Hastings Insurance Services Ltd is a UK personal lines

insurance broker An insurance broker is an intermediary who sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance on behalf of a client for compensation. An insurance broker is distinct from an insurance agent in that a broker typically acts on behalf of a client by negoti ...

servicing customers via smartphone mobile app, online, and by phone. The company provides car, bike, van and home insurance, as well as a range of ancillary products and services such as breakdown cover, personal accident, substitute vehicle and key and legal cover. The company also offers unsecured Personal Loans. It is part of the Hastings Group, a business which was listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

until it was acquired by a consortium of the South African business, Rand Merchant International, and the Finnish insurer,

Sampo Group Sampo Group is a significant Nordic insurance group made up of the parent company Sampo plc, P&C Insurance Holding Ltd, Mandatum Holding Ltd, Danish insurer Topdanmark and British P&C insurer Hastings, all of which are its subsidiaries. The pare ...

, in November 2020.

History

The company was established, based on business plan prepared by

David Gundlach Guy "David" Gundlach (July 21, 1955 – October 16, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, business leader and film producer. He founded the insurance company Hastings Direct and produced the award-winning film '' Get Low''. Education and career ...

and Andrew Bowen, as "Hastings Direct" in 1997. It was acquired by

Insurance Australia Group Insurance Australia Group Limited (IAG) is a multinational insurance company. It is the largest general insurance company in Australia, and also the largest in New Zealand through its subsidiary IAG New Zealand. IAG had its origins in the Nati ...

in 2006 and then by its management in 2009. In 2011 the company announced that 150 new posts would be created, with the first 60 to be recruited in January in the Bexhill,

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...

areas.

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

acquired a 50% interest in the company in 2013. The company was the subject of an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

in October 2015.

Operations

The company trades under the Hastings Direct, Hastings Premier, Hastings Essential, SmartMiles, People's Choice and InsurePink brands. In 2012, the company launched a

usage-based insurance Usage-based insurance (UBI), also known as pay as you drive (PAYD), pay how you drive (PHYD) and mile-based auto insurance, is a type of vehicle insurance whereby the costs are dependent upon type of vehicle used, measured against time, distance, b ...

product under the Hastings Direct SmartMiles brand. The SmartMiles product requires a

telematics Telematics is an interdisciplinary field encompassing telecommunications, vehicular technologies ( road transport, road safety, etc.), electrical engineering (sensors, instrumentation, wireless communications, etc.), and computer science (multimedi ...

device to be fitted to the insured vehicle. Insurance policies provided by the company are issued by a panel of insurers, including Advantage Insurance Company Limited, a Gibraltar based company. The company is known for its mascot, Harry Hastings, an animated figure dressed in armour from the

Battle of Hastings The Battle of Hastings nrf, Batâle dé Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William the Conqueror, William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godw ...

in 1066. He is also known for singing a catchy tone of the number 0800 00 1066 (with the final 4-digit number being a reference about the

.) Based in

Bexhill-on-Sea Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish situated in the county of East Sussex in South East England. An ancient town and part of the local government district of Rother, Bexhill is home to a number of arc ...

, the company is one of the largest employers on the South Coast. The company also has a second call centre in Leicester. Toby van der Meer became the CEO of Hastings Group on 1 March 2018. The previous CEO, Gary Hoffman, became non-executive chairman. In August 2020 it was announced that the company would be acquired by a consortium of the South African business, Rand Merchant International, and the Finnish insurer,

, for £1.7 billion. The transaction was completed on 16 November 2020.

Sponsorship

The company sponsored the

Eastbourne International The Eastbourne International is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as a WTA 500 series on the WTA Tour and an ATP Tour ...

tennis tournament between 2003 and 2007 in a deal worth £350,000 per year.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Financial services companies established in 1997 Insurance companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in East Sussex