Defaqto Acquires Leading Market Pricing Business to Strengthen Financial Services and Insurance Insight

20 January 2026

Haddenham – 19 January 2026: Defaqto, the UK’s leading provider of financial product ratings and market intelligence, has announced the acquisition of Pearson Ham Group’s Market Pricing Business in a strategic move that significantly enhances Defaqto’s portfolio of data and technology solutions for the UK retail financial services and insurance industries.

The £11m acquisition, completed through Defaqto’s parent company Fintel plc, brings together unrivalled product and pricing data to create a unique proposition for insurers, advisers, and consumers. This combination will enable Defaqto to deliver deeper insights into consumer value, helping providers design smarter financial solutions and empowering consumers to make better-informed decisions.

The addition of Pearson Ham Group’s Market Pricing Business means Defaqto now offers the most extensive product and pricing datasets in the UK personal lines insurance market, covering motor, home, travel, and pet insurance.

Defaqto’s data forms the foundation of its Star Ratings and the integration of pricing data will accelerate innovation across Defaqto’s technology portfolio, including its recently launched Matrix 360 platform, which already serves 22 major insurers. Proprietary data assets will underpin new capabilities such as “value for money” ratings and advanced benchmarking tools, supporting the industry’s transition to an AI-driven economy.

John Milliken, CEO of Defaqto, commented:

“We are extremely excited about this strategic acquisition. The Pearson Ham Group pricing business is a profitable, growing, cash generative business with a rich historic data set and a strong value proposition that is invaluable to the UK insurance industry. The winners in the AI economy will be those with unique, valuable, proprietary data and expertise who can also innovate to benefit their customers. Through the combination of unrivalled product and pricing data, Defaqto has the tools to help the industry to better understand and deliver consumer value.

“This strategic move further reinforces Defaqto’s position within the personal lines insurance market, strengthening our role as a leading provider of market intelligence and technology. Acquiring pricing data to complement our market leading product data is critical. The unique combination of product and pricing data will help providers build smarter financial solutions.”

Matt Timmins, CEO of Fintel plc, added:

“This acquisition is an important milestone in growing our Software and Data division. It exemplifies the type of high-quality, synergistic acquisition that we target as part of our strategy – enhancing our capabilities, deepening our market position, and reinforcing our position as the strategic technology and data partner to UK financial services.”

The Market Pricing Business will initially operate as a standalone entity before being integrated into Defaqto during 2026.

Stephen Kennedy, CEO, Pearson Ham Group Market Pricing, said:

“We are delighted to become a part of the Defaqto family, because of the exciting ideas we have to grow the business and Defaqto’s proven ability to integrate and add value to the businesses they acquire.”