Swinton Insurance is a UK insurance retailer that was established in 1957. The company offers a range of insurance products from a panel of UK insurers covering car, bike, home, commercial, taxi and caravan insurance.

History

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, Greater Manchester Swinton is a town in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England. southwest of the River Irwell, northwest of Manchester city centre, adjoining the town of Pendlebury and suburb of Clifton. In 2014, it had a population of 22,931. H ...

. in the first year, he sold around 100 policies to local people. The first branch was opened in 1964 in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, and the branch network originally expanded in the

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

region before it expanded throughout the

North West of England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,052,000 in 2011. It is the th ...

. It 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, which is now common in 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 in 2004, it acquired

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 Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

. 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 Cleethorpes () is a seaside town on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, England with a population of 38,372 in 2020. It has been permanently occupied since the 6th century, with fishing as its original industry, then deve ...

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. Gilles Normand stepped down as CEO in October 2018 and was replaced by Scott Kennedy as Managing Director. Ardonagh Group purchased Swinton in September 2018 for £165million.

Advertising

Swinton Insurance was the first insurance broker to advertise on UK television in the 1960s. In the 1980s, Swinton ran

television commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

featuring a 'Man with Big Glasses'. In the 1990s, Swinton Insurance ran a television commercial campaign featuring characters from the television programme Thunderbirds. Other commercials have featured

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, ' ...

actor John Middleton and the animated television characters of

The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighbo ...

Controversy

In 2009, Swinton was fined £770,000 by the

Financial Services Authority The Financial Services Authority (FSA) was a quasi-judicial body accountable for the regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom between 2001 and 2013. It was founded as the Securities and Investments Board (SIB) in 198 ...

(FSA) for mis-selling

payment protection insurance Payment protection insurance (PPI), also known as credit insurance, credit protection insurance, or loan repayment insurance, is an insurance product that enables consumers to ensure repayment of credit if the borrower dies, becomes ill or disabl ...

(PPI) policies. In July 2013, Swinton was fined £7.4m by the

Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, but operates independently of the UK Government, and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financ ...

(FCA) in relation to sales of monthly insurance products sold by telephone between April 2010 and April 2012. Chief executive Christophe Bardet stated that Swinton had notified these problems to the Financial Services Authority in March 2012 and co-operated fully with the FCA. Swinton acknowledged its shortcomings in its sales practices during the specific period in question, and the company unreservedly apologised to customers. After instigating a full review of the business after his appointment in December 2011, Bardet announced a comprehensive transformation of the business with a three-year, £75m investment programme. In May 2014 Swinton Insurance was criticised by Welsh Language Commissioner Meri Huws for prohibiting call centre staff from using Welsh when discussing details of financial products with Welsh speaking customers in Wales.Swinton criticised by Welsh Speaking Commissioner
/ref>

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.swinton.co.uk Financial services companies established in 1957 Insurance companies of the United Kingdom 1957 establishments in England Companies based in Manchester