Global insurance broker Willis Group Holdings plc has reported its financial results for Q2 and the first six months of 2010. Willis earnt net profits of $89m, or $0.52 per diluted share, in the second quarter, a marginal rise on the $87m net profit ($0.52 per diluted share) made in the corresponding period last year. [...]
Aon has reported that in the second quarter of the year it made net income attributable to shareholders of $153m, equating to $0.54 per share, a small improvement on the net income of $149m ($0.51 per share) achieved during the same quarter last year. However, it remains substantially below the $1.1bn net income achieved in [...]
Hastings Direct, the personal lines brokers, has passed the 600,000 customer milestone. In February Chief Executive Officer Edward Fitzmaurice led a management buy-out, since when the firm’s fortunes have turned around from making a loss to profitability and growth. The volume of business the firm underwrites has increased by 50%, with staff numbers and income [...]
Young Marmalade, specialist insurer for young drivers, is doing its bit to cut the number of deaths on roads, which total some 1.2 million every year. August is National Road Victim Month, and this year the event’s prime focus is to cut the number of young deaths. A third of the victims are under 25, [...]
Sterling Insurance has promoted senior development manager, James Guthrie, to associate director responsible for broker development. Reporting to David Sweeney, the group’s personal and commercial lines director, Mr Guthrie will be responsible for developing broker relationships, including initiating schemes to improve service, training and communication. The change is linked to Sterling’s imminent launch two niche [...]
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is alerting insurers to the need for a “complete overhaul” of their systems and performance reporting. The advice follows proposals from the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) released today, which according to PwC “represent a fundamental change to the way insurers’ accounting will be conducted in the future”. However, the firm’s global insurance [...]
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) is urging the government to make investment in flood defences a priority, despite the squeeze on spending. Speaking at the Local Government Flood Forum, the Association’s director of general insurance, Nick Starling, said a long-term flood prevention strategy, backed by the right level of investment, is crucial if homes, [...]
Britain’s older fifties are increasingly becoming internet savvy as they use the web to research products before they buy. Saga insurance claim silver surfers like to use the web to check out reviews on products and to find the best possible deal. “They tend to research larger purchases like cars online and then prefer traditional [...]
Counter-fraud firm Keoghs has warned that insurers need to improve their methods of detecting and preventing fraud as the volume of liability fraud rises and the frequency of of exaggerated or fictional claims increase. Compared to 12 months ago Keoghs has seen a 150% rise in liability fraud cases referred to the firm, with suspicious [...]
Caravan Guard, the caravan and motorhome specialist, incorporating holiday home sister brand Leisuredays, has been shortlisted in a brace of categories at the 2010 UK Broker Awards. The firm will be battling to be named Customer Service Provider of the Year and Personal Lines Intermediary of the Year at the event. Director Chris Nettleton has [...]
Global specialty insurer Torus has announced the appointments of Esther Fittinghoff and Kurt Fleischmann as Professional Lines manager and senior casualty underwriter respectively. The pair are to be based in Cologne and Zurich, in offices the firm took over when it acquired Glacier Insurance AG. Fittinghoff will lead the Professional Lines in Austria, Germany and [...]
Airline insolvency is an issue largely ignored by travellers when booking tickets, new research from Ipsos Mori on behalf of the Air Transport Users Council (AUC) has revealed. Of the 2,072 people surveyed only five considered the matter when booking tickets, a perhaps surprisingly small number given that 65 airlines have collapsed since the financial [...]
Aviva UK General Insurance (Aviva UKGI) has chosen Rostrvm Solutions to upgrade the technology that enables its Glasgow-based outbound call centre operations. The insurer aims to reduce costs while making high-quality tailored calls and Rostrvm has provided a strategic outbound dialling solution (hosted by Cable&Wireless) for up to 250 users but with the potential to [...]
RSA is acquiring 123 Money Limited, a fastest-growing direct distributor of personal lines insurance products in Ireland. Founded in 2002 and trading as 123.ie, the Dublin-based firm offers motor, home and pet insurance. It employs almost 200 staff, has around 170,000 policyholders and generated premium income of about €60 million in the year to the [...]
Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. has reported that in Q2 2010 it earnt net profits of $58.6m, equating to $0.97 per diluted common share. This is substantially less than its results in the same period last year, when the firm made net profits of $149.1m, $2.42 per diluted common share. However, it does mark an improvement [...]
Brit Insurance has released its financial results for the first six months of 2010, including pre-tax profits of £75.5m, a welcome turn around for the firm which in the same period last year incurred a net loss of £8.7m (and a pre-tax result of £64.9m). Gross written premiums declined by 13.4% year-on-year, falling from £983m [...]
MCE has signed up with Open GI in a move aimed at helping the motorcycle specialist grow its web-based business. The five-year IT infrastructure agreement, which covers both the firm’s call centre and its trading website, includes a range of Open GI products. Open Workflow Manager and Open Document Centre should reduce manual intervention; Active [...]
Zurich UK Life has enhanced its level protection range to help clients who may need to make changes to their existing life cover when their circumstances change. Renewable and convertible options are now available, allowing customers to either renew or convert their policies at a later date, without the need for further medical evidence. The [...]
Software provider, IT-Freedom, has announced that its ICE Claims solution has been recommended to insurers looking to evaluate new claims management systems. According to the firm, an analysis by consultancy firm, Celent, entitled “European Claims Vendors in 2010″, has praised IT’s understanding of the insurance market and ICE Claims’ use of business rules and workflows. [...]
