AIG has announced the appointment of executive VP Rodney O. Martin, Jr. to the post of chairman of International Life and Retirement Services. His appointment follows the retirement of Edmund Tse, board member and senior vice chairman, who served almost 50 years with the firm. In his new role Martin will be made responsible for [...]
AA Insurance has warned motorists to look out for motorcycles coming back on the roads after a winter in hibernation. Most of Britain’s 1.6 million motorbikes will be back on the road over the next few weeks, and according to the AA, insurance claims relating to motorcycles increase 40% at this time of year. Many [...]
Ecclesiastical has posted its 2008 results with a pre-tax loss of £22.5 million, significantly down on the previous year’s £35.6 million profit. Poor investment returns were largely to blame for the performance, with a net investment loss of £52.6 million, compared to a net investment gain of £69.4 million in 2007. Underwriting performed strongly, however, [...]
Abbey Protection has reported a 13% rise in pre-tax profit for 2008, to £8.3 million. Revenue increased 11% to £30.3 million and the company reported an improved claims ratio of 63.9%, down from 69.7% in 2007. The firm, which specialises in legal and professional fees insurance to UK small and medium-sized enterprises, says it had [...]
Wesleyan Assurance Society has reported a sharp rise in new sales of general insurance products, which rose 120% in 2008. The mutual, which was founded in 1841 and offers its services to doctors, dentists, teachers and lawyers, says it plans to grow this area of its business further over the next five years and is [...]
Lockton has secured a licence from the Dubai Financial Services Authority to operate as an insurance broker in the emirate. The firm, which claims to be the world’s largest privately owned independent insurance broker, will establish an office at the Dubai International Financial Centre. The move will enhance Lockton’s presence in Middle Eastern and North [...]
Property and casualty insurer and reinsurer Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. has announced that its executive VP of Compliance, Thomas D. Bell, is to retire from the firm with effect from 1 June of this year. His duties will be completed by other members of the executive leadership at Endurance. Bell was one of Endurance’s founding [...]
Liberty International Underwriters Europe (LIU Europe) has created a new team dedicated to covering Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs). The team, which falls beneath the umbrella of the firm’s professional indemnity operations, is to be led by assistant VP Paul Freeman who joined the firm in early March. Sam Goodier and Alex Jones, underwriter and underwriting [...]
Eighty six percent of properties in the UK are ‘significantly underinsured’, according to recent research by Norwich Union. The home insurance provider surveyed 128 homes, and found £314 million of under-insured property. Most properties had not undergone a professional valuation for insurance purposes, Norwich Union said. It added that professional valuations are essential for adequate [...]
Legal & General (L&G) has posted a pre-tax loss of £1.49 billion for 2008, compared to a profit of £883 million in 2007. The insurer has also reported that its capital surplus stood at an estimated £1.5 billion in March, down from £1.6 billion in February. The change reflects the group’s decision to double its [...]
Willis Group Holdings has named Tony Ursano as the new chief executive officer of Willis Capital Markets and Advisory Services. He joins Willis from Banc of America Securities where he latterly served as vice chairman following almost a decade building up the firm’s corporate and investment banking business. An industry veteran, Ursano has spent more [...]
Letsure Property Insurance products are once again to be made available via jml-property-Insurance.co.uk. When the website was first launched seven years ago its very first product was the Letsure Landlord and Tenants insurance policy. As technology and the importance of the internet grew Letsure took the step of making its products available online. Two years [...]
Halifax Home Insurance is warning households that thefts from gardens are likely to jump again this year. According to the insurer, summer 2008 saw a 63% rise in the number of claims made for items stolen from gardens, compared to a year earlier. London saw the greatest influx of such claims but garden thieves were [...]
Retirement specialist LV= has commissioned research which reveals that British retirees may be losing out on £56.6m annually by not buying an enhanced annuity. The findings of the ‘Missing Income’ report states that 150,000 individuals could bolster their financial situation by acquiring an enhance annuity, as opposed to a standard one. People with certain lifestyle [...]
Swinton has reported a 4% rise in profit during 2008, to £50.1 million. The result compares with profit of £48.3 million in 2007 and marks the broker’s eighth consecutive year of growth. Premium income rose 15% to £763.9 million, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased by 5%, to £75.5 million. The company [...]
The controversy in the US surrounding the payment of bonuses to senior executives of American International Group (AIG) has been quelled in part with the news that nine of the 10 highest awards will be repaid. In addition, 15 of the top 20 recipients have agreed to return bonuses, and the Attorney General of New [...]
Lloyd’s of London has reported pre-tax profit of £1.899 billion for 2008, earnings having fallen from £3.846 billion a year earlier. However, the insurer’s chairman, Lord Levene, describes Lloyd’s as remaining in good shape “amidst the unprecedented slump in the world economy”. He further comments that the market experienced significant claims from natural catastrophes, lower [...]
Commercial property and casualty specialists Ironshore Inc. has announced that President Bob Deutsch is to leave the firm, effective from 31 March. The firm’s chief executive officer, Kevin Kelley, has paid tribute to Deutsch’s contribution to the firm since its foundation in 2007 to its present state with operations in London, the US and Bermuda. [...]
Insurance firms are set to receive back £5 million of pay outs related to the Buncefield oil disaster after a High Court judge ruled that French oil giant Total was fully responsible for the explosion. The High Court ruled that Total must pay £750 million in damages for the Buncefield oil explosion in December 2005. [...]
