Financial and professional lines managing general agent Spring Insure has secured enhanced A-rated capacity across all its product lines as part of a deal with hybrid fronting insurer, Bridgehaven Specialty UK. Spring Insure is targeting growth of 50% in its gross written premium in the coming 12 months.

Mohamed Choudhary has received a two-year suspended sentence from Inner London Crown Court for selling invalid insurance policies and covering up his own driving offences while applying for cover. The prosecution came after Aviva referred the case to the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department.

UK Export Finance has gone live with an online portal that UK firms can use to apply for government-backed export insurance. The export credit agency said the new portal would make it quicker and easier for firms to apply for cover.

Digital distribution platform solutions provider IS2 has launched an API enabled hosted pricing solution for commercial insurers and managing general agents. The technology makes it easier and faster for providers to sell their cover across multiple distribution channels.

Price Forbes Re has appointed Fred Few Brown and Jonathan Gerken as it grows its facultative team across all product lines. They will both be based in London. Few Brown will be responsible for property fac while Gerken will have a focus on terrorism and political violence.

Axa UK has improved its online capabilities and made it possible for customers to notify claims digitally for losses on their motor and home policies. The insurer said the move would create convenience for customers as well as making the claims process more efficient.

CFC has teamed up with Standard Chartered to create an insurance product that provides cover for the risks associated with providing debt financing to carbon credit projects. CFC said it was now focusing on bringing the lender insurance product to more banking institutions to enable them to provide commercial loans to carbon credit projects.

The Lloyd’s Market Association has set up a market-wide consultation on the Computable Binding Authority Agreement model wording that is being developed with the support of Lloyd’s, the London & International Insurance Brokers’ Association, the Managing General Agents’ Association and the International Underwriting Association.

Consumer watchdog Which? wants the Financial Conduct Authority to prevent insurers charging excessively high interest rates to customers who pay monthly. Which? said that new research in this area had found one provider was charging an annual percentage rate of more than 45%. The research covered 49 car and 48 home insurers.

Lloyd’s has announced the 10 insurtechs that will make up the 13th cohort of its Lloyd’s Lab Accelerator programme, which is the first to focus on building resilience in the Middle East and Africa. It also encompasses the themes of ‘data, models and processes’ and ‘new products.’

Carrick UK Holdings Company Limited, which is a subsidiary of non-life legacy insurance business Carrick Group Limited has acquired two Irish captives. They are BMS International Insurance DAC and Seamair Insurance DAC, which are both regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

Moody's Ratings has changed its outlook for the UK property and casualty insurance sector to stable from negative. The move reflects the impact if rising premiums to absorb claims inflation in personal lines and Moody’s said premium rates in the commercial market were sufficient to support strong insurer performance.

Professional services and technology company Davies has appointed Paul O’Brien (pictured) as the firm’s first group chief AI officer. In this newly created role he will be responsible for advancing the use of AI technology across the organisation and for developing a core strategy for the ethical use of the technology. He was previously chief technology officer of Davies’ Global Solutions division.

Digital distributor Starpeak has teamed up with commercial insurer Peach Pi to create specialist products for the micro/SME sector. The aim is to provide flexible covers that reflect the individual and diverse needs of smaller businesses.

According to the latest Pet Insurance Price Index from Pearson Ham Group, the average price of pet insurance dipped by 0.2% in August, but were still 10% higher than a year ago. August saw cover for dogs fall by 0.3% while it went it by 0.3% for cats.

Consultancy MarshBerry has reported 12 merger and acquisition deals in the insurance sector during August and believes there will be an uptick in activity in the coming weeks due to the widely predicted changes to capital gains tax that are expected to be announced at the end of October.