Lloyd’s broker MNK International, which is part of MNK Group, is setting up a new aviation and aerospace division. It has appointed Danny Greenaway as managing director of the new entity, which will complement its existing specialist and emerging risk teams.

Antares Syndicate 1274 has increased its stamp capacity for the coming year to £445m. This is up by 4.7% on 2026’s capacity of £425m. It writes domestic and international property, casualty, marine and specialty re/insurance and has been active in Lloyd’s since 2008.

Irwell Insurance, which specialises in liability and legal expenses cover, has opened a new office in London and announced gross written premium of more than £50m, up by 30% on an annualised basis. The new office adds to its existing headquarters in Manchester.

Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance has agreed a deal with Canopius Group to acquire an additional 40.6% stake in the re/insurer, taking its total holding to 80.6%. The transaction also sees investment firm KKR and Korea Investment Corporation secures respective stakes of 12.1% and 7.3%.

Insurance intermediary Tradesman Saver has added Axa and another unnamed insurer to its business insurance panel, alongside existing carrier Covéa Insurance. Customers can now compare the simultaneous quotes provided for their risk from the three different underwriters. Policies cover tool theft, legal expenses, financial loss and public liability.

HDI Global UK and Ireland will begin underwriting through Lloyd’s syndicate 2029 on 1st January 2027 after receiving the requisite permission to underwrite from the insurance market. The insurer announced it had received in principle permission in the summer.

The London Engineering Group has published three new model clauses, which provide different levels of cover for physical damage caused by a defect in insured property. LEG was established in 1984 and in July this year became part of the International Underwriting Association.

PremFina has agreed a long-term deal with digital insurance brand boom, which is a trading name of Abacai Technologies Limited, to provide premium finance options to its customers. Boom offers motor insurance and operates as an appointed representative of Complete Cover Group Limited.

Figures from the Association of British Insurers show that motor insurers paid out £3.2bn in claims during Q3 this year, equalling the record set in Q2. The figure is 8% higher than Q3 last year. The ABI said the average claim now totalled £4,900, up by 1% on an annualised basis.

Managing general agent Pen Underwriting has secured an extension to its capacity partnership with specialty underwriter SiriusPoint, which will provide capacity for the MGA’s social housing proposition until at least 2030. The two firms began their partnership in 2024.

Aon has partnered alternative asset manager Blackstone to launch Cortina syndicate 1956, a new reinsurance vehicle at Lloyd’s. Cortina has received in principle approval from Lloyd’s and is working to secure the additional permissions required to begin underwriting on 1st January 2027.

In the last year, Zurich UK has detected £109.3m of fraudulent insurance claims, attributing more than 16% (17.9m) of that total to the use of connected AI and advanced analytics tools. The insurer spotted 4,359 fraudulent claims across its casualty, motor and property portfolios.

Data from Consumer Intelligence’s latest home insurance price index shows that home insurance premiums fell by 2.2% in Q3 and are down by 4.9% in the 12 months to the end of September 2026. The index takes an average of the five lowest quotes from price comparison websites.

Hastings Direct wants to recruit 500 people in the coming year to support ongoing growth. The expansion is across all aspects of the business and personnel will populate customer facing teams as well as those focused on claims, pricing, underwriting, commercial, data, and technology.

Allianz Commercial has received in-principle approval from Lloyd’s for a new syndicate, Allianz Commercial 1893, which it hopes will begin underwriting from 1 January 2027. The plans are subject to final regulatory approval.

Intense competition continues to impact the pet insurance market which has seen premiums for lifetime pet cover fall by 14% over the past 12 months. The figures from Defaqto’s latest pet insurance pricing index record an average of the top five quoted prices.