Daily Insurance Industry News
 
 
Daily Insurance Industry News
Friday 19th of March 2010
March 17, 2010

Zurich launches protection microsite

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Zurich launches protection microsite

Zurich UK Life has announced the launch of new microsite Zurich4protection.com, following the firm’s recent protection campaign to support advisers and help them grow their business.
The new microsite is dedicated to such protection and aims to offer a single port of call for advisers seeking a complete and professional service to offer to customers.
The microsite [...]



March 16, 2010

Zurich appoints global head of Corporate Communications

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Zurich appoints global head of Corporate Communications

Zurich Financial Services Group has announced that its new global head of Corporate Communications is to be Pierre Goad.
He joins Zurich from HSBC, where he presently works as head of Corporate Development for the investment banking and asset management divisions.
Earlier in his time at HSBC he held a number of other communications positions in both [...]



March 11, 2010

Zurich appoints APME CFO

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Zurich appoints APME CFO

Zurich Financial Services Group has announced the appointment of Pascal Perritaz as the new chief financial officer of the Asia-Pacific and Middle East (APME) region.
He has been with the firm for the last 14 years, and has held a number of senior posts within the global corporate business in Europe.
Since 2008 he has worked as [...]



February 16, 2010

Zurich Global launches Product Safety and Recall proposition

by Gill Montia

Story link: Zurich Global launches Product Safety and Recall proposition

Zurich Global Corporate UK (ZGCUK) has announced the launch of a new Product Safety and Recall proposition.
According to the insurer, the move is in response to increasing customer demand and the offering should compete strongly against the more standardised solutions currently available in the market.
The proposition combines globally compliant insurance protection with a [...]



February 15, 2010

Zurich promotes critical illness cover for children

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Zurich promotes critical illness cover for children

Zurich UK Life is highlighting the advantages of critical illness cover for children today, which is also International Child Cancer day.
The insurance industry has paid out millions to adults suffering from cancer, yet there is relatively little attention paid to the impact on families with children who suffer the illness.
According to the ONS 2007 saw [...]



February 12, 2010

Zurich UK Life launches protection plan guide

by Gill Montia

Story link: Zurich UK Life launches protection plan guide

Zurich UK Life has launched a new guide to help advisers explain its protection plans to their customers.
“Here to help at every step” aims to ensure the correct level of cover is provided and that claims are paid out swiftly.
The guide covers application and underwriting processes, emphasising the importance of disclosing accurate personal information [...]



January 30, 2010

Zurich Global Corporate UK bolsters Marine team

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Zurich Global Corporate UK bolsters Marine team

Zurich Global Corporate UK (ZGCUK) has bolstered its Marine Cargo team with a brace of senior appointments.
Formerly of Allianz, Rod O’Malley and John Gibson join ZGCUK as senior market underwriters and will bring their expertise to Zurich’s Marine Cargo team in London.
O’Malley and Gibson have collective experience of more than six decades in marine insurance [...]



January 29, 2010

Over-80s refused car insurance

by David Masters

Story link: Over-80s refused car insurance

Motorists over 80 years old are being denied car insurance quotes, according to new research by Age Concern and Help the Aged.
Half of motor insurance companies will not provide car insurance to drivers aged over 80, their investigation found.
A significant number of insurers refused to provide quotes for any driver over the age of 65.
The [...]



January 27, 2010

Zurich UK Life sees rise in critical illness pay-outs

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Zurich UK Life sees rise in critical illness pay-outs

Zurich UK Life has released figures revealing that the number of critical illness claims paid out has risen by more than a quarter from 2005 to 2009.
The total sum paid out is also up, rising from £58.5m in 2008 to £62.3m for 2009, with cancer, heart attacks and strokes the most common causes for claiming.
The [...]



January 19, 2010

Abbey enhances Additions home insurance range

by Gill Montia

Story link: Abbey enhances Additions home insurance range

Abbey for Intermediaries is alerting mortgage brokers to the fact that they could be losing out on a market potentially worth £30 million in sales commission this year, if they fail to exploit the general insurance market.
The lender suggests intermediaries can supplement their business revenues by cross selling insurance products to homeowners, and by way [...]



January 18, 2010

Zurich warns of motor premium hike

by Gill Montia

Story link: Zurich warns of motor premium hike

Zurich will be increasing its motor insurance premiums in 2010 because of a rise of third party and personal injury claims.
The firm sees the current market as unsustainable and from March could be hiking broker premiums by as much as a fifth.
According to the company’s general insurance chief executive officer, Steve Lewis, inflation and higher [...]



January 10, 2010

Insurers consider appeal on pleural plaques judgment

by Gill Montia

Story link: Insurers consider appeal on pleural plaques judgment

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has commented on a legal judgment relating to the Damages (Asbestos Related Conditions) (Scotland) Act 2009.
The Act includes pleural plaques as a condition for which compensation is payable in Scotland, but insurers have argued that the plaques, which are areas of fibrosis present on the inner surface of the [...]



November 4, 2009

Insurers show interest in RBS and Lloyds asset sale

by Gill Montia

Story link: Insurers show interest in RBS and Lloyds asset sale

According to a BBC report, insurers Allianz, Generali and Zurich could show an interest in branch networks to be sold by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group.
Both banks are to receive further huge bailouts from the Government: £33.5 billion for RBS and £5.7 billion for Lloyds, the latter taking the form of [...]



October 22, 2009

Zurich security breach affects 51,000 customers

by Gill Montia

Story link: Zurich security breach affects 51,000 customers

Zurich Insurance plc has announced that it has written to around 51,000 general insurance customers and other parties in the UK regarding the loss of a back-up data tape in South Africa.
The tape, which also holds details of customers and other parties in South Africa and Botswana, was lost in August 2008 during a [...]



October 21, 2009

Zurich named Marketer of the Year

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Zurich named Marketer of the Year

Global insurer Zurich Financial Services Group has won the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) Marketer of the Year Award.
The award is given to a firm or individual who has combined corporate and environmental responsibility with a direct contribution towards marketing excellence during the course of the last year.
Zurich’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Arun Sinha has [...]



October 2, 2009

Zurich appoints Operations, Planning and Performance head

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Zurich appoints Operations, Planning and Performance head

Zurich Financial Services Group has announced the appointment of Scott Egan to the post of group head of Operations, Planning and Performance Management, effective from 5 October.
He replaces Stephen Lewis, who has changed roles to become chief executive officer of UK General Insurance and Shared Services.
Egan, who is the presently the chief financial officer of [...]



September 30, 2009

Zurich appoints Latin America CEO

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Zurich appoints Latin America CEO

Zurich Financial Services Group has named Peter Rebrin as the new chief executive officer for Zurich Latin America.
He first joined the firm a decade ago and in that time has held a range of international and Latin American leadership positions.
For the last two years he has been the chief operating officer for Zurich Latin America.
Rebrin, [...]



Moneyfacts names best pensions providers

by Gill Montia

Story link: Moneyfacts names best pensions providers

Moneyfacts has announced the winners of its 2009 Investment Life and Pensions awards.
AEGON Scottish Equitable was acknowledged as Best Pension Service provider, with Standard Life and Scottish life gaining the category’s highly commended and commended statuses respectively.
Lloyds Banking Group’s Scottish Widows was named Best Personal Pension Provider and AJ Bell Best SIPP Provider.
Scottish Life won [...]



September 28, 2009

Zurich and CSC negotiate 10-year IT contract

by Gill Montia

Story link: Zurich and CSC negotiate 10-year IT contract

Zurich Financial Services has entered into exclusive talks with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) regarding a potential $2.4 billion IT contract.
According to CSC, the potential 10-year deal would cover managed data centre and IT infrastructure services across Zurich’s European and North American operations, plus data center centralization and server virtualization.
It would take the form of a [...]



August 20, 2009

Zurich updates critical illness cover

by David Masters

Story link: Zurich updates critical illness cover

Zurich has improved its critical illness cover by reducing premiums for some policy holders and broadening the range of conditions covered.
The insurer, which paid out nearly £60 million in critical illness claims last year, said the policy revamp was “the right thing to do”.
Premiums have been reduced where exclusions apply for cancer or Multiple Sclerosis, [...]