Insurance Times Advent Calendar: Ant Middle

1. What was your insurance highlight of 2024?

The highlight for me has been the incredibly positive feedback from brokers about Ageas’ commitment and support for them in a challenging personal lines market – which helped us win the Personal Lines Insurer of the Year accolade for the second year running at 2024’s Insurance Times Awards on 4 December. It is a fantastic way to close 2024.

Our move three years ago to focus on personal lines products traded through brokers – backed by our investment in technical insurance skills, technology, data analytics and efficiency – is reaping rewards. This has put us in a great position to build on the long-standing, successful broker partnerships we value so highly.

2. What is your Christmas message for your insurance colleagues?

In the last few years, we’ve experienced a global pandemic, a cost of living crisis, high inflation and we’ve seen war unfold. All of these events have affected insurance and touched our customers in one way or another.

I congratulate all my insurance colleagues and broker partners on their Herculean efforts to mitigate the impacts of these events and ensure our customers’ interests remain front and centre – no matter what the challenges may be.

3. What do you hope to find under the industry’s Christmas tree for 2025?

In a world where we need to be embracing technological advancement, developing strategies to address climate risks, enhancing customers’ experiences and driving business growth, we wish for a stable regulatory and political backdrop, which encourages businesses to invest and innovate with confidence.

As for Ageas, we are aiming for a flying start to our new strategic cycle, setting a heightened ambition for our business. This includes doubling down on our support for brokers in personal lines for the long term.