Law helping businesses receive insurance payouts after terror attacks passed February 12, 2019 Companies will be able to more easily buy insurance for business interruption in the case of terrorist attacks following the passing of a new law today. The passing of the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019, which received Royal Assent today, followed an outcry in the aftermath of the London Bridge attacks where businesses [...]
Breakdown group AA boosts full-year profit expectations February 12, 2019 Breakdown cover group AA today raised expectations for its full-year profit after retaining or extending its key business contracts. In a trading update AA said it expects its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) would be not less than £340m, having previously said it expected profit to be in the range of £335m [...]
Government housing targets under fire from UK watchdog February 8, 2019 The government’s method used to assess the number of homes needed to fix Britain’s housing crisis is "flawed", according to the UK's public spending watchdog. In a damning new report published today, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said that the government’s planning system “is underperforming and cannot demonstrate that it is meeting housing demand [...]
Insurer Zurich boosts profit 20 per cent and hikes dividend February 7, 2019 Swiss insurance behemoth Zurich said today that it boosted operating profit 20 per cent to $4.6bn (£3.5bn) in 2018. It said it is "Well on track" to deliver on its 2017 to 2019 targets with $1.1bn in cumulative net cost savings achieved out of a target of $1.5bn its profitability and return on equity metrics [...]
Royal London to transfer £1bn of assets to Ireland over ‘no-deal’ Brexit concerns February 6, 2019 The UK's largest mutual insurer, the Royal London Mutual Insurance Society (RLMI), is to transfer £1bn of its assets to Ireland amid increasing concerns over a no-deal Brexit. A High Court judge yesterday granted RLMI permission to move its business from the European Economic Area (EEA) to a newly formed Irish subsidiary, Royal London Insurance DAC, because of [...]
RSA UK chief executive out after poor financial performance February 5, 2019 The insurer RSA has replaced the chief executive of its UK and international division following poor financial performance. Steve Lewis, UK and international chief executive since January 2015, is leaving the business and being replaced by group chief financial officer (CFO) Scott Egan. Group chief executive Stephen Hester said: "I'd like to thank Steve for [...]
European companies suffer 60,000 data breaches in eight months February 5, 2019 More than 59,000 data breaches have been reported across Europe since data protection laws were brought in last year, new figures have revealed. The Netherlands, Germany and the UK topped the list of the most reported breaches in the eight months since new GDPR laws came into force, according to law firm DLA Piper. Read [...]
Lloyd’s of London hires chief financial officer from Allianz February 4, 2019 Lloyd’s of London has appointed former senior Allianz executive Burkhard Keese as chief financial officer. The insurance market has hired Keese from the German insurance giant where he spent 14 years, most recently as chief financial officer of Allianz Deutschland. Keese’s hire comes as Lloyd’s new chief executive John Neal moves to build his executive [...]
Under the neon lights of Tokyo, the City is forging closer relationships with Asia February 4, 2019 Next week will see me travel to one of the busiest cities on earth, home to nearly 40m people and more square footage of advertising and media than anywhere else in the world: Tokyo. My visit is part of a 12-day trip to four Asian cities that will also take me to Seoul, Hong Kong, [...]
Time to appreciate the perks of the job? February 4, 2019 For full-time office workers blinking out of the window onto the cold, grey, concrete City, the advantages that they enjoy over the self-employed might not seem obvious. You daydream about rocking up at one of those shared workspaces at 11am in your jeans, laptop on your back, ready for a self-managed day of freelancing, and [...]