Verlingue unveils name change for London market business and makes senior hires

Surrey-headquartered Verlingue announced this week that it has rebranded its London market wholesale broker business, NBJ London Markets, which will now be known as Verlingue London Markets and has made several new senior hires to expand its expertise.

NBJ London Markets specialises in placing difficult risks for motor fleet, property, and liability and serves its parent broker Verlingue UK as well as a number of independent community brokers across the UK.

READ MORE: Insurance broker Verlingue undergoes marketing revamp

Verlingue’s UK CEO Mike Latham said the change in the name was a "natural next step" to be more in line with its UK and European brand.

"NBJ London Markets is a well-known and respected part of our operation, and this rebrand is part of our overall strategy to build an exciting and capable business for our broking partners," he said.

"It was a natural next step to bring the name more in line with our UK and European brand whilst retaining its distinct specialty.

Latham said the name change was "only a small part of the overall expansion" of the business, as the firm has also made "several new senior hires to further enhance our access to markets, technical capability, and exceptional service provision".

Barry Reynolds, who has over 35 years' London market insurance experience, joins as executive director, said Verlingue.

He comes from the Jensten Group, where he led the UK and EEA Lloyd’s broking businesses and before that, he co-founded the Tasker Group in 2000 after having spent 12 years in broking and underwriting roles in the London Market.

Other recent hires are Lucy Colleran, as broking manager, who joined from Citynet; Simon Clegg, head of broker development, who joined from Lonmar Global Risks; Marc Smart, head of motor, who joined having held senior motor underwriting roles at Zego and Covea.

The new hires will join head of property Grant Pye head of casualty Andi Turner on the senior management team, the firm said.

Latham continued: "Our broker partners have repeatedly told us that they have seen a significant erosion in service levels across London market wholesale brokers in recent years.

Their request was simple - deliver high levels of ongoing service and access to market expert brokers and we would have something very different from everyone else right now.

"So, that’s exactly what we’ve done. We’ve rebuilt, reshaped, and relaunched our proposition and we’re delighted with the caliber of professionals who have chosen to join us on this exciting project."

Insurance broker Verlingue is part of Adelaide, a group specialised in insurance consultancy, mediation, distribution and services.

Adelaide has more than 2,000 employees, negotiates €2.6bn in premiums for the account of 3,200 companies and manages personal protection and healthcare plans for more than 1.9 million insureds.

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