SimplyBiz has appointed Makayla Everitt to the newly-created role of head of business development for its mortgages business. The company is expanding its mortgage and general insurance services, with new initiatives planned in 2012. 2010 turnover £12m, 142 employees.

Neptune has continued to strengthen its sales team with the appointment of Andy Larkin as head of strategic partners. The firm has reviewed its UK retail sales team and appointed Adam Hughes as head of UK wholesale. The restructuring is expected to provide a better service for clients across the UK. 2010 turnover £80.9m, 92 employees.

Private equity owner Terra Firma is selling Belfast headquartered Phoenix Supply, the largest natural gas supplier in Northern Ireland, to energy giant SSE Plc for 19.1m. The company has 130,000 customers. SSE has agreed a deal through its wholly-owned subsidiary Airtricity Energy Supply (Northern Ireland) to buy the entire issued share capital in Phoenix Supply and to purchase Phoenix Energy, which supplies gas in the Republics deregulated commercial supply market.

JP Morgans has made a £1.2bn trading loss for the year to December 2011. Chief investment office boss Ina Drew has taken early retirement. she has offered to resign on several occasions after the office made huge losses. Jamie Dimon is the chief executive.