Standard Life is reducing some of its UK with-profits bonus rates. The life and pensions provider says most plans increased in value in the year to 1st February but guarantees are building up, and it needs to ensure its with-profits fund can meet all guarantees. The company explains: “We expect asset classes such as equities [...]
Old Mutual is combining its Wealth Management Continental Europe (France and Italy) operations with its Skandia Retail Europe business (Germany, Austria, Poland and Switzerland) to create Wealth Management Europe. The merger follows a strategic review of the businesses prompted by economic and regulatory developments in the European long-term savings markets, and changes in customer preferences. [...]
MetLife has announced that it is creating a regional sales team specifically for the Greater London area. Ralitsa Nenkova is heading up the new team, having taken on the role of regional sales director, and further key appointments are expected. Ms Nenkova joined the group in June 2008, initially covering sales and business relationships across [...]
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has come out against government plans to end life assurance premium tax relief on policies taken out before 1984. The concession was removed for new policies in 1984 but according to the ABI, there are still around 1.5 million policies in existence that benefit from the 12.5% tax relief. [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published strict new rules on the sale of traded life policy investments (TLPIs) to UK retail investors. The regulator reckons TLPIs are “high risk, toxic products” because investors are effectively betting on when a particular set of US citizens will die. They are also known as “death bonds” because [...]
Aon Benfield has updated its UK terrorism catastrophe model, including estimates of the financial loss to life insurers, in a move aimed at helping to satisfy the requirements of Solvency II. The new model simulates attacks on more than 2,000 potential UK targets, including places of worship, financial centres, infrastructure, government and military locations. For [...]
Friends Life has today launched Protect+, an individual protection package aimed at the IFA market. The group says it has forged together the best of what was once provided by Friends Provident and its UK life acquisition from AXA, with the new offering spanning income protection, critical illness, life and business protection. In addition, IFAs [...]
The Government’s vision of a range of “simple” financial products that can be easily understood by consumers has taken a step forward, with the formation of a new steering group. According to research undertaken for the Financial Services Authority, 52% of people find it “too complicated” to compare one product against another and 46% “don’t [...]
LV= has reduced the amount of time it takes to complete protection business sold through IFAs by over 20%. According to the mutual, critical illness, income protection and life cover can now be in place within 13 days from receipt of application, with over half of all protection applications from IFAs actually completed in five [...]
With the pace of growth in UK financial services continuing to slow in the three months to September, the latest survey from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has the following to say about the insurance industry: Life insurance volumes increased for the seventh consecutive quarter, although the level of business was [...]
With household incomes under pressure, the near-term outlook for UK life insurance premiums is “difficult”, according to a new report from Ernst & Young’s ITEM Club. The market remained flat during 2010 and the economic forecaster expects life premiums to grow by just 0.5% in 2011 and by 1.7% in 2012, commenting: “High insurance penetration [...]
LV= has announced the launch of a new multi-channel life insurance advertising campaign, featuring adverts in the form of television, door drops and posters. The campaign, which will run throughout September, aims to enhance the public profile of LV= as a life insurance provider. The 10 second TV advert will be aired jointly in ad [...]
New research from Swiss Re has revealed that the continual rise of life expectancy has consistently been underestimated. Whilst greater longevity is good news it also means that a pensions shortfall has developed, a problem worsened by the fact that forecasting rises in life expectancy is more difficult than in the past. Daniel Ryan, Swiss [...]
New data released by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has revealed that an increasing amount is being paid out to those who hold critical illness and life insurance policies. Last year 40,000 families and individuals received a total of £1.9bn, with an average payout of £47,166, roughly twice the average salary in the United [...]
LV=’s life sales increased 9% during the six months to the end of June, to £69.3 million. The mutual reported an 11% increase in retirement business, with annuity sales rising 14% and pension sales up 10%, while protection sales leapt 16%. The firm’s life managing director, Richard Rowney, says: “LV=’s life business has had a [...]
Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) is in exclusive talks with Royal London regarding the possible sale of its life insurance subsidiary, including £15 billion of assets in its Long Term Business Fund. The announcement follows a strategic review of the mutual’s life and savings business, which will also result in the extension of its partnership with [...]
Volumes of business across the UK financial services sector grew in the three months to June, but at a slower pace than in the last three quarters, a new survey from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) shows. Overall, growth was at a slower pace than in the last three quarters, but [...]
Group Board Director for Legal & General’s Risk businesses John Pollock has responded to the latest ONS statistics regarding unemployment, which has recently fallen. Pollock warned that the persistently high inflation continues to make life difficult for people struggling to make ends meet. However, he warned against the temptation to cut corners when it comes [...]
The new Value of a Dad survey from Legal & General has revealed that the value of the work a father does around the home is worth a total of £21,306. On average, men spend 50 hours a week on household chores and childcare, of which 20 hours is dedicated to childcare. Each week a [...]
Legal & General has raised medical evidence limits in efforts to reduce processing times. The changes mean that more underwriting decisions will be made at the point of sale, allowing more customers get confirmation of cover quickly. For life cover up to age 35 next birthday L&G has increased the automatic medical evidence limit to [...]
