Westfield Specialty International has laid out plans to build a UK and European liability portfolio. The expansion comes after Westfield established company market operations in Luxembourg at the end of last year. The carrier aims to underwrite a broad range of liability risks across multiple regulatory and legal jurisdictions.

Management consultancy Oxbow Partners expects the UK motor market to remain profitable this year and next after it recorded profits of around £2bn in 2025. It forecasts that profits will drop to £1.3bn this year and then fall further in 2027. It predicts a combined ratio for the market of 95% in 2026 and 96% in 2027.

Last year, Aviva detected fraud totalling £233m and identified more than 18,400 suspicious claims across its brands, including Direct Line. The carrier says ghost broking rose by 7% and that it stopped a total of 105,000 bogus insurance applications during the year.

Specialist landlord insurance broker Protect My Let, which is part of Howden, has partnered with Addept Insurance Services. The agreement enables Protect My Let to offer Addept’s tenant pet damage protection insurance for landlords – Not for Lions – to its residential landlord customers.

JMG Group has acquired Langton London Insurance Brokers and Portsoken Ltd. It comprises commercial broker Langton London and managing general agent Portsoken. Langton London controls gross written premiums of £7m and has a focus on professional indemnity, cyber, recruitment and specialist SME risks. Portsoken specialises in the recruitment and property professional sectors.

Managing general agent NBS Underwriting has agreed a partnership with AmTrust Specialty Ltd that enables it to offer an additional £5m excess layer on top of its existing £5m primary capacity payer, which is supported by Hadron or Accelerant. NBS Underwriting says the deal enables brokers to place higher limits in a simplified structure.

Managing general agent Pen Underwriting has doubled its cyber cover limit to £10m, which is available for companies with revenues of up to £600m. The new limit is available from 1st July and has been introduced in response to demand from brokers for higher limits.

Axa UK has agreed partnerships with Logistics UK and Driving for Better Business to enhance its fleet management proposition by providing access to a range of road risk management tools and support.

Markerstudy Group has rebranded its personal lines broking arm, which will now be known as Markerstudy Retail. It offers car, motorcycle, home, lifestyle and pet insurance products and includes numerous proprietary brands such as Swinton Insurance, Carole Nash Insurance, Marmalade, Budget Insurance, Lancaster Insurance and Purely Pets. Emma Rawlinson will lead the division as its chief executive officer.

The London Market Group’s data council has opened a consultation to examine the requirements of core data records for delegated authority business. It will examine the structure and fields of the records and will run until 19th June.

Specialty re/insurance broker Consilium has launched a new underwriting platform – Scriptus – that offers brokers access to a complex commercial binding facility. Covers available include commercial combined, contractors combined, combined liabilities, property, CAR and plant and excess of loss. Trades covered include civil engineers, precision engineers, groundworkers and building contractors and allied trades.

Electric vehicle manufacturer BYD UK has selected Ageas UK as its lead panel insurer for its embedded insurance proposition, which is delivered in partnership with technology specialist bolttech and broker Car Care Plan.

Half (49%) of Northern Ireland’s drivers say they cannot spot a fake policy, although two-thirds (66%) of them are aware of ghost brokers selling bogus policies. The research comes from CompareNI.com and the price comparison website is urging drivers to be extra vigilant when buying cover.

Policy administration and distribution technology specialist Instanda has launched a new product – Instanda Clear – to help insurers manage complex human workflows across their underwriting and operational functions. The firm says it enhances governance of work that cannot be fully automated.

Data from Defaqto’s latest quarterly van insurance price index shows that premiums nudged up by 0.2% in March and by 0.2% in April, before dropping by 0.4% in May. Average quoted premiums are almost 10% down on last year and by more than 18% since the start of 2025.

Managing general agent Alps has launched a contract hire finance shortfall GAP cover product to provide protection against vehicle finance shortfalls. In the event of a total loss, the product covers the difference between the market value settlement provided by insurance and the outstanding finance balance owed on the vehicle.