Broker network UKGI has launched Insurance Risk Solutions (IRS), a new firm aimed at giving risk management support to its members.

The service is designed to increase transparency through the development of exclusive member-only schemes.

It will also give member firms access to brokers which operate on a wholesale basis or through an underwriting agency.

UKGI sales and marketing director Shaun Godfrey said IRS would offer members expert advice on accessing markets which normally would exclude their business.

He said: "Small and medium firms occasionally come across a risk which is out of their area. This service will help them to place that risk."

The service will also offer guidance on the creation of complex wordings and claims support for large and complicated losses.

It is the first such venture for UKGI, following its launch in May 2006, after a complex management buyout, which Bob Beckett became a majority shareholder in the former Bankhall GI business along with Godfrey and Mike Williams.