The jml-insurance website is now offering lifestyle insurance excess products through a dedicated link. The products, provided by insurance4excess, are designed for consumers who make insurance claims and end up paying the excess, and are available for home, motor, health, travel and pet insurance. The way it works is that a customer takes out a [...]
Independent insurance broker Tysers has announced that it has bolstered its UK Professional Indemnity capability with two new appointments. Richard Bowdidge takes up the role of divisional director, and Kingsley Miller assumes the position of divisional associate director. The two senior executives both joined the firm’s Corporate Risks Division from First City Limited, and in [...]
A Christian rights group in America has filed a lawsuit against the US Treasury to stop bailout funds going to troubled insurer AIG (American International Group). The Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) brought the lawsuit on the basis that government ownership of AIG violates the US Constitution, and means that the state is funding [...]
Norwich Union (NU) is predicting that the UK’s equity release market will thrive during the recession. The group sees the impact of the current economic turmoil on savings, a general lack of retirement funding and the Government’s growing emphasis on self-funded retirement as the main drivers in the market. The insurer expects High Street banks [...]
Motor insurance giant Norwich Union has warned that car insurance fraud is on the rise because of the credit crunch. Research by the insurer found motorists trying to reduce premiums by declaring false information to their insurance firm when taking out a policy. However, Norwich Union warned that insurance granted on false premises is invalid, [...]
Data management specialist, Experian, has revealed the extent to which the financial services sector wastes money by duplicating customers’ mailings. In a report entitled “Making Sense of a Crowded Nation” Experian sets out guidance on optimising contact data management strategies. Research commissioned by the company revealed that two-thirds of financial services firms fail to remove [...]
Broker and risk management specialist, Willis, is forecasting that aviation insurance premiums will rise through to the end of 2008 and into 2009. In a report by the firm’s Aviation Practice, Willis notes that in November aviation premiums increased 16%. During the month renewals by five pure cargo carrier programmes saw premiums rise by 40% [...]
German engineering giant Siemens Aktiengesellschaft (Siemens AG) and three of its subsidiaries have pleaded guilty to paying $1.4 billion in contract winning bribes to foreign officials. At the District Court in Columbia, Siemens AG pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and agreed to pay $1.6 billion in fines to US and [...]
Broker and risk manager Aon has warned that 2009 will be a year when UK insurers find their bottom line pressured by fraudulent claims and legal fees. Economic recession will see a rise in fraudulent claims. In turn, this will push up legal fees, driving premium increases. Meanwhile, the insurance claims landscape will be reshaped [...]
This year will be the second most costly on record for insurers, according to preliminary estimates released by Munich Re. The world’s biggest reinsurer estimates total economic damages from natural catastrophes of $200 billion, of which around $100 billion are weather related. This is close to the biggest ever yearly loss on record, and could [...]
Insurance broker and risk adviser Marsh has been given the go ahead by regulatory authorities in China to establish a branch office in Dalian, the biggest city in Liaoning province. The new officer becomes the fifth Marsh China has outside of Beijing, and follows on from offices in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Hebei province. The [...]
Specialist insurer Hiscox has warned households against making false economies to try and ease the effects of the economic downturn. Older washing machines, for example, cost more to run than their modern counterparts and are also more liable to cause insurance claims, such as for fire or flooding. The insurer also advises against running appliances [...]
American International Group (AIG) has sold $39.3 billion (£25.7 billion) of its residential mortgage-backed securities to Maiden Lane II, a newly formed trust backed by the Federal Reserve. The stricken US insurance company secured an $85 billion government bail out in September, only hours after the collapse of Wall Street investment bank, Lehman Brothers. The [...]
The Belgian government has announced that it will be appealing against a court ruling which prevents the sale of Fortis Bank’s Belgian assets to BNP Paribas. Belgium’s leaders still believe that selling Fortis’s assets to the French bank is the best way to ensure the long term future of Fortisbanque Belgium. However, on Friday a [...]
Ironshore Inc, the property and casualty insurer, has acquired Bermuda-based reinsurer, Marine Re. Marine Re has been established for nine years and specialises in reinsuring hull and cargo for commercial and pleasure craft, in North American markets. During 2008 the firm underwrote gross premium income of $35 million. Ironshore provides broker-sourced specialty commercial property and [...]
Specialist lines underwriting agent, CFC Underwriting, has reported its eighth year of growth in a row. In the year ending 30th September 2008, CFC reported a revenue increase of 65%, whilst operating profit doubled on year to £1.8 million. Managing director David Walsh said eight years of successive growth is an ‘outstanding achievement’. Walsh believes [...]
Zurich Financial Services Group has agreed to pay a $25 million settlement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with charges of civil securities fraud. A related charge was also settled against Converium Holding AG, which operated under the name Zurich Re until it was spun off in 2001. In paying out [...]
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) says it has received over 25,000 complaints relating to the sale of payment protection insurance (PPI), since January. By comparison, during the 12 months to April 2008 the service recorded 10,652 complaints regarding PPI, up significantly from 1,832 during the previous 12 months. At the beginning of the year, the [...]
