- BGL Group
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BGL Group Type Public Industry Finance and insurance Founded 1992 Headquarters Peterborough, United Kingdom Products Financial services Employees 1450[1] Website www.budgetinsurance.com The Budget Group of Companies began operating in the UK as an underwriter in 1992. The Group changed its name to the BGL Group in July 2007. A strategic change in 1997 to intermediary status, marketing policies underwritten by a panel of insurers, triggered the growth of the BGL Group. Through a combination of organic growth and a number of major strategic acquisitions, which included Arnott Century (1999), Dial Direct and Bennetts (2001), the Group increased in size by a substantial amount.
A major contributor to this growth was the launch of its affinity business, Junction, in 2002. With an increasing number of high profile partners, such as Post Office, M&S Money, Bradford & Bingley, and Yes Insurance, Junction’s policies under management has grown to over half a million.
A memorable PR and marketing campaign for Bennetts was launched in 2003, helping to establish the bike insurer as a leading brand in the UK market. A similar approach is being used, in 2006 for Budget & Dial’s Commercial Vehicle business.
In 2003, Budget launched its own uninsured loss recovery business, ACM ULR. In its first year of trading it captured 80,000 incidents and is available to all of Budget’s and its partners’ policyholders.
Contents
Main lines of business
Personal lines - motor, motorcycle, home and commercial vehicle insurance alongside a wide range of supplementary products, which include breakdown cover, legal protection, travel insurance and mortgage payment protection insurance. Comparethemarket.com was also set up as a complimentary service in 2005 to allow potential customers to search for a range of quotes for all insurance types online.
Major trading brands
BISL Limited - trading under the names of Budget, Dial Direct, Bennetts, Junction, Fusion* and Comparethemarket.com.
* No connection with the UK commercial insurer of the same name, established in 2001.
Key dates
- 1992 – Budget Insurance Company founded
- 1997 – Budget Insurance Services founded
- 1998 – Budget Insurance Company ceases underwriting and becomes an intermediary business
- 1999 – Acquired Arnott Century, now Budget Retail
- 2001 – Acquired Dial Direct and Bennetts
- 2002 – created Junction – first major affinity contract
- 2003 – Created ACM ULR
- 2004 – Cape Town Contact Centre opened
- 2005 – Created comparethemarket.com – online price comparison website
- 2006 – Sale of Budget Retail
- 2007 – Launch of eco-friendly car insurance, ibuyeco.co.uk and relaunch of comparethemarket.com insurance price comparison site
- 2009 – Created comparethemeerkat.com – online meerkat comparison website as part of a spoof advertising campaign featuring a CGI meerkat character named Aleksandr Orlov and voiced by Simon Greenall
- 2010 – Acquired French price comparison sites managed by Courtanet: AssureMieux.com and CreditMieux.com
See also
- Aleksandr Orlov (meerkat)
References
- The History of Budget
- It pays to shop for home cover 21 February 2004
- Motor cover on a tight Budget 24 July 2004
- Budget Group Case Study
- BGL Group acquires French price comparison sites 25 November 2010
External links
Categories:- Insurance companies of the United Kingdom
- Companies based in Peterborough
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