Gerry Blundell has been named by Legal & General Property as the firm’s new strategy adviser. In his new post Blundell will support the research team and its head, Robin Martin, as well as working across the funds of the firm. He joins Legal & General after a three decade career with LaSalle Investment Management, [...]
Global insurance broker Willis Group Holdings Limited has announced its financial performance for the first quarter of 2009. Earnings per diluted share from continuing operations stand at $1.15 with commissions and fees up almost a fifth (19%). Reported net income totalled some $192m for Q1 2009, up from the Q1 2008 figure of $166m, and [...]
Standard Life has reported a 20% fall in sales during the first quarter of 2009. Worldwide life and pensions sales declined to £3.6 billion, down from £4.5 billion in the same period in 2008, while in the UK new business sales fell 27% to £2.5 billion. However, the company said its first-quarter figures were better [...]
US firm, WeatherBill, has secured a contract to provide weather coverage for a major event in Belgium, due to take place in August. “Taste of Antwerp” is the country’s largest outdoor culinary festival, involving 25 renowned chefs and caterers. The event relies on day-of-attendance revenue and under the terms of the agreement, WeatherBill will pay [...]
Everest Re has posted a 40% increase in first quarter profits. The Bermuda-based reinsurer reported net income of $108.6 million for the first three months of 2009, up from $77.9 million for the year ago period. Everest attributed the increase in profit to smaller investment losses and booming reinsurance rates. Since suffering heavy investment losses [...]
Global risk and reinsurance specialist Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC has announced a raft of hires across the Latin America and Caribbean regions. Albert J. Fischl joins the Latin America and Caribbean treaty team, and will be tasked with further fostering the firm’s business relationships as well as enhancing Guy Carpenter’s regional presence. He will [...]
Zurich-owned Endsleigh has appointed a new managing director. Ian Passmore will take over from Mike Alcock on 1st May moving from his current position of sales and marketing director for Endsleigh, held for the past 12 years. Mr Alcock has endorsed the appointment by saying “Endsleigh will maintain its clear focus on delivery and provide [...]
Alan Gray, Inc. has set up London offices that will serve as a headquarters for European expansion. The US claims audit company has also appointed Julian Ward, a former chief executive officer of JTW Reinsurance Consultants, as its director of European operations. Mr Ward’s initial task is to build on Alan Gray’s presence and reputation [...]
Steve Dowdle, managing director of Sony UK, said the government’s credit insurance top up scheme has “effectively signed the death warrant” for retailers across the UK. The top up scheme – announced in last week’s Budget by Chancellor Alistair Darling – aims to support businesses that have had their credit insurance cover reduced. A government [...]
UK businesses are losing an estimated £2 billion pounds a year due to “document wastage”, the inefficient and sometimes unnecessary printing of work-related and personal materials in offices, and the insurance sector is one of the big losers, a new Europe-wide study by mailstream technology specialist Pitney Bowes reveals. The UK’s insurance industry presents a [...]
Car insurer, Admiral, has reported an 18% year-on-year increase in turnover during the first three months of the year, to £270 million. Customer numbers also rose by 18% (to 1.85 million) and the number of vehicles insured in the UK increased 16%. The group’s chief executive, Harry Engelhardt, said: “Against a backdrop of price increases [...]
NIG has announced plans to close eight of its 18 offices. The restructure should be completed by the first quarter of 2010 and will involve job losses among the insurer’s 900 staff. The property and casualty insurer forms part of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) group, which is in the process of selling its [...]
The AA’s latest British Insurance Premium Index shows a 1.3% rise in the average quoted premium for annual comprehensive car insurance over the first quarter of 2009. Notably, premiums tend to fall during the first three months of the year as most car insurance renewals take place during this period and competition is therefore strong. [...]
Legal & General and Merlin Claims have signed a three year agreement to enhance the service provided to Legal & General’s household insurance claims customers. Upon notification by the customer of a claim, the Legal & General and Merlin Claims teams will collaborate with one another in a bid to deliver a more effective and [...]
Dr Wolfgang Weis has been named by Liberty International Underwriters Europe (LIU Europe) as the firm’s new branch manager for Germany. He brings with him two decades of industry experience, having begun his career in commercial lines sales and underwriting in 1989. Dr. Weis is to be based in LIU Europe’s Cologne officer and in [...]
Friends Provident recorded a 40% fall in sales during the first quarter of 2009, to £147.9 million. The insurer attributed the decline to a “new strategy and a tough economic environment”, adding that UK individual protection sales strengthened in March but remained 8% lower than during the final quarter of 2008 because of challenging housing [...]
Bermuda-based XL Capital this week posted its third successive quarter of falling results. Net income for the first quarter dropped 99% on year to $3.1 million, down from $244.4 million in the year ago period. Losses on investments and a fall in premiums were blamed for the drop in profits. Gross premiums written declined 31% [...]
