GISC now claims 435 members. It has set itself a target of reaching a 1,000 members by the end of the year.

DAS the way to do it
Brokers have given the thumbs up to DAS following countrywide consultation on service level needs, claims the insurer. DAS says each of the 5,000 intermediaries surveyed was given a customised solution to its needs and is now producing “unprecedented” volumes of new business enquiries.
The survey also showed that brokers like dealing with a one-stop shop.

TiG to buy tech firm
The Innovation Group (TiG) is to buy Technology in Marketing, a developer of business intelligence systems in the insurance sector, for up to £16.2m. TiG is also to acquire Invent Software, the developer of Centurion, the London market ebusiness trading insurance solution, for £900,000 cash and 329,000 new shares. In addition, TiG is to place three million shares with institutional investors to raise around £15m to pay for the acquisitions and provide extra working capital.

Whose survey now?
Insurance Times is to publish its annual Household Insurance Survey in its forthcoming September property supplement. Questionnaires have been sent out already. Any company that has not yet received one but would like to be included should call the features editor, Alison Boyle on : 020 7618 3494, or email at alison@instimes.co.uk

It's a capital report
The Insurance Institute of London has published a 180-page Advanced Study Group report on developments in excess of loss reinsurance (XoL). The study examines the profound changes in the market since the late eighties and their implications for current participants in the London market.

Underwriters of world unite
Link Insurance has invited visitors from around the world to its third summer workshop. Delegates from Colombia, Croatia, Japan, Poland and Slovenia spent a week at the Maidstone, Kent-based company to gain an insight into how an insurer underwrites property and motor risks. There were also tutorials and visits to relevant specialists.

Rent-a-Renault
Renault UK has chosen Enterprise Rent-A-car as sole supplier of courtesy cars for its 263 dealerships.
The new partnership gives Renault dealers the chance to outsource part of their courtesy car fleet and extend an existing arrangement where Enterprise already supplies courtesy vans to them.