Towergate Insurance is recommending that small businesses carry out thorough credit checks on any potential customers, given that new research suggests more than 80% of small firms are waiting over 30 days for invoices to be settled. According to the intermediary, a survey of over 300 SMEs by professional services firm, RSM Tenon, also found [...]
JLT has announced that Alastair Speare-Cole is joining JLT Reinsurance Brokers as chief executive. Mr Speare-Cole is currently chairman of Aon Benfield Securities and subject to regulatory approval, will take up his new post as soon as contractual obligations with Aon come to an end. Commenting on the appointment, JLT chairman, Alan Griffin, says, “This [...]
Aon Underwriting Managers has launched a solution for US financial institutions that own or service mortgage loan portfolios. The group’s Insurmark/Floodwatch and Bankers Insurance Service divisions will underwrite the product together, on behalf of Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s. Under one policy, the Global Portfolio Protection Program (GP3) offers around 8,000 US financial institutions mortgage impairment [...]
AXA Commercial has been granted chartered status after meeting a combination of compulsory and discretionary criteria that cover a range of practices and behaviours recognised as evidence of its commitment to professionalism. Chartered insurance companies must ensure staff members acquire and retain the necessary knowledge and skills to deliver the highest quality advice and service. [...]
Atkinson Smith has launched an online quote and buy facility to support its self-build (new build) and home extension/conversion offering. The scheme, which is underwritten by Brit Insurance, is now available to retail customers and brokers direct. The firm’s managing director, Ian Laycock, comments: “With over 15,000 self-build projects taking place each year in the [...]
Swiss Re has reported its financial results for the first three months of the year, including a net loss of $665m. This compares to a net profit of $158m in the same period last year, and has been attributed to the impact upon Property & Casualty of a very high frequency and severity of natural [...]
Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. has reported that in the first three months of 2011 it incurred a net loss of $87.4m, equating to $2.25 per diluted common share. This compares to a net profit of $55.8m ($0.91 per diluted share) in the same period last year and $111.2m, equating to $2.09 per diluted common share, [...]
Munich Re has released its quarterly results, and revealed that it incurred a consolidated loss of €948m due to the high costs related to natural disasters. In the same period last year the firm enjoyed a profit of €485m, with a similar profit margin in the final quarter of 2010. However, despite the significant quarterly [...]
CNA Financial Corporation has announced its Q1 financial results, which include net operating income of $216 million, or $0.80 per common share. This is a marginal decline from the $223m net operating income of the corresponding period last year, but substantially down on the $326m net operating income of Q4 2010. Net income was recorded [...]
The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) says it has identified the key factors driving the UK retirement savings gap as follows: long-term care, debt, resistance to saving due to tax complexities, mistrust of products and uncertainty about the future savings landscape. In a report entitled “An age-old problem – developing solutions for funding retirement” the body [...]
Aon Benfield will be making the case for more in-depth evaluation of catastrophe models at its International Analytics conference next week, with an emphasis on Solvency II. The firm wants insurers to “drill deeper than the loss estimates” to understand how models actually perform. The company reminds insurers that the industry has recent experience of [...]
The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) will not be appealing against April’s High Court judgment regarding banks’ handling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) complaints. Following a judicial review of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Financial Ombudsman Service, the BBA had been given until 10th May to appeal against a ruling in favour of new FSA [...]
Somali piracy has taken an “alarming turn” since the beginning of the year, becoming more “prevalent, lucrative and violent”. According to Special Contingency Risks and Maritime & Underwater Security Consultants (MUSC), an estimated $65 million was paid in ransoms in the first quarter of 2011, compared with around $39 million in the same period of [...]
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (MMC) has announced the appointment of Silvia Davi as vice president and head of Corporate Communications and Brand. Davi will supervise the firm’s global corporate communications, including branding, public relations and internal communications. She will be directly responsible to Chief Human Resources and Communications Officer Orlando Ashford. She joins the [...]
New research commissioned by Scottish Widows has found that 28 million Britons lack life insurance, leaving their family potentially open to financial vulnerability should the worst happen. Many people are continuing to go without financial safety nets such as critical illness cover and life insurance, according to the third Scottish Widows Consumer Protection Report. There [...]
American International Group, Inc. (AIG) has reported that it made net income of $269m in the first quarter of 2011. This is a substantial decline from the corresponding period last year when the firm made $1.8bn, and from the fourth quarter of 2010 when AIG turned in net income of $11.2bn. AIG also incurred a [...]
Aviva has set up a new US network for its International Solutions healthcare customers, with Miami-based Olympus Managed Healthcare. Managing over 125,000 claims a year, Olympus has access to medical provider networks across the US meaning that Aviva’s customers can now access around 6,000 hospitals, over half a million physicians and 57,000 pharmacies across the [...]
P&V Group has chosen SAS Risk Management for Insurance from the leader in business analytics software and services, to provide a central, firm-wide risk reporting solution that will help the organisation obtain a consistent and quick view of the overall risk exposures across its insurance entities in a structured and auditable way. With SAS, P&V [...]
Tysers, an independent international Lloyd’s broker, today announced the appointment of Trevor Newbery as an additional Non-Executive Director. The move comes as part of a continuing strategy to further the company’s Corporate Governance Development Programme to ensure an appropriate balance of non-executive representation on the Board. Trevor has been working in the market since 1969 [...]
Specialist law firm Arc Property Solicitors is expanding its service offering with the launch of a new competitive life insurance product into the market in response to customer demand. Arc Property Solicitors, one of the UK’s largest online conveyancing firms, has enjoyed tremendous year-on-year growth since its creation in 2004 – recording turnover of over [...]
