Freeserve, in conjunction with three partners including
content provider GlobalNetFinancial.com, is preparing to launch
InsuranceCity.com, the
UK’s first one-stop shop for a wide range of personal insurance
services.
It is expected that InsuranceCity.com will launch in October, with
the goal of becoming the top insurance channel in the UK. It plans to
expand during 2000 to offer a much wider range of general insurance
services.
GlobalNetFinancial, which already operates Freeserve’s
UK-iNvest.com,
will own 26 per cent of the joint venture. Other partners are
Cox Insurance Holdings and Harrison Son Hill & Co.
“We are particularly excited about InsuranceCity.com as we have the
ability to roll it out across Europe in conjunction with our
pan-European expansion of financial sites,” said Stanley Hollander,
president of GlobalNetFinancial.com.
In the UK, InsuranceCity.com will display instant quotes from a
panel of leading UK insurers, including Lloyd’s and other household
names as Norwich Union, Royal Sun Alliance, Cornhill, Zurich and AZA.
GlobalNetFinancial.com, which is 27 per cent owned by its strategic
partners, is emerging as a leading supplier of financial news and
information, with a strong European presence. It recently signed
an agreement to provide financial web sites for all the current
and future World Online International Internet portals.
“InsuranceCity.com is another example of GlobalNetFinancial’s
ability to provide e-commerce, transaction-based execution services,
in conjunction with unique financial content,” observed Stanley Hollander.
Freeserve, which this week confirmed it will be among the first UK ISPs
to experiment with ADSL connectivity, had 1.32 million active registered
accounts
as of June 26 this year.