Insurance premium tax receipts have continued to rise in the first quarter of the 2026/27 financial year, bringing the three-month total for April-June to £2.172bn, exceeding last year’s total across the same period by £2m, according to figures from HMRC.

Global specialty re/insurance broker Consilium has partnered with CyberCube to offer client access to its Broking Manager cyber risk analytics platform. The service will be offered to clients for free as part of Consilium’s quoting process.

Motor insurance costs have become a major source of anxiety for UK motorists, with over a third (35%) of policyholders now afraid to make a claim for fear of pushing up prices, according to research from CRIF.

Flood Re wants to see a more consistent and transparent approach to identifying and mitigating flood risk for new developments. It commissioned research from Ardent Consulting Engineering which found that planning bodies currently assume flood risk has been mitigated, which is not always the case. It also found the existing process made it difficult to identify and recognise good practice.

PremFina has agreed a £400m senior debt facility with UK bank Lloyds. The premium finance provider says the deal will support continued expansion of its loan book, which has grown by more than 300% in the past 18 months.

Almost half of brokers (46%) named faster claims settlements from insurers as their top priority. Better risk management support (34%) came second, while securing increased insights into the risks attached to their clients’ businesses (32%) was third.

Defaqto says the 1% increase in June for combined buildings and contents insurance may suggest the market has reached a point of inflexion after two years of falling premiums. Across Q2, Defaqto said the average of the five most competitive quoted premiums was still down by 0.7% with dips of 0.4% in April and 1.2% in May, before the June reversal.

Open GI has added Arkel’s landlord product (premier let) to its SME platform, which already supports Arkel’s non-standard household product and its let property scheme. The new product includes landlords’ building insurance, loss of income, contents and property owners’ liability up to £2m.

The Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority have issued a consultation on a new regulatory framework for captive insurance in the UK. The consultation relates to single-parent captives and runs until 14th October. The regulators will then publish finalised rules with implementation following in mid-2027.

The Association of British Insurers and the British Insurance Brokers’ Association have issued a joint statement detailing the industry’s bid to support drivers in Northern Ireland who are struggling to secure MOT appointments due to a lack of capacity in the testing market.

Manchester-based managing general agent Ripe generated turnover of £24.9m in 2025, a jump of 21% on the previous year. It says this is the 18th consecutive year in which it has achieved double-digit growth. Policyholder numbers rose 15% to 430,000.

Motor fleet specialist Flock has launched a new chatbot assistant Jay that is housed in the Flock portal and is available to every fleet policyholder. Brokers also have access to the assistant for every fleet they place. Flock says Jay can complete risk analysis, spot emerging threats and suggest risk mitigation actions by studying the vehicle, claims and connected miles of each fleet.

NBS Underwriting has launched a new product for golf clubs, courses and their associated facilities. NBS says the proposition builds on its established focus on the sports and leisure sector and can accommodate the mixture of sporting, hospitality and retail risks found in golf clubs.

In the five years since the Financial Conduct Authority recognised the British Insurance Brokers’ Association’s travel medical directory as a suitable signposting service it has helped more than 400,000 people with a medical condition explore their travel insurance options.

The Chartered Insurance Institute has established a cross-sector vulnerability data sharing taskforce to minimise the number of times vulnerable customers have to disclose the same data to different firms across the distribution chain.

Lockton has secured renewal of its professional indemnity accredited broker status from the British Insurance Brokers’ Association for a further three years. BIBA provides members with access to PI support through an online PI hub as well as a number of accredited brokers.