Tesco and Fortis announce travel insurance tie-up

Tesco's travel insurance policies will be underwritten by Fortis.

People seeking competitive travel insurance before they head off on single trip travel holidays in the near future might be interested in looking at products offered by Tesco and Fortis.

The supermarket bank and the financial company - which already provides home insurance and car insurance for Tesco's customers - have announced a new five-year agreement that will see Fortis give the underwriting and sales and support service to those with policies from Tesco.

Under the terms of the contract - which will also see Fortis control all aspects of claims management - the insurance firm will begin underwriting policies from Tesco by the end of the current year.

The tie-up is worth around £59 million and Benny Higgins, chief executive of Tesco Bank, commented that it is intended to allow the supermarket financier to "expand our travel insurance business with straightforward products that offer our customers good value".

In news that may be of note to travellers, Britons going away on holiday waste a figure of £144 million every year on unnecessary card fees while they are abroad, research by Caxton FX stated recently.

By Sam Gooch