Throwback Thursday: CU & GA’s vow; Beazley’s hoax cover
Insurance Post’s Throwback Thursday steps back in time to March 1998 to remind you what was going on this week in insurance history when Commercial Union and General Accident were making promises, and bomb threat cover was created.
5 March 1998: Commercial Union & General Accident vow
The giant insurer being formed by the merger of Commercial Union and General Accident will remain committed to an extensive UK branch structure, Post’s David Worsfold reported back in 1998.
Commercial Union CEO Sir John Carter said: “We are going to retain the existing wide branch structure, as we both believe in being close to the market.”
The merger would see 12000 staff in the UK general insurance division, the majority working in branches.
Commercial Union and Norwich Union merged in 2000 to form CGNU, which was later rebranded as Aviva in 2002.
Hoax cover offer
Beazley Syndicate launched business protection in the event of a hoax bomb call.
Post reported it was believed to be the first policy of its kind, and was designed after hoax bomb incidents a Liverpool Street and Oxford Street stations in London earlier that year caused considerable disruption.
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