New units to focus on retail, leisure, manufacturing and public services sectors

Royal & SunAlliance (R&SA) is set to create four new specialist trading units following the successful launch of similar units last year.

The new units will focus on the retail, leisure, manufacturing and public services sectors as part of an increased focus on medium size businesses.

The insurer already operates trading units across marine, professional and financial risks, small businesses and large corporates and is now keen to expand its current offering to cover fast growing sectors.

Jon Woodman, broker trading director at R&SA, said: “We have a high level of knowledge and expertise and will be investing heavily in increasing the expertise of our traders in those areas.”

Woodman also confirmed that the insurer is close to opening six regional trading floors around the UK in an effort to get its decision makers to the front line.

It opened a unit in Leeds last summer, focusing on sales and underwriting, to service its broker partners in Yorkshire, Humberside and the North East.

Trading floors will be introduced to its Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Croydon and London offices.

Woodman said: “We are putting our most experienced traders on the front line so that they can deal directly with brokers. We have appointed trading partners to help brokers get the best deals.”

Paul Donaldson, managing director of broker at R&SA, added: “By continuing to invest in trading units and rolling out our underwriter presence regionally, we can better identify which risks their customers face and focus more on how we can support them.”