BGL Group (formerly Budget Group Limited) is a
financial services
Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companies, ...
company based in
Orton Southgate,
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire unti ...
, England. Its main lines of business are vehicle and home insurance, with a range of supplementary products such as breakdown cover, legal protection and personal accident cover.
History
The company was founded in 1992 by
Douw Steyn
Douw Gerbrand Steyn (born December 1952), is a South African billionaire businessman, the founder of BGL Group, a UK-based insurance and financial services company, and the parent of Comparethemarket.com. Steyn has links to South African politi ...
as the Budget Insurance Company, an
underwriter
Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liabilit ...
. Budget Insurance Services Limited (BISL) was founded in 1997 and the following year Budget Insurance Company ceased underwriting and became an intermediary business, marketing policies underwritten by a panel of insurers. In 1999 it acquired Arnott Century, and changed its name to Budget Retail. The group acquired Dial Direct and
Bennetts in 2001. In 2002 it launched an affinity business, called Junction which was a major contributor to its growth through partners such as
Post Office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional se ...
,
M&S Money,
Bradford & Bingley
Bradford & Bingley plc was a British bank with headquarters in the West Yorkshire town of Bingley.
The bank was formed in December 2000 by demutualisation of the Bradford & Bingley Building Society following a vote of the building society's mem ...
, and Yes Insurance.
In 2003, the company launched its own uninsured loss recovery business, ACM ULR, and in the same year it ran a PR and marketing campaign for Bennetts, helping to establish the bike insurer as a leading brand in the
UK market. In 2004, Budget was noted as providing the most competitive home insurance, and the cheapest motor insurance cover.
The company opened its Cape Town Contact Centre in 2004, set up
Comparethemarket.com as a complimentary service in 2005, and sold Budget Retail in 2006. In July 2007 the company changed its name to BGL Group, launching an eco-friendly car insurance site, ibuyeco.co.uk, and relaunching the comparethemarket.com insurance price comparison site.
The year 2009 saw the creation of comparethemeerkat.com – online
meerkat
MeerKAT, originally the Karoo Array Telescope, is a radio telescope consisting of 64 antennas in the Meerkat National Park, in the Northern Cape of South Africa. In 2003, South Africa submitted an expression of interest to host the Square Ki ...
comparison website as part of a spoof advertising campaign featuring a CGI meerkat character named
Aleksandr Orlov. French price comparison sites LesFurets.com and CreditMieux.com were acquired in 2010, and Dutch site Verzekeringssite.nl was acquired in 2012. The latter was rebranded as hoyhoy.nl in 2014.
In 2013, BGL group launched
Beagle Street, the first online-only life insurer in the UK. In 2022
Beagle Street was acquired by
OneFamily.
In 2015,
Bennetts was sold to
Saga Group
Saga is a British company focused on serving the needs of those aged 50 and over. It has 2.7 million customers. The company operates sites on the Kent and Sussex coast: Enbrook Park and Priory Square. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
...
.
The
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB; french: Office d'investissement du régime de pensions du Canada), operating as CPP Investments (french: Investissements RPC), is a Canadian Crown corporation established by way of the 1997 ''Cana ...
acquired a 30% stake in BGL in November 2017 for £675 million.
In January 2022, BGL sold its insurance business to Markerstudy, leaving Comparethemarket as its primary remaining business. BGL was advised by Dentons on the transaction.
Today
The group's main company name is BISL Limited, which was founded in 1996 – trading under the names of Budget, Dial Direct, Bennetts, Junction, ACM ULR, Fusion (no connection with the UK commercial insurer of the same name, established in 2001).
in 2013 the FSA intervened and forced BISL to change its policy cancellation terms, as a result of which BISL stated: "BISL has agreed to change the cancellation terms in its policies. This is because we believe the original terms were confusing and unfair".
The BGL Group employs 2,852 staff across the UK with sales of £714 million and profits of £172 million to the end of June 2019.
Notes
References
The History of Budget
External links
*{{official website, http://www.bglgroup.co.uk
CompareTheMarket.com
Financial services companies established in 1992
Insurance companies of the United Kingdom
Companies based in Peterborough
CPP Investment Board companies