BUDGET INSURANCE SERVICES LTD. - IT HEADQUARTERS

We now arrange and administer insurance for over two million customers and employ around 2, 000 people. Our head office is based in Peterborough, along with our Fusion Contact Centre. We also have contact centres across the UK in Coventry and Sunderland, as well as one in Cape Town, South Africa. The BGL Group began operating in the UK in 1992. Its founder Douw Steyn's objective was to repeat the success of the South African motor insurance company, Auto & General.

Budget was a pioneer in motor insurance, selling monthly and later annual policies, and creating the first paperless insurance environment. Starting with just seven executives and no existing customer base in the UK, Budget Insurance Company grew within four years to an enjoy an annualised premium of £54 million. The original UK organisation, Budget Insurance Company Limited, in the UK, sold household and car insurance, underwriting its own risks. In December 1997 a change in Group strategy saw the Budget Group cease underwriting and become an insurance intermediary, marketing policies underwritten by a panel of insurers.

This strategic move led to immediate profit growth. October 2001 saw Budget acquire Coventry based Dial Direct, a major UK car and motorcycle insurance intermediary, selling primarily under the brands of Dial Direct and Bennetts. The following August, Budget set up its affinity business, Junction, with major high street brand partners such as Post Office and M&S Money.