Data and technology driven insurance specialist, Hood Group has set up its own Innovation Lab to drive the development of insurance products, services and solutions to help transform the customer experience.

Gavin Dobson, Head of Marketing at Hood Group, comments: “Insurance in its current state isn’t truly serving today’s customers and certainly won’t work for the next generation. Right now it’s simply a necessity people feel they have to have rather than want. We don’t see why insurance can’t become something that people willingly buy into as a service that helps them live their lives, helps stop things from going wrong or makes the annoying things in life go away.

“But if we are going to bring about the changes needed to transform the customer’s view of insurance then we need to think freely, away from the constraints of the day-to-day business. That’s why we’ve decided to invest in setting up our own Innovation Lab away from our Southend based offices to foster creativity and a disruptive approach.”

Located in the WeWork community in Spitalfields, the Innovation Lab will identify, evaluate, design, prototype and launch new personal lines products and services. Hood Group has created a number of new roles to act as the core of the lab but the make-up of the Lab’s team going forward will flex to reflect the expertise needed to bring individual projects to fruition.

Simon Hood, CEO at Hood Group adds: “Innovation underpins our growth plans as part of our 5 year strategy. We offer a unique route into our insurance partners and brand partners that will be hugely attractive and beneficial to start-ups and InsurTech businesses.“

Hood continues: “In addition, this helps deliver our performance culture; from bringing on board new talent from outside the insurance industry, through to encouraging our existing staff to get involved. We want a pipeline of ideas to evaluate and prioritise. Not all are going to work – in fact if some don’t fail then I’ll question whether we’re pushing the boundaries hard enough! However, with rigorous evaluation and analysis and testing to ensure the idea is both a game changer as well as commercially viable, I’m confident that we’ll be able to bring a range of totally fresh ideas to market that will deliver real value to our partners and more importantly, their customers.”

Data and technology specialist, Hood Group, has promoted Marc Steel to the role of senior data and analytics manager.

In this newly created role Marc will be responsible for building Hood Group’s data strategy from infrastructure to governance through to enrichment in order to develop innovative new insurance propositions that will benefit the group’s affinity brand partners and their customers. This strategy will include working with third party data and technology organisations as well as liaising with the group’s existing brand partners.

Gavin Dobson, Head of Marketing and Innovation at Hood Group, comments: “We are committed to building on our technological and data expertise. We firmly believe that maximising the swathes of data that is now available to our industry will be key to creating new insurance services and solutions that will not only transform the customer’s experience but deliver products that they’ll actually want to buy. Marc has an enormous amount of expertise when it comes to data and analytics and I’m delighted that he’ll be heading up this important area for our business.”

Having joined Hood Group in 2010, Marc has most recently been responsible for customer insight and data analytics across the business’s range of products and affinity partners. He has more than ten years’ experience of working with analytics and insight methods, analysing trends and developing data strategies.

Data and technology specialist, Hood Group, is set to host a series of insurance hackathons in February.

The hackathons will see a group of staff – all from different areas of the business –working together to develop two new personal lines insurance products which Hood Group hopes to be able to successfully bring to the market in conjunction with one or several of its existing affinity and insurance partners.

Gavin Dobson, Head of Marketing and Innovation at Hood Group, comments: “We want to bring about the changes needed to transform the customer’s view of insurance. To do this, we not only need to think differently but we need to act differently. We want to foster a culture of creativity and problem solving to create something new, and we want all our team members involved in the process. Building something new should be fun and rewarding and that’s why we’ve decided to run these hackathons.”

The first hackathons will be held from 9th-10th February, focusing on developing a new travel insurance proposition that can be sold via messenger bots. The second will be held from 15th-16th February with a focus on building a ‘no questions asked’ home insurance solution.

A panel made up of members of the Hood Group senior team and some of its affinity and insurance partners including AXA will review and evaluate the product ideas generated, and the team generating the ideas judged to be commercially viable stand a chance of each winning an Amazon Echo.

Dobson continues: “We really don’t know what to expect but we’re really excited at the prospect of getting the entire business enthused and active in generating a pipeline of ideas to evaluate and prioritise. I don’t expect all of them to actually go live but we want to push the boundaries of our imagination. This is just the starting point and I anticipate that we’ll be running regular hackathons to help us develop a range of totally fresh ideas that will deliver real value to our partners and more importantly, their customers.”

Affinity insurance provider, Hood Group, today announces that it has appointed Mark Hunter as its new Finance Director following the retirement of Bob Gildie.

Mark joins Hood Group from Charles Taylor Adjusting where he held the role of corporate development director for two years. Prior to that, Mark spent almost 30 years at Airclaims Group where he held roles including Finance Director and Chief Operating Officer before being appointed CEO, a position he took up in 2006 and held until leaving the firm in 2013. Mark was also a non-executive director of Ascend Worldwide for six years.

Hood Group’s Chief Executive, Simon Hood, says: “I am delighted to welcome Mark to our Group. He is an experienced financial and operational professional with a track record of delivering growth in both private and public companies. His knowledge and expertise of guiding a business forward to achieve its growth ambitions will be of huge assistance as Hood Group takes the next steps delivering on in its strategy.”

Simon adds: “I would also like to take this opportunity of thanking Bob for his dedication to the business. His sound advice and guidance have been invaluable as we have grown our Group over the past few years.”

Commenting on his new role, Mark Hunter says: “This is a tremendously exciting time for Hood Group. Following the new financial arrangement agreed with Clydesdale Bank earlier this year, we have a strong platform in place from which to continue with our growth plans. I’m looking forward to working with Simon and the senior leadership team to deliver on our business development strategy and achieve our goals.”

• SSP to provide insurance solutions provider Hood Group with SaaS-based policy admin solution including pricing, data enrichment, aggregator integration, contact management, customer self-service, finance, and pre-application fraud prevention for household and travel products
• SSP expects 80% of Insurer policy administration business will move to a pay as you go hosted model within 4 years, ending the “fruitless cycle of legacy technology upgrades”

Insurance technology specialist, SSP, says it expects 80% of its insurance policy administration clients will be using its Software as a Service (SaaS) model by 2020, with insurance solutions provider Hood Group announced today as the first. SSP currently provides technology for 8 of the top 10 UK insurers and works with the top four global insurers.

SSP’s SaaS offering moves insurers to a pay per transaction model which enables them to implement updates and introduce new products more quickly. This includes product lines not traditionally seen as justifying complex capex spend.

Hood Group, which has used SSP’s technology since 2006, white labels home and travel insurance propositions for brands such as Asda Money, RAC, Telegraph Media Group, MORE TH>N and Legal & General. SSP’s SaaS solution will enable it to introduce bespoke data sources, capabilities and products quickly for each brand. Using SSP’s SaaS offering, the company can trial new capabilities as required, without investing in costly or expensive upgrade programmes.

Whilst traditional upgrades will continue to be an important part of its business, SSP expects the majority of insurers to opt for SaaS in the future, with three in talks to adopt the technology this year.

Simon Hood, CEO of Hood Group said:
“We’re committed to being at the forefront in using technology and data innovatively to add value to both our partners and their customers. This has been the backbone of our success to date and will be the bedrock of our success going forward. We’re building our data capabilities to target core customers for our individual partners and at the same time we’re expanding on our digital marketing skills which have already made a real difference to promoting the insurance solutions we provide.”

He continues: “SSP’s Software as a Service solution will allow us to take all this to a new level as we continue to deliver innovative and sustainable insurance solutions for our partners. It will enable us to be fast and flexible, facilitate our plans for full customer service propositions and take a lead in the development of emerging products.”

Rupert Bidwell, Head of Territory for Europe at SSP commented:
“Insurers are caught in a fruitless cycle of legacy technology upgrades. They are an expensive, time consuming diversion which distracts insurers from developing better products and us from creating new technology.

“Expectations are changing. Insurers want to experiment with new technology and ideas without having to bet their future on them. Whether it’s top tier insurers looking to keep niche lines competitive or smaller disruptors who need to be at the leading edge, I fully expect 80% of our insurer administration software to be based on SaaS within four years.

“Hood Group are jumping ahead of their competitors today. I can’t wait to see what we will achieve together.”

Leading affinity insurance provider, Hood Group, is set for a period of rapid growth following the completion of a major refinancing programme with Clydesdale Bank.

Hood Group, which employs more than 200 staff in its Essex based office, offers high quality general insurance products, backed up by award-winning customer service, for a wide range of insurance partners including Legal & General, who announced the launch of a new travel insurance proposition in March 2016.

The appointment of Clydesdale Bank by Hood Group follows a process managed by WK Corporate Finance. The refinance deal it has obtained will allow the business to continue with its growth plans, which could include acquisitions. It is the latest insurance-related intermediary customer to join Clydesdale Bank’s growing portfolio.

Simon Hood, CEO, comments: “This new financial structure will provide Hood Group with the foundation from which to grow. We have set out a clear business development strategy for the next few years, and Clydesdale Bank will be an important partner for us. They understand the needs of a rapidly growing business in our sector and presented a well thought through financing proposal. Their flexibility and responsiveness have enabled us to agree on a solution that ticks all of our boxes.”

Hood Group provides services across a number of sectors, who want to broaden and add value to their customer offering, with high quality travel and home insurance products backed up by exemplary customer service. It currently manages GWP (gross written premium) of almost £47 million, across a portfolio of various well-known brands including ASDA Money, MORE TH>N and RAC.

Paul Hambrook, Head of Insurance at Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks, said: “Hood Group is a highly regarded operator in their field and we are very pleased to have been chosen as their banking partner.

“Across the UK, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks have provided debt facilities to a number of insurance brokers in recent years and when we met with Hood’s Management team, it was clear that the group had a similar impressive growth strategy.

“We look forward to working with Simon and his team as they look to deliver on their plans.”

Affinity insurance provider, Hood Group, has appointed Sarah Smith to the newly created role of Head of Residential Property.

In this new role, Sarah will be responsible for the leadership and management of the Group’s residential property lines of business which includes household, landlords and renters insurance. Sarah’s remit will be managing the overall execution of vision and distribution strategy to achieve growth and revenue targets, working closely with brand and insurer partners, senior stakeholders and across the business functions, on all areas of delivery.

Sarah joins the Group from AXA UK where she was Development Underwriting Manager Household for the past two years. Her insurance career spans more than 20 years and includes senior underwriting roles at Travelers and Aviva.

Hood Group’s Commercial Director, Bruce Reid, says: “I am delighted to welcome Sarah to our Group. Her wealth of knowledge and experience demonstrates a firm grasp of the profitability drivers in household products as well as a deep understanding of the challenges associated with underwriting and pricing. She has a proven track record of successfully creating ideas, building a strategy and delivering against the plan. I’m confident that she will be an incredibly valuable addition to our team as we look to further develop our proposition for residential property.”

Affinity insurance provider, Hood Group, has appointed Claire Foster to the role of Head of IT.

Claire joins Hood Group from AXA Insurance where she was Head of Operational Delivery for the past two years. Prior to that Claire spent six years at Towergate, the last three of which as Head of Business Solutions. She has more than 25 years’ experience and knowledge of the insurance industry including the general insurance and London markets.

In this role Claire will be responsible for strategic planning, roadmap delivery and overall IT service proposition both internally and to its partners. As well as managing support and infrastructure, she will also be responsible for IT development and testing and overseeing the implementation Hood Group’s new back-office system. Claire will also work closely with the senior leadership team to help define organisational strategy and deliver ongoing business success.

Hood Group CEO, Simon Hood says: “Hood Group has achieved significant growth in the affinity market over the past couple of years, and our technology proposition has been central to our success to date. Claire will be a great addition to our senior team. She has tremendous experience in the development and delivery of strategic technology solutions in the financial services industry – in particular the insurance market. I firmly believe that with her expertise, Hood Group is firmly positioned to further enhance our own technology platform and the solutions we can deliver for our partners as we continue to grow our proposition.”

Legal & General, one of the UK’s leading insurance providers, has appointed affinity insurance provider, Hood Group, to develop a new travel insurance proposition to support Legal & General’s re-entry into this sector of the market.

The appointment of Hood Group by Legal & General follows a competitive tender process. Under the terms and conditions, Hood Group will be providing the insurance package supported by a dedicated pricing team. Hood Group will also be providing consultancy services to help develop and implement the marketing strategy to drive sales on behalf of the new Legal & General travel brand.

John Hyde, Managing Director Direct for Legal & General Insurance, said: “Legal & General is committed to making life better for consumers, and our re-entry into the travel insurance market is just the next step in ensuring we are offering our customers a broad and competitive range of general insurance products across a variety of distribution channels. Our new travel product is comprehensive and flexible, with customers having access to three levels of cover, gadget cover as standard, and a choice of add-ons to ensure their individual needs are met. Our decision to partner with Hood Group will help to strengthen our proposition in this market.”

CEO of Hood Group, Simon Hood, comments: “We are delighted to work with an insurance brand that is respected and trusted by its customers. As a specialist in creating insurance solutions for affinity partners, we are proud to have been selected to help Legal & General re-enter this dynamic sector of the insurance market and relish the challenge ahead.”

The travel product created for Legal & General by Hood Group is underwritten by HCC International Insurance Company plc (HCC). To ensure that Legal & General travel insurance customers receive the best possible care should the worst happen and they require emergency assistance while travelling, HCC’s contracted partners Healix and Claims Settlement Agency (CSA) will provide these critical services for the duration of the agreement.

Southend-based affinity insurance provider, Hood Group, is proud to announce that it has become one of a select number of organisations across the world to achieve the prestigious Silver Status by Investors in People (IIP).

Obtaining Silver Status puts Hood Group in the top 15 percent of IIP companies in the UK.

Hood Group Head of Human Resources, Karen Otton, comments: “From the thousands that seek Investors in People accreditation, only a small percentage gain Silver status. We achieved our first IIP accreditation 10 years ago and have continued to have been assessed against the core standard. However, as a company we made the decision to strive for the advanced level last year. This meant that we needed to meet an additional 76 evidence requirements proving our commitment to our people across a range of criteria from communications and training to career development and strategy. Achieving Silver Status has demonstrated that Hood Group puts its people at the heart of everything we do and we are delighted with this achievement.”

Since 1991 IIP has set the standard for better people management and its internationally recognised accreditation is held by 15,000 organisations across 75 countries worldwide. The Standard defines what it takes to lead, support and manage people for sustainable results. It is underpinned by a rigorous assessment methodology and framework which reflects the latest workplace trends, essential skills and effective structures required to perform in any industry.

During the assessment process, Dave Abdul, IIP Assessor spent time within the business, based in Southend-on -Sea, interviewing a cross section of staff and senior management in order to gain an extensive overview of company culture, procedures, practice and staff investment.

Dave Abdul, IIP Assessor: “Hood Group provides a great environment for staff to work in and firmly believes that by looking after the staff, they in turn will look after the customer. Such a high level of accreditation demonstrates a commitment to staff development and shows an organisation committed to being the very best it can be.”

Investors in People is owned by the UK government, managed nationally by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and supported by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.