Covéa Insurance and Sterling Integration Completed

Covéa Insurance is pleased to confirm that on 1st January 2016 Sterling Insurance Company Limited was formally integrated into Covea Insurance plc, and is no longer a separate trading entity. This follows High Court approval of the transfer, under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act, granted on 11th December 2015.

As a combined business, Covéa Insurance intends to capitalise on the significant strengths of both companies - including their product ranges, distribution channels, locations and people - to build a bigger, stronger, and even more customer-focused business.

Speaking about the integration, Chief Executive of Covéa Insurance, James Reader said: 

“Our vision is to create a stronger UK business capable of delivering long-term sustainable growth. I’m confident that the combined organisation provides a great platform from which to achieve this, to the benefit of our customers, business partners and people.”

An indication of the extensive opportunities that exist for the combined business has been seen in the announcements of a number of new senior appointments, the opening of a larger regional trading office in Birmingham and the launch of an executive motor product, which builds on Covéa Insurance’s expertise in motor insurance and complements Sterling’s other mid and high net worth products.

James Reader added:

“The formal integration of Sterling Insurance into Covéa Insurance is the culmination of a major project across all areas of both businesses. It is testament to the professionalism and collaborative efforts of the combined teams that, alongside this huge piece of work, we were awarded Personal Lines Insurer of the Year at the recent Insurance Times Awards, secured top place for motor and home claims service from the Institute of Customer Service in their benchmarking surveys, and have once again received the ‘Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies To Work For’ accreditation for 2016.

“Our priority now is to ensure that, as the practical work to integrate the businesses continues, we maintain our focus on delivering high-quality products for our broker partners and customers, supported by unrivalled service standards, as we look forward to our first trading year as a combined business.”

The combined business has written premiums approaching £600 million, employs almost 1400 people and provides a broad range of general insurance products and administration services to customers in the UK.

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About Covéa Insurance

Covéa Insurance Plc is the UK underwriting business of leading French mutual insurance group Covéa (which includes the global reinsurer PartnerRe since July 2022). 

Covéa Insurance looks after the insurance needs of UK customers, across a range of product lines; delivering financial reassurance through its Standard & Poor’s ‘AA- stable’ rating, as a guaranteed subsidiary of Covéa.  

Covéa Insurance has a strong people and service ethos and holds ServiceMark accreditation with Distinction for its Personal Lines operation and its Commercial & HNW Claims teams, as well as Chartered Insurer status for its Commercial business. Covéa Insurance is signatory to the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter and the insurance Inclusivity Pledge and has been named one of the top 75 employers in West Yorkshire & the Humber. In 2022 Covéa Insurance was named Insurer of the Year at the British Claims Awards and Personal Lines Insurer of the Year at the Insurance Times Awards.