Co-operative Insurance has launched a pay-as-you-drive policy, aimed at helping young drivers. According to research by the mutual, the UK’s young drivers saw the average cost of motor insurance rise by four times the rate of inflation in 2008. Premiums for under 25-year-olds increase 11.5% to an average £1,463 and Co-ops director of general insurance, [...]
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is undertaking an inquiry into the UK operations of American International Group (AIG) subsidiary, AIG Financial Products. The law enforcer says it is co-operating with authorities in the US that are currently working on separate investigations involving the business. The Financial Services Authority is also active in the UK side [...]
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, price comparison site Confused.com has revealed that being married makes car insurance cheaper. Married couples save an average of £34 with the top ten car insurers, Confused.com said – enough money to deliver a bouquet of red roses to their spouse on Valentine’s Day. Will Thomas, Confused.com head of motor [...]
Bermuda-based XL Capital has posted its 2008 results, with a $2.55 billion net loss in what CEO Michael McGavick called the ‘toughest year in XL’s history’. The loss is compared to net income of $275.9 million in 2007. Losses of $1.21 billion and $1.42 billion were sustained in the third and fourth quarters respectively. Fourth [...]
AIG may sell its motor insurance business to Zurich following reports that the two companies are engaged in advanced merger talks. AIG’s values its US motor insurance business, 21st Century, at $2 billion (£1.4 billion). Zurich would pay for the purchase using mostly non-cash assets. This needs special permission from the Federal Reserve, which requires [...]
The chief executive of Swiss Re has resigned: Jacques Aigrain has been replaced by Stefan Lippe, former deputy chief executive and chief operating officer of the group, with immediate effect. Stefan Lippe was appointed to Swiss Re’s executive board in 1995, moving on to head the group’s Property & Casualty business before being appointed chief [...]
Standard Life has confirmed that it is restoring the value of its Pension Sterling Fund (PSF) with a £100 million injection of cash. The move will return customers to the positions they held before a recent valuation adjustment. Last month Standard Life reported that the £2.4 billion PSF had lost just under 5% of its [...]
Chaucer Holdings PLC will press ahead with plans to raise £75 million through issuing shares despite receiving takeover offers. The company confirmed that since it announced plans to raise funds it has received a number of approaches which may lead to acquisition offers. However, the approaches are still at an early stage and subject to [...]
Salaam Halal insurance, which claims to be the UK’s first Islamic motor insurance provider, is now listed by price comparison website, moneysupermarket.com. The brand was launched in July 2008 by Principle Insurance with the aim of growing business among the 1.6 million Muslims living in Britain. Policies are Sharia-compliant which means that the risk is [...]
Accident management firm Helphire Group plc has announced plans to cut 130 jobs due to ‘challenging market conditions’. The news follows the publication of a cost-cutting strategy by the company in December which announced plans to reduce operating costs by £5 million. The Bath-based company employs over 3,000 people in its national network of 31 [...]
Pacific Life Re, the US specialist life reinsurer, has secured a £1.5 billion longevity contract with Abbey Life, the UK closed life insurer. Another reinsurer is involved in the transaction but has not been named. Abbey Life continues to manage £12 billion of assets with regard to around 1.2 million policies, although the company has [...]
Chinese insurance group Ping An, the biggest shareholder in Belgian-Dutch bancassurance group Fortis, said it plans to vote against the sale of Fortis assets to French bank BNP Paribas – despite Fortis’s efforts to revise the terms of the deal. “Since September 2008, the decisions to sell assets were driven by the Belgian government and [...]
WR Berkley Corporation has revealed its financial results for 2008 today. The firm reported a net income of $281m, equivalent to $1.62 per share, significantly down on 2007′s $766m/$3.90 per share. Net operating income was down $221m from 2007 to $513m. In addition, WR Berkley has retroactively altered its accounting method in such a way [...]
Crawford & Company has released its financial results for the full-year 2008 and Q4 of that year. In Q4 consolidated revenues hit $262.9m with net income of $8.3m, up from $245.2m and $3.3m respectively from the fourth quarter of 2007. On an annual comparison the firm also achieved an improvement over its performance last year, [...]
Christopher Holborn has been named by Liberty International Underwriters (LIU) Europe as the firm’s new casualty manager for Continental Europe. In his new role Holborn, who brings over two decades of industry experience with him, becomes responsible for covering the firm’s offices situated in Continental Europe. He is to be based in Zurich where he [...]
MMA Insurance is enhancing its presence in Manchester and Birmingham with the addition of two new offices in the important regional cities. The move comes as part of the broker insurer’s wider strategic approach to bolster the firm’s bespoke commercial offering which is made via its regional trading environment. The brace of new offices will [...]
RSA has announced that it has extended its UK repair network, which can now cater for customers with high value cars such as Aston Martins and Porsches. The new Prestige Repairer Network has been developed alongside a programme of interviews with customers and brokers, aimed at assessing their expectations of a claims service. From the [...]
