Direct Line Insurance Group

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Direct Line Insurance Group plc
legal form Public limited company
ISIN GB00BY9D0Y18
founding 2012
Seat Bromley , England , UKUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom 
management Paul Geddes (CEO)
Mike Biggs (Chairman)
Number of employees 10,000 (2017)
sales 3.2 billion pounds (2016)
Branch Insurance
Website www.directlinegroup.com

The Direct Line Insurance Group is a British insurance company in 2012 through the sale of the insurance business of Royal Bank of Scotland was founded (RBS) in an IPO.

Until 2013, the Direct Line Insurance Group was part of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). On March 12, 2013 it was announced that RBS had given up its majority stake in Direct Line by selling 15.3 percent of its shares. In October 2012, RBS had already sold 30 percent of its shares. In 2014, RBS parted with the last shares in the Direct Line Insurance Group.

The company has a number of subsidiaries including Direct Line and Churchill, which offer a variety of insurance products, as well as roadside assistance and vehicle recycling provider Green Flag.

The group is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is part of the FTSE 100 index .

history

The company was originally founded in 1985 by Peter Wood and Martin Long with £ 20 million as the insurance division of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS). It was the first insurance company in the UK to sell direct by phone. The company was also the first UK insurer to open its office in the evenings and on weekends, and the first to offer a 24-hour hotline. The insurance company grew through advertising in the national press, on television and in marketing for RBS customers. In 1990, the company launched a mascot in the form of a red telephone on wheels, which quickly gained recognition among consumers.

The company expanded in the 1990s with a number of new offshoots. In 1995, Linea Direct, a Spanish subsidiary, offered car insurance in Spain. In 1996 there were extensions in the form of travel insurance, 1997 pet insurance and Direct Line Breakdown has been offering breakdown insurance since 1998. In 1993 Direct Line Financial Services launched their first product apart from insurance: Direct Line Personal Loan. The following year they began offering mortgages. From 1995 Direct Line Life sold life insurance, in 1996 the company launched savings accounts and from 1998 it also offered annuities. The company's first website, directline.com, was launched in 1999. The innovations extended into the 2000s: with the introduction of the first online registration and tracking of insurance claims for motor vehicle insured persons in 2001 and the Home Response 24 emergency insurance introduced in 2003.

In September 2012, Paul Geddes, the group's chief executive officer, announced that the business would "operate as a stand-alone insurance company" before the RBS Group is fully sold in the future. The company was the subject of an initial public offering (IPO) in October 2012. RBS sold a 30 percent stake and a further 17 percent in March 2013, reducing its stake in the company to 48.5 percent. In September 2013, RBS sold another 20 percent and in February 2014 the rest of its stake. Direct Line Group became the parent company of Direct Line Insurance Ltd and a number of other subsidiaries including Churchill Insurance. The company also made some tough financial decisions in early 2010, including closing down some businesses, laying off employees and closing 14 of its 27 UK offices.

In September 2014 it was announced that Mapfre would take over Direct Line's Italian and German companies for an amount of EUR 550 million.

Direct Line Germany

From 2002, Direct Line was also active in the German insurance market with its famous logo, the red telephone. Before that, the company operated as Allstate Direct (1996 to 2002). When Mapfre was acquired in 2014, Direct Line Germany was the third largest German direct vehicle insurance company with a market share of around 13 percent, premium income of 251 million euros and almost 600,000 customers. Since June 14, 2017, the German company has been called Verti Versicherung AG .

Products

In 2002, the company started selling motor vehicle insurance products (motor vehicle liability, partially comprehensive and fully comprehensive insurance, as well as cover and motor vehicle accident insurance) and introduced the second-car tariff in Germany for the first time. The second car benefits from the good "percentages" (no-claims class) of the first car. In 2005 Direct Line expanded its product range to include traffic legal protection insurance, followed in 2006 by private legal protection and personal liability insurance. In 2007 motorcycle insurance and the second car tariff for motorcycle insurance were added as new products. In 2009 Direct Line expanded its product range to include the “Nix-Passiert-Tarif” discount protection, which now also applied to fully comprehensive insurance. The customer has one accident free per year and is not downgraded in the no-claims class. In addition, the new “Kind & Kegel” family protection insurance has been added with many special benefits. It includes all passengers, whether humans or pets, in the insurance cover. With the “12 for 10” new car discount introduced in 2009, Direct Line was also the first motor insurer to respond to the introduction of the environmental bonus to support the automotive industry. Direct Line has been offering its customers another innovation since 2010: They were one of the first German insurance companies to introduce a free car accident app.

Sales development

Since 2002 Direct Line has enjoyed an impressive upswing in the German insurance market. The British Direct Line Group itself had already presented quite a bit and in 2002 achieved a pre-tax profit of £ 355 million, 36 percent more than the year before. The German Direct Line increased its gross premium income from a good 60 million euros in the first year over 75 million euros in the following year to 91 million euros in 2004. The subsequent years also recorded a successful course. 2008: After six years on the German market, the insurer was able to increase gross premium income to EUR 127.9 million - another 8.4 percent growth compared to the previous year. The policy portfolio also increased to over 400,000. In the following year, gross premium income rose by a further 10 percent to 140 million euros. For its tenth anniversary in 2012, the company shone with over 350 employees and over 450,000 insured vehicles. In the same year, the Direct Line Insurance Group plc went public. In 2014 the Spanish financial services group Mapfre took over the German Direct Line. In the same year, Direct Line Versicherung AG set a record: In the 2014 financial year, gross premium income rose by 15% compared to the previous year, from EUR 217.9 million to EUR 250.7 million. In 2015, they rose further to EUR 277 million.

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Change in 2015 compared to the previous year in%
Gross premiums written (in EUR million) 162.0 171.3 216.4 250.1 277.3 10.9
Number of contracts (in thousands) 883 931 1,125 1,223 1,339 9.5
Number of employees (average per year) 350 358 390 404 430 6.4

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ " Board ". Direct Line Group. 2012. Accessed December 12, 2017.
  2. ^ " Group profile ". Direct Line Group. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  3. ↑ Annual Report & Accounts 2016. Direct Line Group. Accessed December 12, 2017 (PDF).
  4. ↑ Teresa Hunter: Halifax opens fire in motor cover war. In: The Telegraph (online). January 10, 2001, accessed December 12, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Superbrands case studies: Direct Line Archived (March 1, 2004) In: Wayback Machine. Campaign. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  6. ↑ Superbrands case studies: Direct Line Archived (March 1, 2004) In: Wayback Machine. Campaign. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  7. ^ Royal Bank of Scotland - Heritage - Companies - Direct Line Archived (2013) In: Wayback Machine. RBS.com. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  8. ↑ Direct Line nears RBS separation. In: BBC.com. September 3, 2012, accessed December 12, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Direct Line IPO 'priced to go' at 175p. In: The Telegraph (online). October 11, 2012, accessed December 12, 2017 .
  10. ^ Steve Slater: RBS races ahead with Direct Line sell-off. In: Reuters.com. March 13, 2013, accessed December 12, 2017 .
  11. ↑ RBS makes £ 630m from sale of 20% of Direct Line. In: BBC.com. September 20, 2013, accessed December 12, 2017 .
  12. ↑ RBS set to make £ 1bn from remaining Direct Line stake. In: BBC.com. February 26, 2014, accessed December 12, 2017 .
  13. ^ Matt Scott: Inside a turnaround: The Direct Line story. In: Managers.co.uk. March 14, 2017, accessed December 12, 2017 .
  14. ^ Paul Day, Karen Rebelo: Spain's Mapfre to buy Direct Line's German, Italian units for $ 700 million. In: Reuters.com. September 25, 2014, accessed December 12, 2017 .
  15. ↑ Mapfre completes acquisition of Direct Line in Germany and Italy. In: presseportal.de. May 29, 2015, accessed December 12, 2017 .
  16. ↑ New motor vehicle insurance on the German market (02/20/2002) In: presseportal.de. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  17. ↑ Direct Line expands product range. New product lines in private liability and private legal protection (04.10.2006) In: presseportal.de. Retrieved December 13, 2017
  18. ↑ Freedom, leisure, driving fun. Direct Line introduces motorcycle insurance. Insure cheap with a second vehicle tariff (May 8, 2007) In: presseportal.de. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  19. ↑ New products at Direct Line: With the family protection "Kind & Kegel" and the Nix-Passiert tariff for fully comprehensive insurance safely into autumn (06.10.2009) In: presseportal.de. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  20. ↑ The 2008 annual report is here: growth despite the crisis, new structures and innovative products at Direct Line (July 16, 2009) In: presseportal.de. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  21. ↑ In the fast lane: Direct Line Deutschland celebrates its 10th anniversary (February 29, 2012) In: presseportal.de. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  22. ↑ Direct Line Group 2002 again with record results. Profit increased 36 percent to £ 355 million. In: presseportal.de. April 23, 2003. Retrieved December 14, 2017 .
  23. ↑ Auto insurer Direct Line continues on the road to success. Over 20 percent growth in premiums. In: presseportal.de. March 3, 2005, accessed December 14, 2017 .
  24. ↑ The 2008 annual report is here: growth despite the crisis, new structures and innovative products at Direct Line. In: presseportal.de. July 16, 2009. Retrieved December 14, 2017 .
  25. ↑ Annual report 2009: Direct Line strengthens its position in the market again. In: presseportal.de. August 19, 2010, accessed December 14, 2017 .
  26. ↑ In the fast lane: Direct Line Deutschland celebrates its 10th anniversary. In: presseportal.de. February 29, 2012, accessed December 14, 2017 .
  27. ↑ a b c Annual report for the business year January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015. In: verti.de . Accessed December 14, 2017 (PDF).
  28. ↑ Record in new business: 15 percent income plus for gross premiums. Pre-tax earnings tripled. In: presseportal.de. March 16, 2015, accessed December 14, 2017 .