Bristol specialist insurance broker Brightside’s new chief executive took up his post today with a pledge to maintain the group’s rapid growth.
Paul Williams joins from Towergate, Europe’s largest independently-owned insurance intermediary, where he was a director on its retail executive committee responsible for all insurer and market relationships across the broking businesses.
In his first day in the job, he said the business would now focus on a number of growth areas including negotiating deals with key insurers, expanding its insurer panel and continuing to strengthen its validation techniques, which will reduce its insurer partners’ exposure to fraud, allow Brightside to offer more competitive rates to its customers. 
The firm, based at the former M4 services at Aust, is among the UK’s top 20 insurance brokers. It operates its own brands such as eCar and ‘white label’ insurance services for retailers such as Asda.
It recently partnered with RatedPeople.com, the UK’s largest online trade recommendation service, which, Mr Williams said today were key to developing its distribution. More partnerships were planned for this year, he added.
“Brightside has a history of rapid growth with considerable opportunity for further policy and profit growth without the underwriting risk of an insurer. As a new CEO, it is essential to ensure continuity in the implementation of the company’s growth plan,” he said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.
“We will continue to concentrate on markets where we have strength and scale, particularly in the motor and SME arenas where we have developed expertise online and through our UK based call centres. Using our Quote Exchange platform we will use our technological advances to introduce additional niche brands to our portfolio.”
Mr Williams replaces chief executive Martyn Holman, who has stepped down from the board last November after 11 years with the group.
Brightside’s shares, which fell heavily in December following a warning on lower revenues, were unchanged today at 19.38p.
