Which? challenges Admiral on racial discrimination
by Gill Montia
Story link: Which? challenges Admiral on racial discrimination
Which? has raised concerns over Admiral Group’s treatment of motorists born outside the UK.
According to research by the consumer group, the insurer’s quotes vary by an average of 18%, dependent on how applicants answer the question “Have you lived in the UK since birth?”
In making its argument, Which? says it has been advised by a [...]
Admiral extends Munich Re US reinsurance agreement
by Gill Montia
Story link: Admiral extends Munich Re US reinsurance agreement
Motor insurer, Admiral, has announced that its reinsurance agreement with Munich Re for its new car insurance operation in the US (Elephant Insurance) has been extended.
Alongside the agreement, Hannover Re will take one-third of the group’s US risk and Admiral will retain the final third.
The company has also extended its long-term coinsurance and reinsurance contract [...]
Heath Lambert strikes Diamond home insurance deal
by Gill Montia
Story link: Heath Lambert strikes Diamond home insurance deal
Heath Lambert has announced that it is to be the sole provider of cover for Admiral’s Diamond home insurance brand, which is aimed at female customers.
The new assignment comes alongside Heath Lambert’s existing involvement with Admiral’s elephant.co.uk brand.
According to the broker, the revamped Diamond product will be unique to the market, providing a tailored solution [...]
Admiral boss slams executive salaries
by David Masters
Story link: Admiral boss slams executive salaries
Admiral’s chief executive, Henry Engelhardt, has lashed out at the salaries paid to other insurance bosses.
The American millionaire, who takes home a £320,000-a-year salary, said he is “amazed” at the pay packets of other leaders in the insurance industry.
“What can a [chief executive] do to warrant the kind of packages put together compared to the [...]
Aviva pulls cover on insurance fraudsters
by David Masters
Story link: Aviva pulls cover on insurance fraudsters
Aviva has reported a significant increase in fraudulent insurance claims during the first half of this year.
Fraudulent claims, including fake injuries and inflated car-repair bills, increased by around a third during the six months to June.
Andrew Buck, Aviva’s claims fraud manager, speculated that the rise in claims is related to the economic downturn.
“We cannot say [...]
Admiral first-half profit up 5%
by Gill Montia
Story link: Admiral first-half profit up 5%
Admiral has posted pre-tax profit of £105.3 million for the first six months of the year, up 5% on the same period of 2008.
Profit from UK car insurance business soared 18% to £101.2 million and UK turnover leapt 17% to £540.1 million.
The group, which operates the confused.com website, said customer numbers rose 18% to 1.92 [...]
Admiral bemoans bumping by “aggressive” drivers
by David Masters
Story link: Admiral bemoans bumping by “aggressive” drivers
Nearly half a million motorists claim for rear-end bumps every year at a cost of over £500 million to the insurance industry, Admiral said this week, blaming the high number of claims on “aggressive” drivers.
The motor insurer calculated that rear-end bumps account for 420,000 claims per year, equivalent to one in four of all road [...]
Admiral chooses Thunderhead NOW to enhance communications
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Admiral chooses Thunderhead NOW to enhance communications
Motor insurer Admiral Group has chosen Thunderhead NOW to serve as its strategic multi-channel customer communications platform.
The selection has been made following a large scale review of the marketplace, and will see Thunderhead provide Admiral with the bespoke, multi-branded documents necessary to handle the multi-channel communications that Admiral’s numerous brands (Bell, Diamond, elephant.co.uk and Admiral) [...]
Munich Re reduces stake in Admiral
by David Masters
Story link: Munich Re reduces stake in Admiral
Munich Re has cut its stake in UK-based motor insurer Admiral by almost a third.
The Germany-based reinsurer reduced its holding from 15.1% to 10.22%, raising around €107m.
Munich Re said the sale was made to ensure an appropriate mix of risk in its equity portfolio.
The relationship between the two firms will be unaffected,
and the “ongoing successful [...]
Admiral reports 18% rise in turnover
by Gill Montia
Story link: Admiral reports 18% rise in turnover
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 in the [...]
Admiral and Sword Ciboodle secure deal
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Admiral and Sword Ciboodle secure deal
Customer-oriented business software and services firm Sword Ciboodle have come to an agreement with Admiral Group to provide the motor insurer with its CRM platform to help it enhance its business flexibility.
Admiral has a number of brands under its umbrella including Bell, Diamond, and elephant.co.uk, and operates with a turnover of over £800m.
It is presently [...]
Confused.com welcomes back M&S
by David Masters
Story link: Confused.com welcomes back M&S
Price comparison website Confused.com has welcomed M&S back to its home insurance panel.
M&S had withdrawn from the panel whilst it changed underwriters from Aviva to Axa.
Peter Ablett, Confused.com commercial director, said: “The return of M&S to our site is wonderful news and will strengthen our ability to get customers the best policies at the right [...]
Admiral to launch US business as profits rise
by Gill Montia
Story link: Admiral to launch US business as profits rise
Motor insurer, Admiral, has announced that it is launching a business in the US.
The company, which operates the confused.com price comparison website plus Diamond and elephant.co.uk, expects to set up initial operations in two states either this year, or early next.
Admiral also has plans to launch a price comparison business in Spain. The new [...]
Admiral shares a good buy
by David Masters
Story link: Admiral shares a good buy
Admiral – whose brands include elephant.co.uk and confused.com – has been tipped as a good buy by Mail on Sunday website This is Money.
The website said Admiral – unlike many insurance firms – prices properly to ensure that the majority of its risk is passed on to the reinsurance market.
Because of this, it barely needs [...]
Admiral reports strong Q3
by David Masters
Story link: Admiral reports strong Q3
Admiral has reported its results for the third quarter, with turnover up 13% to £718 million and customer numbers up 17% to 1.71 million.
The car insurance giant said the strong results mean it is still on track to meet its 2008 targets.
CEO Henry Engelhardt said the business is going from ’strength to strength’ with double-digit [...]
Admiral officially a great place to work
by Gill Montia
Story link: Admiral officially a great place to work
The Great Place to Work Institute UK has placed Admiral tenth in its annual listing for 2008.
The group took highest place for any organisation in the insurance and financial services sector and has been awarded laureate status for having achieved a top fifty placing for five consecutive years.
According to Great Place to Work, trust [...]
Record year for Admiral
by David Masters
Story link: Record year for Admiral
Admiral has reported record profits for 2007 of £182.1 million, representing a 24% increase compared to 2006. The insurer’s GWP increased 11% to £631 million.
The company’s combined operating ratio fell by 2% to 85%, whilst their policy count increased by 16% to 1.5 million.
Confused.com, Admiral’s aggregator, reported profits of £36.7 million, an increase of [...]
Admiral’s Confused.com posts 59% profit increase
by Gill Montia
Story link: Admiral’s Confused.com posts 59% profit increase
Admiral has reported that its Confused.com price comparison website gave out 13 million insurance quotes in 2007, leading to a 59% rise in profit for the website, to £36.7 million.
Group pre-tax profits rose 24%, to £182.1 million, over the same period.
Confused.com pioneered the market for aggregating insurance quotes on the Internet.
However, competition in the sector [...]
Admiral Wins Legal Support Of Lloyd’s Business Transfer
by Stewart Douglas
Story link: Admiral Wins Legal Support Of Lloyd’s Business Transfer
Insurer Admiral Group has today won a landmark legal victory in securing a court order allowing the takeover of Lloyd’s Syndicate 2004, in line with the provisions of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 which regulates trade in equity.
Syndicate 2004 had previously underwritten a proportion of the Admiral Group’s retained premiums over the course [...]
