The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) has launched the BIBA Medical Malpractice Scheme, in a joint venture with FSJ, the UK wholesale division of Heath Lambert. The scheme will provide members and their clients with access to competitive medical malpractice cover plus other enhancements and benefits. FSJ has over 40 years of experience in placing [...]
Lloyd’s has expanded its Chinese business with the addition of S A Meacock & Co, the managing agent. The reinsurance operation, which was set up by Lloyd’s in April of this year, now has 11 members, with S A Meacock the latest agent to join the platform. So far, the business has attracted many significant [...]
AIRMIC has today released its updated guide to Directors’ and Officers’ insurance, taking into account modern developments in company structure and the form of insurance cover now widely offered to businesses. The document released today by the Association of Insurance and Risk Managers is a revision of that first published three years ago in 2004, [...]
Building and development company Rok has today acquired Aquilo Inspection and Reinstatement Services from parent company Aquilo, which provides inspections, repairs and cost analysis for insurance companies across the UK AIRS, formerly part of now de-listed Aquilo insurance provider, trades in providing claim and repair management to insurance companies dealing with property damage and destruction, [...]
Leading UK-based mortgage lender Northern Rock has been saved by the Bank of England as its share price continues to tumble in the wake of a dire cash shortage, as announced on Friday last week. The top-flight UK lender announced on Friday that it was in need of emergency funding to help short term liquidity, [...]
Legal & General (L&G) is employing the Samaritans to help train its claims staff to become more compassionate. The charity will focus on providing specialist training and advice to L&G staff on how to handle difficult or sensitive telephone calls with, for example, customers making a claim on a life insurance or critical illness policy. [...]
Aon has reacted strongly to a suggestion by Baroness Young, the Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, that the insurance industry should withdraw flood cover in instances where developers plan to build on flood plains, despite being refused planning permission. According to Bill Gloyn, chairman of European Real Estate at Aon, the Baroness’s suggestion is [...]
Over one third of businesses have not tested their business continuity plan a survey of risk management, which could adversely impact upon corporate performance, accord to a study into risk management and business practices released today. The business continuity plan, designed as response to emergency unexpected situations to enable normal business to continue, is viewed [...]
The Environment Agency has today called for insurers to refuse to cover those that build property on flood plains after planning permission has been refused, in a measure to deter businesses that have previously ignored the decisions of planning departments. The call came from Baroness Young, the agency’s Chief Executive, much to the disgust of [...]
Allianz Insurance has today unveiled a raft of new training policies, which it anticipates is set to become a new industry benchmark for quality in staff training and development, as well as customer care. The move follows the appointment of a new high profile training and development manager within the claims division, to oversee the [...]
Informatica, the data integration and data quality consultancy, is warning UK insurance providers that they could risk insufficient scrutiny in the processing of claims from this summer’s floods. Unprecedented demands have been created by the sheer volume of claims, which are testing out customer data management procedures across the insurance sector. Informatica is concerned that [...]
This week the insurance industry launched an initiative to tackle the challenge of climate change and encourage customers to behave in a more climate-friendly way. The ClimateWise principles have been developed by leading global insurers, reinsurers, brokers and Lloyd’s of London. They were drawn up following meetings between representatives from the insurance industry and HRH [...]
The Insurance Information Institute has today suggested that a long-term insurance plan against future acts of terrorism is essential in order to ensure economic stability and health. The news comes just two days after the sixth anniversary of the September 11th attacks of 2001, which saw massive destruction of life, as well as destroying the [...]
The merger of Saga financial services and the AA is on track to be completed next week after having received the green light from competition authorities, which would see the brands establishing a cross-selling platform for insurance and breakdown cover packages. The deal, worth an estimated £6 billion (approximately $12 billion) will be concluded through [...]
Climate change is not a prominent issue for businesses, according to figures from a survey conducted by the Institute of Risk Managers at their annual Risk Forum. The study into the preeminence of climate change and carbon emissions found that the majority of those surveyed had not considered climate change a risk to their business, [...]
Motorists are being warned that they can invalidate their car insurance by not revealing details of convictions. In a survey by Confused.com, the price comparison website, 21% of car owners admitted that they would not immediately inform their insurance company if a motoring offence led to their licence being endorsed. This suggests that a quarter [...]
Axa is increasing bonuses on its long-term savings policies in response to a period of strong investment returns. Improved returns allowed Axa to increase rates twice during 2006 and the trend is continuing with further increases in rates of regular and terminal bonuses, in 2007. Regular bonuses paid on Axa’s with-profits policies will increase by [...]
The Association of Independent Financial Advisors (AIFA) is urging its members to prepare for the introduction of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), which comes into effect at the beginning of November. The MiFID, which replace the existing Investment Services Directive, stipulates that investment advice is to be regulated in all European Economic Area [...]
A leading scientist at Tropical Storm Risk (TSR), the consortium comprising experts on insurance, risk management and seasonal climate forecasting, has detected a general trend toward stronger hurricanes. Professor Mark Saunders has been instrumental in reinstating TSR’s previous forecast that the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season would deliver activity about 35% above the long-term norm, which [...]
Pitney Bowes MapInfo, which provides location intelligence, has joined forces with Exclusive Analysis, the strategic intelligence business, to provide the insurance industry with a new risk assessment tool. TerrorRisk has been developed by combining Exclusive Analysis’ terrorism forecasting with location intelligence supplied by Pitney Bowes MapInfo. The new tool can be used by insurers and [...]
