Aviva, a leading UK insurer, has announced a significant investment in its Regional Specialty team, including 15 new hires across the UK and enhancements to its digital platform.
The move strengthens the insurer’s Regional Specialty proposition and reinforces its focus on delivering faster access to local expertise and specialist underwriting capabilities.
The investment is aimed at improving service delivery for brokers and clients by combining expanded human expertise with upgraded digital tools. By bolstering both its workforce and technology, Aviva seeks to streamline processes, improve responsiveness and provide more efficient access to specialist insurance solutions.
Aviva operates a broad insurance business across life, general insurance and asset management. Its Global Corporate & Specialty (GCS) division provides tailored solutions for complex risks, with the Regional Specialty team supporting mid-market clients that require both local decision-making and specialist underwriting expertise.
The Regional Specialty team now includes more than 50 underwriters across areas such as Accident & Health, Construction, Engineering, Renewable Energy, and Marine Cargo & Freight. As part of the expansion, the construction underwriting team has grown to five members, enabling Aviva to support a wider range of complex regional construction risks with increased speed and confidence.
In addition to underwriting expansion, Aviva has introduced nine new business development underwriters. These roles focus on strengthening broker relationships and assembling bespoke teams that include risk engineering, client relationship managers and claims relationship leads. This structure is designed to provide quicker and simpler access to specialist expertise across regions.
Alongside workforce growth, Aviva has invested in digital enhancements to improve trading efficiency. These include launching Marine Cargo & Freight solutions on Acturis etrade and FastTrade, as well as implementing a more advanced rating model to support more accurate pricing. These improvements have reduced referral rates across key product lines, with Accident & Health referrals falling by more than 50%, enabling brokers to self-serve most cases while freeing underwriters to focus on complex risks.
Looking ahead, the Regional Specialty team has outlined three strategic priorities for 2026: leveraging data-driven insights to support sustainable growth, addressing underinsurance by identifying coverage gaps, and increasing market visibility through stronger engagement with brokers across the UK.
Aviva head of regional specialty Chris Vine said, “In our latest Broker Barometer survey, brokers said a strong regional presence makes a real difference to service quality.1 With that in mind, our focus for 2026 and beyond is on bringing specialist expertise even closer to our broker partners and clients.
“We’ve invested heavily in people, capability and technology to improve visibility, availability and decision-making across the regions, further supporting brokers to secure the right cover for customers faster and more confidently.
“We know that strong relationships and face-to-face engagement matter, for brokers and for the customers we serve. This investment strengthens our ambition to build long-term regional partnerships and gives brokers and clients access to the same specialist expertise, wherever they are in the UK.”
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