WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 22, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BAIN PULLS OUT OF RAC AUCTION Bain Capital has pulled out of the bidding for RAC, the roadside rescue business of UK insurer Aviva. The US private equity group last week dropped out of the auction after bidding less than its rivals, people close to the situation said. That leaves Carlyle, Clayton Dubilier [...]
O’Driscoll is still a doubt May 19, 2011 LEINSTER vs NORTHAMPTON IRELAND captain Brian O’Driscoll remains a doubt for Leinster’s Heineken Cup final against Northampton tomorrow. O’Driscoll sustained a knee injury against Ulster last weekend and was unable to take a full part in yesterday’s training session. Leinster coach Joe Schmidt said that O’Driscoll had only been able to run at “three-quarters pace” [...]
CITY VIEWS: DO YOU HAVE A SMARTPHONE? May 17, 2011 NIPON RAVEL | XCHANGING “Yes, my head’s always in it! I use it for both work and social purposes, and I also have a separate smartphone just for work.” PAM TREVETT | AVIVA “I’ve had one for a while now and I definitely wouldn’t survive without it. It’s great being able to combine work and [...]
Aviva enjoys UK sales jump May 17, 2011 GROWTH in UK home and motor insurance boosted Aviva in the first three months of the year, offsetting a sluggish performance in its life division, the company said yesterday. Aviva, the UK’s second-biggest insurer, saw global non-life insurance premiums rise nine per cent to £2.7bn in the quarter, compared with the same period in 2010, [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT STOOD OUT IN AVIVA’S RESULTS? May 17, 2011 KEVIN RYAN | INVESTEC The big attraction in a UK context is its composite business model. Cash from the non-life business essentially covers shareholders’ dividend and this places it in a very good position. The only note of caution is that it is winning significant new business in UK motor where premiums rose 60 per [...]
Aviva hit by drop in life insurance sales May 17, 2011 Insurer Aviva reported a 14 per cent drop in life insurance sales during the first quarter as it withdrew from less profitable segments of the market. Aviva had long term savings sales of £8.8bn in the first three months of the year, down from £10.2 billion a year earlier, it said. The decrease came as [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 16, 2011 Legal & General Property Charlie Walker has been promoted to director of the property fund manager and appointed to the LGP Board. Most recently, Walker was senior fund manager to the UK Property Income Fund. In his new role, he will continue to oversee the fund, which this month secured a further £100m of equity. [...]
Tesco names City grandee as new chair May 11, 2011 TESCO yesterday announced that Sir Richard Broadbent will become its next chairman. Sir Richard (pictured), who is deputy chairman at Barclays, will join Tesco as a non-executive director in July. He will take over the reins from Tesco chairman David Reid, who retires in November. The City grandee was tipped to take over at insurer [...]
S&P’s US downgrade sparks stock sell-off April 18, 2011 Alarm over deteriorating public finances in the US, Greece and other peripheral eurozone nations hit markets today, pushing the FTSE down to its lowest close in four weeks. Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s cut its outlook on the US’ rating outlook to negative, from stable, citing a lack of decisive action to rein in [...]
The man who’s locking horns with indecisive EU regulators April 17, 2011 MENTION Brussels to any senior London-based insurer and you will always get the same reaction: anger and exasperation. With just over 18 months to go before the introduction of Solvency II, the insurance industry’s equivalent of the new Basel III banking rules, European regulators have still not produced a framework that properly reflects the business [...]