Having completed its acquisition of the UK-based Benfield Group Ltd, Aon Corporation has announced plans to reduce its global headcount by 700, as the businesses integrate. Benfield is the world’s third-largest reinsurance broker and Aon, the world’s largest insurance broker. Benfield will merge with Aon’s existing reinsurance operations, to form Aon Benfield. The transaction will [...]
The Board of Resources in Insurance Group has announced a pair of new initiatives. The first of these is a new division, named Verify. This division is a claims investigation solution which has been created to offer factual reporting on losses less than £10,000 in cases where a comprehensive start to finish enquiry is not [...]
The French government has unveiled plans to offer credit insurance to small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in the country. As global markets enter recession, insurers are becoming increasingly wary of offering credit insurance, which covers companies against non-paying customers or if they enter administration. A number of European insurers have started pulling cover from [...]
Aviva, the world’s fifth largest insurer, has announced plans to launch the UK’s biggest ever financial services rebranding campaign in a bid to shed it’s Norwich Union brand name. The £9 million advertising offensive will start Boxing Day with the aim of completing the rebrand by June 2009. TV adverts will feature celebrities who have [...]
Equitable Life, the troubled mutual life insurer that came close to collapse eight years ago, has dropped the sale of its £6.8 billion with-profits fund. The company put itself up for sale in March of this year, having already transferred the bulk of its fixed pensions business to Canada Life. However, the insurer says it [...]
The Chairman of Lloyd’s of London, Lord Levene, has told Channel Four news that he thinks the owners of the highjacked oil tanker, Sirius Star, are highly likely to pay a ransom. He likened the hijackers to terrorists and the risks they present to commercial vessels as similar to the U-boat menace in the Atlantic [...]
Law firm Dolmans has issued a stark warning that motor insurance fraud has soared by some 70% over the course of the last three years. The cost averages out to around £5m per week, but there is good news with Dolmans stating that there are some positive indications that the increased criminality is being tackled. [...]
Open GI has appointed David Kelly to serve on the board as business development director. He leaves behind his prior post as national sales manager to assume the role, and has worked for the organisation for over two years. Prior to joining Open GI he had a lengthy career spanning over two decades in financial [...]
Glemham Underwriting Limited has announced that from 1 December they are relocating to new, larger premises. Underwriting director Tim Lockwood has stated that the move has been made due to an increase in administrative staff, which in turn placed a squeeze on available space at the firm’s offices. The hirings meant the underwriting team was [...]
Commercial broker Moorhouse has announced the appointment of Joe Sultana to the board in the capacity of operations director. Before joining the organisation he was a founding partner with A.J.O. Insurance Services, where he worked for 12 years (six of which after selling to Morgan Financial Group). Sultana will be tasked with driving forward efficiency [...]
Insurance broker and risk adviser Marsh has stated that business continuity management (BCM) can prove helpful for businesses trying to negotiate their way through the current economic difficulties. Firms (particularly those in manufacturing and retail) can benefit from conducting a business impact analysis which can yield a more comprehensive appreciation of the situation and thereby [...]
QBE Insurance Group Ltd, Australia’s biggest insurer by premium income, has announced the acquisition of ZC Sterling Corp, a US-based underwriting agency, for $575 million. QBE also said that it plans to acquire three other underwriting agencies, including two in the US and one in Europe. Capital to fund the acquisitions – and to shore [...]
Kevin Hogan has been named by Zurich Financial Services Group as the firm’s new chief executive officer for Global Life in the Americas. He joins the firm from AIG, where he served as chief distribution officer of AIG Foreign Life and Retirement Services. Hogan spent over two decades with the firm, during which time he [...]
The Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board (AADB) is to investigate the way in which government actuaries advised the regulators of mutual life insurer, Equitable Life. The board will focus its enquiries on the advice given by the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD), between December 1990 and April 2001. Equitable Life was founded in 1762 and grew [...]
Germany-based Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurer, has expressed interest in buying the Asian life insurance operations of crippled US insurance giant American International Group (AIG). Munich Re revealed yesterday that it is seeking to enter new markets in Asia, and admitted that acquiring AIG’s Asian operations would be an effective way of achieving this [...]
Ed Liddy, CEO of embattled US insurer American International Group (AIG), is to receive an annual wage of $1 this year and next because of voluntary restrictions placed by the company on executive compensation. AIG’s seven most senior executives will not receive bonuses for 2008, whilst fifty executives have had their salaries locked until the [...]
Aberdeen-based Central Insurance Services has acquired Peart Insurance Brokers, a specialist in insuring high performance cars. Peart and its trading arm, Performance Marque, is based in Kendal, where 12 members of staff are employed servicing around 7,000 policyholders. Customers include over 25-year-olds in possession of Porsches, Aston Martins, Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Maseratis. On completion of [...]
Homeserve has warned that operating profit for 2008 could be down by between £2 million and £3 million. The company, which specialises in emergency cover and repairs for homeowners, says it has 6.66 million policies in force but is mindful that the recession could lead to cancellations, despite the value of insurance cover for domestic [...]
