Swinton Insurance
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Insurance |
| Founded | 1957 |
| Founder | Ken Scowcroft |
| Headquarters | Manchester, United Kingdom |
|
Number of locations
|
More than 200 |
| Products | Home insurance, motor insurance, business insurance, caravan insurance, bike insurance, van insurance, taxi insurance |
| Owner | Covéa SGAM |
|
Number of employees
|
More than 3,000 |
| Website | www |
Swinton Insurance is a UK insurance retailer that was established in 1957. It has a network of branches across the United Kingdom and in excess of 3,000 employees. The company offers a range of insurance products from a panel of UK insurers covering car, bike, home, commercial, taxi and caravan insurance.
Swinton was founded in 1957 by Ken Scowcroft (born 1928) who began the car insurance brokerage business from the front room of his semi-detached house in Swinton, Salford. The first premium cost just over £5, and in the first year he sold around 100 policies to local people.
The first Swinton Branch was opened in 1964 in Salford and the branch network originally expanded in the Manchester region before then expanding out to the North West of England. Swinton Insurance was then merged with Denbury Insurance owned by Brian Blake, retaining the Swinton Insurance name. The company became the first insurance franchise and the first to introduce a computer quotations system that is now common amongst major UK insurers. In 1981 Ken Scowcroft's son, Brian Scowcroft, joined the business and worked in a number of different roles including Finance Director before being appointed Joint Chief Executive in 1985.
In 1988 Swinton was sold to Sun Alliance for £130m and in 2001 it changed hands again when it was acquired by MMA Holdings UK Plc. ., which is in turn owned by Covéa SGAM (Société de Group d'Assurance Mutuelle).
In 2002, The Swinton Insurance Group acquired the specialist caravan and motorhome insurer, Safeguard, and then in 2004 they acquired Manchester based insurance group Deansgate Insurance.
By 2008, Swinton had become the third largest insurance retailer in the UK, and the largest in Northern Ireland, managing over three million individual car, home and life insurance policies. Their position in the Northern Ireland market was further bolstered with the acquisition of Open + Direct in 2009.
The Swinton Insurance Group continued their UK-wide acquisition strategy in 2012 with the purchase of Greys Insurance in Burnley. In 2013, they then purchased Stroud based insurers Alexander James Commercial before agreeing a deal to buy the general insurance book of North Wales-based Anderson Insurance Services in 2014 and the Cleethorpes based C H Turner Insurance Consultants.
Chief Executive Christophe Bardet stepped down at the end of December 2014 and was succeeded by Gilles Normand, formerly the CEO of MMA Holdings UK Plc.
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Wikipedia