Weblog - 5 August 2010 | People & Opinion

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A round-up of the latest insurance stories online

Results season is upon us again and judging by the powerful headlines they are already generating, we could be in for an interesting couple of weeks. One of the first to report was Australian giant IAG.

It wasn’t the numbers that caught the attention of our online readers, however, but the major development relating to UK chief executive Neil Utley. News of his departure from the business caused a wave of traffic to the site.

Our online readers were also treated to exclusive comments from Utley on his plans once he steps down in September.

On the morning that Brit Insurance announced its half-year numbers, it also updated the market on the latest offer from private equity giant Apollo. The takeover saga at Brit has created a mass of headlines in recent weeks and the news was once again widespread across the web.

But the most popular story didn’t come from the stack of interim results. NIG’s shock announcement that it is planning to exit personal lines was in fact the most clicked story by a considerable margin.

The story prompted one online reader to comment: “It didn’t take them long to put this plan in action. First Finsure was put into run-off and now NIG (personal lines) – one of the broker’s best-liked insurers in the market, until RBS got their hands on it, and ruined what was a great insurer.”

Our story tipping AXA Life boss Paul Evans to replace Nicolas Moreau as group chief executive was also a huge hit (now confirmed: http://trim.li/nk/356s).

Meanwhile, our Fair Fees campaign, and particularly our online petition, is still attracting much attention online.