The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has come out in support of plans by a number of insurance companies to use some of the industry’s £16 billion surplus to support their businesses. The move could mean that millions of policyholders will lose out on cash windfalls. The UK insurance sector has been developing plans to release [...]
Insurance group Willis has today announced it is to roll out its graduate recruitment programme across its worldwide markets over the course of 2008, with particular emphasis on driving growth in rapid expansion areas like Asian emerging markets. Rampant growth within the Chinese market over the last few years will see it come to the [...]
Expanding Asian insurer United India Insurance has today announced it is to award its IT support contract to SSP Holdings in what has been described as a landmark award within the insurance industry. The move today will see SSP in consortium with Hewlett Packard providing IT services across the insurer’s expansive domestic operations in India, [...]
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, has delayed the publication of revised proposals regarding capital gains tax (CGT) until the New Year. Earlier he had stated his intention to publish them prior to Christmas, but is presently still in the process of considering the various consultations he engaged with following the widespread disapproval of [...]
Axel P. Lehmann has been appointed by Zurich Financial Services Group as the firm’s new chief risk officer. The position has been beefed up, and is now of group executive committee status. Lehmann will take up the role on 1 January 2008, at the same time Mike Foley will replace him as the chief executive [...]
EurotaxGlass has announced the appointments to two key positions in the firm. The new commercial manager is Richard Gandy, who will be responsible for developing strategy and the firm’s bodyshop and insurance product portfolio direction. Gandy leaves behind DuPont (UK) Ltd., where he has spent the last 19 years. Earlier in his career he handled [...]
DAS has bolstered its broker management teams with an announcement that four new appointments are to be made. The new London-based broker account manager will be Mark Rayner. In his new role Rayner will deal personally with broker accounts in the City, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. He leaves behind Abbey Legal Protection to take [...]
DAS, the legal expenses insurance company, has praised defendant liability insurers for their “much-improved stance in both settling cases and paying ATE (After-the-Event) insurance premiums”. It is one year since the Court of Appeal upheld DAS’s test case of the 80e staged premium model and in that time, “improvements in claims settlement times and ATE [...]
The Financial Services Authority, the regulator of all financial activity in the UK, has today announced it is to embark on a process of simplification across its official documents required to be completed by brokers in the light of complaints against providers of insurance policy cover. At present brokers are required to complete labour intensive [...]
The board of directors of CBG and the Independent Director have today announced that an agreement has been reached by Zeus Capital in conjunction with CBG to acquire the total available share capital of PenMc in consideration of shares in its own business, with a view to securing their takeover approach. The CBG offer comes [...]
The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) have released a report which shows that a large number of people on low incomes are seeing their homeowning dreams turned to nightmares. Sub-prime mortgages have led to massive debts and individuals with the possibility of losing their homes. The recent increase in arrears, court cases and repossessions are being [...]
PBS Holdings has promoted Tim Rolfe from chief operating officer to chief executive of the firm. Rolfe succeeds Jonathan Davey who last month stepped down from the position. It is two years since Rolfe joined PBS from Norwich Union, where he was employed as director of distribution and development.
Derek McLeod has been appointed by Lockton to be its new claims manager for the real estate and construction division. He leaves behind a post as insurance manager for the retailer BHS. McLeod will report directly to the CEO, Richard Owen. He will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the division, in addition to [...]
Yet another delay to the release of the study into the crisis that brought insurer Equitable Life to its knees has today been criticised by campaigners after it was initially due to be published back in 2005, sparking fears that it could pave the way for further problems in the industry in the interim. The [...]
Lloyd’s insurer Kiln has today announced that it is currently in the midst of discussions with an undisclosed potential suitor, working through negotiations of a potential takeover bid which could see a change of ownership and a transfer of the Kiln assets and business. According to reports issued to the Stock Exchange today, the board [...]
Halifax Home Insurance has issued a warning regarding the Nintendo Wii, one of this year’s top Christmas presents. The firm says that the console can cause damage to televisions. Ironically it is the Wii’s unique selling point that is responsible for its potentially damaging ways. The controls for the console are hand-held and used to [...]
Fortis Insurance has announced that Adam Clarke will be the firm’s new director of underwriting. Clarke’s position will entail collaborating closely with the firm’s affinity and partnership underwriting, commercial underwriting and new product development teams. He will be responsible for managing the performance and profitability of accounts in these areas. Clarke leaves behind a position [...]
Aon Re Global has appointed Marguerite Soeteman-Reijnen as its new managing director of Aon Capital Markets in Europe Middle East & Africa (EMEA). Soeteman-Reijnen will take her post on 1 January 2008. Her new job will make her responsible for leading the firm in creating and developing integrated capital solutions, working alongside chief executive officers [...]
Lloyd’s has published a report on nanotechnology, which is a field of applied science and technology that works on the control of matter on the atomic and molecular level. The technology is already in use worldwide. For example in the textile industry, nanoparticles are being embedded in fabric to create stain-resistant cloth and the nanocomposite [...]
Business taxation has today been announced as the number one concern for small to medium businesses in the UK, according to the findings of the Hiscox SME Risk Barometer index, which analyses the major concerns faced by smaller businesses over any given year. In the second study of its kind, business taxation was cited by [...]
