Benny Higgins is becoming chairman of Markerstudy as the specialist insurer gears up for potential deals.
The appointment of the former chief executive of Tesco Bank comes after a £200 million investment in Markerstudy by Pollen Street Capital and Qatar Insurance Company in January.
Markerstudy owns Lancaster and Reis, the classic cars insurers. It is one of Britain’s largest privately owned insurance groups and is the country’s fifth largest motor insurance provider. The group, which was founded in 2001 and has 3,500 employees, bought the Co-operative Group’s insurance underwriting business in December and the Bristol-based Brightside this year.
Higgins, 60, has worked at Royal Bank of Scotland, now NatWest, and HBOS. He left Tesco Bank in 2018 after ten years. He said that growth at Markerstudy could be “organic, a series of bolt-ons or more transformational or could include all of the above”.
Kevin Spencer, 55, chief executive of Markerstudy, said: “We are steering Markerstudy on an exhilarating growth trajectory and due to our size, diversity and speed of acceleration it’s the optimum time to invite a chairman on board to complement the skills of my existing board of directors.”
