Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is consulting with potential advisers on the future of its insurance business, which includes Direct Line, Churchill, Green Flag and NIG. The outlook for the business has been uncertain for the past couple of years, the division having been put up for auction in 2008 with a price tag of [...]
Direct Line and Churchill are likely to be hit with job losses in the coming year, as Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) continues with its restructuring agenda and prepares to sell off its insurance business. The bank’s Privilege, UKI, Green Flag and NIG brands also form part of the insurance division, which employs over 16,000 [...]
Direct Line has commissioned research revealing that 69% of British motorists back harsher penalties for drivers caught using mobile phones behind the wheel. The news that motorists support heftier fines or more penalty points for the transgression comes as the Government contemplates introducing harsher punishments for drivers who use mobile phones. Direct Line’s early research [...]
Recent days have seen much turmoil in the world of airlines, with Flyglobespan becoming the latest airline to fail, leaving thousands of holidaymakers stranded overseas. Scotland’s Daily Record has reported that some 5,000 have been stranded abroad due to the failure. Over the course of the last two years around 60 airlines have failed, creating [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) insurance businesses will almost certainly be sold off as the Government proceeds with plans to create three new High Street retail banking chains from the part nationalised RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, and the wholly state owned Northern Rock. Ministers are putting the final touches to the proposals which could [...]
Rogue drivers getting behind the wheel without insurance are not being deterred because the penalties if they’re caught are too lenient, Direct Line claimed this week. Under new government proposals, motorists caught driving an uninsured vehicle will be fined as little as £50 – less than fine given out to people who overfill their bin, [...]
Insurer Ecclesiastical has warned homeowners to be wary as burglaries are forecast to rise during the course of the summer. The summer months represent the peak of home insurance claims activity following a spike in burglaries, according to research commissioned by Direct Line. In 2008 some 800,000 homes were burgled over the summer. Direct Line [...]
Carpet store Carpetright charges 40% more to insurers than it does to high street consumers, an investigation by the Guardian newspaper has revealed. Carpetright’s 450 stores across the UK receive £30 million of their annual income from insurance claims – on which they charge an extra £1 per square metre compared to standard consumer prices. [...]
Theft from vans is rife in the UK, with 21 vans being broken into every hour, research from Direct Line for Business has revealed. Over 550,000 vans have been broken into in the last three years – hardly surprising considering one in six van drivers don’t bother to lock their vehicle. Half of vans have [...]
New private equity bidders may emerge for Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) insurance business. The bank has been blowing hot and cold over the sale of the division, which includes the Churchill, Direct Line, Privilege, UKI and NIG brands, and reportedly rejected an offer from CVC Capital Partners in December, raising speculation that the auction [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) may call off the £7 billion sale of its insurance unit, which includes the Direct Line and Churchill brands. The Sunday Times reported yesterday that RBS, the UK’s second largest banking group, has already rejected an offer for its insurance business from private equity group CVC Capital Partners. RBS said [...]
CVC Capital Partners, the Luxembourg-based private equity firm, is reported to have joined forces with Swiss re, the world’s largest reinsurer, to make a bid for the insurance business of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The unit, which includes the Direct Line, Churchill, Privilege, UKI and NIG brands, was put up for sale during the [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is rumoured to be in talks with Luxembourg-based private equity firm, CVC Capital Partners, over the sale of its insurance business. Both Reuters and The Times have reported that the bank is understood to be negotiating the sale of its Direct Line and Churchill brands and CVC is thought to [...]
Allstate, the US insurance group, is reported to have submitted a bid for Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) insurance business, which includes the Direct Line, Churchill, Privilege, UKI and NIG brands. The deadline for second-round offers was Friday of last week and according to the Financial Times, Allstate will be offering less than the £7 [...]
In a statement following Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) successful fundraising (in the form of a £12 billion rights issue), the group’s chief executive, Sir Fred Goodwin, said that he is confident of getting a full price for the group’s insurance business. RBS was caught short when the credit squeeze turned into a crisis because [...]
Bidders for Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) insurance business are now down to five. Ping An, has withdrawn from the contest, leaving Zurich, Allstate, Travelers, AIG and Allianz to battle it out. Ping An had been tipped as a strong candidate for a successful acquisition of the business, which could have provided the Chinese insurer [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) auction of its insurance businesses, which include Churchill and Direct Line, is reported to have attracted seven bidders so far. The bank’s advisers, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, have excluded private equity firms from the sale, which is expected to raise around £6 billion. Zurich, Allianz and Generali of Italy [...]
Direct Line has expanded its Direct Line for Business brand with the launch of a policy aimed at owners of small hotels, guesthouses and bed & breakfast establishments. Applicants will need to be operating from one property and providing accommodation in a maximum of 12 rooms. Cover includes public and products liability of up to [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is reported to have been approached by Bankinter of Spain about the sale of its stake in Linea Directa, the Spanish insurance business held as a 50/50 joint venture between both banks. RBS is auctioning its insurance operations in efforts to raise around £4 billion to improve its capital position. [...]
