As part of its ongoing expansion, Hedon Insurance Consultants Ltd is opening a new branch in Cottingham, East Yorkshire. It is anticipated that jobs will be created at the new branch, which will be the firm's fourth office in the region.

Insurer Aviva will shed 160 staff from its fund management business in 2012, with most of the cuts in London, after deciding to focus its efforts on core operations. Around 12 per cent of Aviva Investors global workforce will lose their jobs. Alain Dromer is the chief executive of the fund management arm.

Whittington Insurance Markets Limited, the London-market operations of Whittington Group has been acquired by Tawa plc, the quoted insurance service provider and run-off investor, also based in London.

Powerplace, the Towergate online wholesale subsidiary, is to appoint its third chief executive in a year. Simon Ball, the current chief executive, has lost his job in January 2012, eight months after replacing his predecessor Matthew Reed, who is now at Axa Commercial Lines. He will be replaced on an interim basis by Nick Giddings, commercial director at Powerplace.