Aviva and UBI Banca, Italy’s fifth-largest bank, have renewed their strategic partnership in the life insurance sector, until the end of 2015. Terms of the agreement are unchanged and involve the distribution of Aviva life insurance products through 1,151 branches of UBI Banca subsidiaries: Banca Popolare Commercio and Industria, Banca Popolare di Bergamo, Banca Carime [...]
Strathclyde Police are reportedly making life more difficult for those known to be members of criminal gangs by revealing their names to insurance companies. Motor and life insurers are understood to be privy to the information, meaning that premiums for even unconvicted underworld figures could soar. Herald Scotland reports Strathclyde’s assistant chief constable, George Hamilton, [...]
The Treasury wants insurers, banks and other financial services providers to come up with a range of “simple” products that will help consumers become more responsible. In a consultation document published yesterday, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mark Hoban MP, set out the proposals commenting: “The Government is committed to helping consumers take responsibility for [...]
The European insurance sector remained stable in 2009, according to figures released today by the CEA (the European insurance and reinsurance federation). Provisional data show gross written premiums in Europe totalling €1,057 billion, having grown 2.9% (at constant exchange rates), compared with 2008. Life insurance premiums, which accounted for more than 60% of all premiums, [...]
Aon Benfield has announced the launch of a life reinsurance hub for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. The new team will provide clients with a range of solutions, from traditional proportional and non-proportional, to non-traditional transactions, and promises to bring “cutting edge” risk management tools to the APAC life reinsurance market. The new operation will [...]
Allianz’s head of microinsurance has concluded that “conventional thinking won’t work if microinsurance is to succeed during the next decade”. Answering questions on microinsurance markets in India, Indonesia and Africa, Michael Anthony said the tsunami of December 2004 brought with it the realisation that the poorest people, who have no access to insurance services, are [...]
Aviva has launched an online resource for advisers, aimed at making the application process for life, critical illness and income protection insurance smoother. The Adviser Underwriting Centre is available through the “Aviva for Advisers” site and apparently contains everything that intermediaries need to know when helping a client complete a protection proposal. It includes a [...]
Zurich UK Life has announced a range of new measures to enhance its protection proposition, providing business customers with a wider range of choice when it comes to cover options. Amongst the new measures is Relevant Life Policy Trust, which provides death-in-service benefits if there are too few employees to justify a group scheme, or [...]
Credit Suisse AG and Zurich Life Insurance Company Ltd. have formed a partnership in the area of individual life insurance for Switzerland. Under the terms of the agreement Zurich’s life insurance products will be on offer to the bank’s private clients in Switzerland from 1 October. Credit Suisse Head of Private Clients Switzerland Hanspeter Kurzmeyer [...]
Swiss Re has published a new report which claims that hundreds of thousands of people across Continental Europe do not have enough life insurance. According to the study, which questioned over 11,000 consumers, respondents had a clear need for life insurance but many were unaware of how it can help deal with the financial impact [...]
The UK financial services sector has seen its fifth consecutive quarter of growth, according to the latest Confederation of British Industry/PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Financial Services Survey. Thirty-seven per cent of firms questioned reported a rise in business volumes in the three months to September, although progress was “much slower” than was expected. With regard to life [...]
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 [...]
The Chadwick report on the part government maladministration played in the losses suffered by Equitable Life policyholders has been published today, and Treasury minister, Mark Hoban, has announced that details of a compensation scheme will be included in the Autumn Spending Review. However, the minister describes Sir John Chadwick’s review as “just one of the [...]
Equitable Life has announced the appointment of US investment manager, BlackRock, to provide investment and risk management services for its 400,000 policyholders and group scheme members. The agreement takes effect in October when BlackRock will be tasked with maximising returns on the failed mutual’s £5.7 billion of assets. BlackRock currently has £2.2 trillion under management [...]
The European Life Settlement Association (ELSA) has launched a retail market consultation into the practices and issues surrounding life settlements. The body is in the process of developing a code of practice for sellers of traded life policy investments and has decided to engage specifically with the IFA community because of questions already raised by [...]
A Confederation of British Industry (CBI) / PricewaterhouseCoopers survey published today revels that UK financial services grew in the three months to June 2010, at the fastest rate since September 2007. Life insurers saw “healthy increases” in volumes, and profitability grew strongly for the second successive quarter. General insurers’ volumes were largely flat and overall [...]
