The move puts the insurer's PI proposition on both Acturis, which serves more than 32,000 brokers in Britain, and Aviva's own Fast Trade portal. Where Fast Trade requires brokers to log into a separate system, the Acturis route lets them quote and bind cover without leaving the management platform many already use day to day.
It is a bet on convenience at a moment when winning broker loyalty matters more than it has in years. The UK PI market is in the grip of its sharpest softening phase since before the hard market of 2018 to 2021, a period Marsh has described as extremely challenging, with some Lloyd's insurers running at loss ratios above 110%.
Aon's Q1 2025 outlook reported rate falls of 5% to 20% depending on client size, and expects the trend to hold into 2026. Research from Lockton suggests SME buyers stand to benefit most from the correction, given their lower risk exposure.
For Aviva, the timing carries added significance. The insurer had pulled out of SME professional indemnity entirely in 2013, only to later re-enter a segment it is now actively building out.
The PI product offers limits from £100,000 to £5 million, with sector-specific wordings for accountancy, design and construct, IT, and miscellaneous professions, supporting fee incomes of up to £2.5 million and turnover of up to £25 million for design and construct clients.
Data firm GlobalData places Aviva among Britain's leading professional indemnity providers alongside AXA and Zurich, in a market it valued at £3.3 billion in 2023. But softening rates also mean underwriters face growing pressure to retain business, and digital ease of access has become one lever in that fight.
Aviva's own Broker Barometer survey found 89% of brokers now believe digitalisation is improving their relationship with insurers. Earlier this year, the company went a step further, allowing brokers on both Acturis and Fast Trade to set their own commission rates between 0% and 35%.
Rebecca Gambrell (pictured above), managing director of SME and delegated authorities at Aviva, said flexibility was the driving force.
"As customers continue to evolve and grow, we know flexibility matters for them and our brokers, both in the cover itself and how it is traded," she said.
The launch is part of a broader investment push across Aviva's financial lines division, with further updates planned through 2026. It runs alongside the insurer's previously announced expansion into the US surplus lines market, where a New York operation is expected to begin writing business in Q2 2026.
