Research from Flood Re and the University of Hull has shown that low-cost tapes are better at stopping flood water breaching doors than traditional sandbags. The tests, commissioned by Flood Re and carried out by the University of Hull, demonstrate that flood putty tape, duct tape, aluminium tape and yellow plastic tape all perform better than sandbags when applied to the outside of a doorway.

Data from CompareNI.com shows than young drivers (aged 17 to 24) in Northern Ireland are paying an average of £1,432 for their annual motor insurance premium. It says this is about 25% more than the national UK average for this age group and a rise of 10% in the three months to September this year takes it past London as the most expensive region.

Seventeen Group has snapped up independent Lloyd’s broker Dashwood Brewer and Phipps, which was established in 1919, in a move that enhances the group’s Lloyd’s and London market capability. Dashwood Brewer and Phipps has operated within the Lloyd’s market for more than 50 years and will retain its brand going forward.

Commercial property insurer FM has expanded its available risk solutions to include parametric insurance, structured risk solutions and captive cells. The carrier says the move creates greater flexibility for clients to better manage the cost of cover and navigate constrained market capacity.

Managing general agent Subscribe has signed a long-term capacity deal with Fortegra Insurance UK Ltd. The £5m binder will support Subscribe’s portfolio of UK micro and SME professional indemnity business.

Consumer watchdog Which? is calling on the government to ban insurance providers from charging customers who pay their motor insurance on a monthly basis following a mystery shopping exercise that uncovered interest rates as high as 53%.

Tokio Marine Kiln has increased the scope of its Cyber Ctrl PD+ wording to improve the cover available to insureds in the event that a cyber incident impacts physical assets, supply chains and financial transactions.

Managing general agent Arkel, which is part of the Atec Group, will launch its non-standard home and landlord schemes on CDL’s cloud-based platform Proteus. Arkel says the decision marks the beginning of a wider migration to the platform.

Flood Re has acquired BeFloodReady, which is a brand that started life as an Environment Agency Pathfinder project before Cornwall Council took ownership of it. Flood Re aims to develop BeFloodReady into a national programme for flood resilience that offers access to flood resilience information, support, research and innovation thoughout the UK.

Managing general agent Crux Underwriting has revamped its broker-facing technology enabling brokers to submit, quote and bind terror risks online via its CruxHub platform, which sits on top of its core underwriting system.

Brown and Brown UK has welcomed its first cohort of graduates onto a three-year training programme designed to give the next generation of talent a broad perspective of the business and access to senior personnel across various disciplines.

Neil Grimshaw has established Decello Ltd, a directly authorised broker that is based in Huddersfield and aims to support commercial clients and high-net-worth private clients, He previously founded Leeds-based Ravenhall Risk Solutions, which was acquired by Jensten in 2022.

Seventeen Group has acquired Sovereign Insurance Services, which is a Gibraltar-based broker. The deal boosts Seventeen’s presence in the market and complements its acquisition of Senate Insurance Brokers earlier this year.

The British Insurance Brokers’ Association has named Acrisure UK as the provider of its latent defects insurance scheme. Acrisure UK’s specialist construction team will provide BIBA members with access to cover for residential and commercial developments across the UK.

In 2025, insurers weeded out fraudulent claims with a combined value of £1.34bn, according to the Association of British Insurers. This was up by 14% on the £1.18bn detected in the previous year. The average value for each claim reached £14,300, second only to the £14,600 recorded in 2022.

Oak Global has secured Lloyd’s approval to launch Oak Partnerships, which will provide capacity to underwriting partners for multi-class insurance risk portfolios. The first risks will incept from 1st January 2027 and capacity for the new proposition will come from Oak Syndicate 1440.