Lloyds beefs up insurance team

Two major appointments were unveiled by Lloyds Banking Group yesterday as it seeks to strengthen the management at its insurance division.

Craig Thornton, Aviva UK’s commercial director, is joining on 1 June and will be responsible for the Halifax and Lloyds TSB general insurance businesses.

Standard Life veteran Ronnie Taylor, who resigned as head of the Edinburgh-based group’s corporate pensions arm on Wednesday, takes up his role as Lloyds’ pensions and investments director in October.

Lloyds’ insurance director Toby Strauss, who heads up the group’s Scottish Widows division, said: “These are two strong appointments which will help us further deliver our strategy for the insurance business.”