A Teesside insurance broker has changed its name after its parent company, the Folgate Partnership Limited, merged with specialist underwriter Towergate Underwriting Limited.

Broker Willett & Ross inc Peel Thompson Fletcher, in Thornaby, Stockton, is now known as Towergate Risk Solutions Teesside.

The move comes after Folgate and Towergate, both based in Kent, announced plans to merge to form the Towergate Partnership. The group will be the largest independently owned insurance intermediary in the UK, employing more than 2,000 staff.