Weblog

When the great RBS Insurance sale returned to the spotlight, online users must have felt a touch of déjà vu as similar headlines that graced the “sale that never happened” around this time last year started appearing across the web.

Last time around, RBS’s attempts to sell its insurance division were followed avidly by insurancetimes.co.uk visitors for almost ten months, resulting in record traffic figures on the site as bids were lodged and then rejected. The event eventually left followers disappointed when incoming RBS chief executive Stephen Hester pulled the plug on the sale, and it was no more.

Until now that is. Because under the current conditions of the government’s Asset Protection Scheme, RBS Insurance must be sold within four years.

No surprises, then, that insurancetimes.co.uk’s story ‘RBSI back on the market’ was the most read on the site over the past week and caused a flurry of traffic as it landed in subscribers’ inboxes. Online coverage of the story was vast and varied across the web, with expert blogs, analysis and videos hosted on YouTube just some of the ways to follow the developments.

Elsewhere, Oval’s latest results, showing a £400,000 pre-tax loss, also caused a stir among online visitors.

Meanwhile, coverage of Insurance Times events continues to feature on the website. You can now see video highlights of the interview between former AXA chief executive Peter Hubbard and Willis UK boss Brendan McManus from last month’s Insurance Times Leaders Forum.

Online Top 5

RBSI back on the market

Government will order bank to sell UK’s second largest insurer

Oval posts £400,000 loss

Broker blames exceptional costs for loss as turnover rises 16%

Treasury confirms RBSI sale

Forced sale of insurance division allows RBS state aid

Consolidators at the crossroads

Analysis: and so the consolidation craze rolls on

FSCS set for review

Biba lobbying results in FSA review of broker funding and fees