CGU has emerged from a tumultuous year of change to be crowned NIBA’s 2015 General Insurer of Year, amid stiff competition from QBE and Allianz.
It’s the first time CGU has taken out the award, which comes after its parent company IAG completed an enormous restructure, prompted in part by its acquisition of Lumley.
QBE took runner-up honours.
IAG Chief Executive Commercial Insurance Ben Bessell says he is delighted that CGU has built on its finalist placing of last year to take the main prize.
“Our business is built around our partnerships with brokers and we place great value on the recognition we receive from them. I want to thank them for the support they continue to give us and for this vote of confidence,” he says.
“To win this award is particularly rewarding in a year where we’ve experienced challenging market conditions, heavily invested in setting ourselves up for the future and brought the best of both Lumley and CGU into our business. And I think it shows that we are on the right track at CGU.”
The General Insurer of the Year Award, inaugurated in 1998, is voted for by NIBA member brokers, who rate insurers’ products and services in a range of categories as part of the annual Broker Market Survey. More than 1100 brokers completed the survey this year.
Linda Evans, NIBA’s Professional Development Executive in charge of the survey, says: “Once again the voting was extremely close between the finalists and we congratulate CGU for winning this award for the first time.
“The competition among insurers to provide the best products and service to brokers and their clients is always very keen. The award is a great achievement and testament to the effort that CGU has put in to
meeting brokers’ expectations.”
Zurich took home the award in 2013 and 2014 but a tight field kept it out of finalist contention this year.
*Article reproduced from NIBA