Author: System

Virgin Money re-enters home insurance market with­ innovative new product for homeowners and landlords

Virgin Money is expanding its insurance proposition by launching new home and landlord insurance products in partnership with leading insurtech firm, Uinsure.

Uinsure’s innovative technology will allow Virgin Money customers to get a 5 Star Defaqto rated insurance quote by simply answering a short set of questions; including their name, date of birth and postcode in as little as 30 seconds, in a market-leading quote journey.

The cover will be tailored to the unique requirements of both homeowners and landlords and backed up by customer service that’s helped Uinsure attain an ‘Excellent’ Trustpilot rating.

 

Key ­highlights of the new home insurance product:

• Generous coverage: Virgin Money’s home insurance provides a robust £1 million of building cover and £75,000 in contents cover as standard, ensuring customers are adequately insured.
• Market-leading quick and simple quote process: A streamlined quote process, featuring an easy-to-answer set of questions, enabling them to receive a personalised quote.
• Competitive pricing: Using Uinsure’s panel of insurers, Virgin Money can offer a common product at competitive prices without compromising on quality.
• Automatic re-broking at renewal: The proposition offers a commitment to maintaining low prices year after year, as the product includes automatic re-broking at renewal, saving customers time and money.
• No hidden fees: Transparent fee structure where customers will not incur any fees if they choose to cancel their home insurance or make a mid-term adjustment.

The new home insurance product is available online, with options to take out a policy by telephone for customers without online access. A variety of communication methods are available for renewals, including online, email, post, and telephone.

The partnership with Uinsure also ensures that any new business or renewal quote will automatically offer the customer the lowest price based on Uinsure’s panel of underwriters, with the cheapest price meaning less need to shop around, saving them money and time.

Graeme Sands, head of personal banking at Virgin Money, said: “Virgin Money’s innovative home insurance product offers a market-leading quote journey in as little as 30 seconds, competitive pricing through a panel of insurers, automatic re-broking at renewal, and a transparent fee structure with no hidden fees. In collaboration with Uinsure, who will administer our home insurance product, we provide customers with simplicity, quality, and transparency.”

Martin Schulthiess, Uinsure group managing director, said: “Our technology is built solely around the user – meaning customers can enjoy an insurance journey that’s free of the complexities they might previously have struggled with.

“The Virgin brand is one of the most recognised globally, with a long history of pushing boundaries and innovating for the benefit of its customers. That way of thinking very much mirrors our own way of working and we’re extremely excited to commence our partnership with Virgin Money.”

For more information on the new home insurance product or to get a quote, visit homeinsurance.virginmoney.com

Leading Insurtech, Uinsure, has announced two new significant roles created to lead the strategic focus of the business.

Will Price, who was previously at BGL, brings with him over 30 years’ experience of developing insurer partnerships and takes on the newly created role of Chief Insurance Officer, with the remit of maintaining and developing a strong and future-focused insurer partner offering to support Uinsure’s product proposition.

Paul Kelly, who has served as Chief Proposition Officer since 2016, will become Chief Product and Program Officer, and will develop Uinsure’s product proposition, as well as delivering large and strategically critical projects to facilitate growth plans.

Following on from Lloyds Development Capital’s (LDC) investment in Q1 of 2024, the creation of the two new roles will support Uinsure’s expansion and market growth ambitions, as it further strengthens its insurance technology and distribution reach across new and existing markets.

Martin Schultheiss, Group Managing Director, commented: “Our commitment remains to deliver exceptional customer experiences that provide our partners with progressive and relevant insurance solutions. Both Will and Paul are highly experienced in their respective areas and will play a critical role in the next phase of Uinsure’s growth strategy.”

Will Price, Chief Insurance Officer, added: “This is a hugely exciting time for me to join the business. Uinsure is well-invested, has a clear and executable strategy and a strong position in its chosen markets.

“Collaborating to deepen our existing insurer relationships, as well as building new ones in the non-standard and landlord spaces, will mean we can deliver sound underwriting results and competitive propositions as we expand our distribution reach.”

Paul Kelly, Chief Product and Program Officer, said: “The simplicity of our technology has been the driving force behind our success and we want to take this to the next level. Our future developments will be transformational and accelerate the growth of our proposition and the markets that we operate in.”

Quilter’s ambition to leverage industry-leading technology to enhance customer experiences has led to a strategic partnership with insurtech, Uinsure, in a move that will give its advisers more choice when choosing how insurance is offered to their clients.

The partnership marks a significant milestone in Quilter’s mission to streamline operations for its advisers, reducing time and costs while fostering stronger client relationships and boosting productivity.

Through Uinsure’s Adviser Platform, home insurance quotes are generated in as little as 20 seconds, with full applications completed in under a minute.

Advisers can refer clients to Uinsure’s award-winning team, across home and BTL/landlords, as well as specialist and non-standard insurance.

Lauren Bagley, Uinsure’s chief distribution officer, said: “Our new partnership with Quilter underlines the trust Mortgage Networks place on us to deliver an excellent insurance experience for their members’ clients.

“We continue to be restless in our mission to remove insurance complexity using technology and the simplicity of our integration with 360.net, Quilter’s chosen CRM platform, makes it easy for its advisers to provide a more streamlined and efficient insurance service to their clients.

Charlotte Nixon, proposition and distribution director at Quilter, commented: “We’re continually looking at how we can enhance our Network’s technology capability. This is another example of our commitment to continuous improvement, which is helping our members to work more effectively and consistently.”

“Uinsure has demonstrated real progression in insurance technology and we believe that by working together we can make insurance a more integral part of the holistic service offered to customers.”

 

Uinsure adds Integra to panel of home insurers

 

Leading Insurtech, Uinsure, has enhanced its home insurance panel by adding Integra Insurance Solutions. As specialists in the home Insurance market, Integra uses the latest in pricing technology and advanced pricing strategies to provide a competitive, tailored premium for each home.

 

For intermediary, bank and building society partners, adding to the panel of underwriters for Uinsure’s 5 Star rated home insurance product has many benefits, including the ability to quote more customers through stronger underwriting footprints and increased competitiveness for individual customer risks.

 

Will Price, Chief Insurance Officer at Uinsure, said: “We aim to offer a competitive price to every customer who engages with us via our IFA, intermediary, bank, building society and other affinity partners, so we need a strong home insurance panel. 

“Integra adds a lot of value as a data-driven, digitally focused business that’s agile in a constantly changing market and, like us at Uinsure, leverages technology and data to create industry-leading customer experiences. We’re extremely happy to be working with their team, given the natural alignment in our brands’ focus.”

 

Tony Dixon, Chief Underwriting Officer at Integra, added: “Uinsure’s commitment to digitise insurance and simplify the customer journey within the mortgage intermediary space aligns with Integra’s proactive data-driven approach to insurance pricing and underwriting.

 

“Uinsure’s unique distribution and desire to further enhance its product offerings fits perfectly with Integra’s strategic direction of growth, and we’re excited about the future opportunities this brings to both parties.”

Uinsure recruits a further 60 team members after securing new bank, building society, financial intermediary and affinity partnerships

 

Leading Insurtech, Uinsure, continues its significant growth by welcoming 60 new team members after securing several major partnership deals.

Uinsure’s market-leading technology, which offers partners and their customers access to a panel of the UK’s top insurers through a simplified and multi-award winning journey, proved to be a key differentiator in competitive tender processes.

The Manchester-based company has invested heavily in its digital-first service that allows home and landlord insurance to be embedded by its partners so they can offer personalised cover to their customers as soon as arranging it becomes a need.

Lauren Bagley, Uinsure’s chief distribution officer, said: “To win these prestigious partnership accounts, particularly in a highly competitive environment, is a tremendous endorsement of the strength of our proposition. The fact some of the UK’s leading banks, building societies and financial intermediaries have chosen Uinsure demonstrates how highly the industry values the technology and customer experience we’ve developed.  

“An expanded scale will only help in securing more competitive premiums for all our partners’ customers, which is another thing we’re working relentlessly on.”

New partnerships demonstrate Uinsure’s growing influence

Uinsure’s latest success highlights the company’s growing influence in the insurance sector, as it continues to provide innovative solutions that have removed the complexities from insurance for both distributors and consumers.

Several of the new partnerships were secured in response to RSA’s recent withdrawal from the UK home insurance market.

Bagley added that the focus will now switch to optimising each partnership. She said: “It’s the busiest we’ve ever been in terms of onboarding new partners. We’ve found many organisations searching for end-to-end insurance solutions that focus on a digital-first experience and engagement, allowing them to scale in the insurance space and provide great customer value.

“We’re now absolutely committed to supporting our growing network of partners and delivering exceptional customer experiences at every touchpoint.”

One Mortgage System (OMS), the seamless single-input enquiry to completion processing platform for brokers, has partnered with leading insurtech provider, Uinsure, to create an integrated insurance experience.

The partnership includes a full system integration that will enable OMS users to access the UinsureCX platform to generate automated insurance quotes to their customers, as well as providing greater understanding around the need for insurance at key moments within the mortgage journey, such as at application, offer and exchange.

UinsureCX is the first platform in the UK to be able to track an individual’s mortgage progress and provide fully automated communications at the most relevant time of the mortgage cycle. It also absorbs data such as mortgage circumstances, e.g. ‘new build’ or ‘remortgage’, to deliver dynamic, contextual content at the right time, and provides the ability for mortgage customers to purchase insurance digitally.

OMS is the only end-to-end platform which covers product areas such as residential, buy-to-let, second charge, equity release, bridging, commercial plus general insurance, and protection. It is integrated with market-leading providers – Ignite, Submissions Brain, The Source, Twenty7Tec, iPipeline, Hometrack, Experian, Equifax, Uinsure, Air Sourcing and Knowledge Bank – to provide users with best in class for product sourcing, protection sourcing and criteria searching.

OMS is proud to be one of the first CRM platforms within the mortgage industry to achieve ISO 27001 certification. This significant milestone reflects OMS’s ongoing efforts to establish itself as a trusted and reliable partner in the mortgage origination space. By obtaining ISO 27001 certification, OMS reinforces its position as a leading tech provider and strengthens its ability to support the evolving needs of its clients.

Neal Jannels, Managing Director of One Mortgage System (OMS), commented:

“As a leading force within the Insurtech marketplace, Uinsure is transforming the way insurance is provided in the intermediary market and its data-driven strategy to provide personalised and precise insurance quotes as clients move through the mortgage journey aligns perfectly with our customer-centric approach.

This is a partnership which will undoubtedly prove hugely beneficial to our users and their clients as they look to remove the hurdles which can sometimes hamper these vital conversations.”

Lauren Bagley, Chief Partnership and Marketing Officer at Uinsure, added:

“We’re bringing embedded insurance to life and making insurance more relevant by enabling intermediaries to consistently offer cover to their clients as soon as it becomes a need.

“Our new partnership allows us to significantly scale access to UinsureCX as our industry-leading technology can now be utilised by the strong network of firms who use the OMS platform.”

To register for a free trial, brokers should visit www.onemortgage.co.uk