Extreme weather costs UK business November 13, 2011 NEARLY two thirds of British businesses suffered disruption to their supply chain because of last winter’s bad weather, a high-level panel led by insurance firm Zurich has found. The panel, which included officials from the government’s department for Business Innovation and Skills and the Association of British Insurers, was brought together to create a green [...]
Admiral boss’ £116m loss as stock plunges November 9, 2011 THE CHIEF executive of car insurer Admiral saw more than £115m wiped off the value of his stake in the business yesterday after the group finally succumbed to the industry-wide slump in profit growth. Shares in Admiral, which also trades under the Bell, Diamond and Elephant brands, closed down 25.61 per cent at 887.5p after [...]
Insurers urge FSA to ease new rules start November 7, 2011 INSURERS have warned the UK’s finance regulator that the industry is unimpressed with the confusion around the start of far-reaching new regulation on their capital requirements. The Financial Services Authority has weathered an angry backlash from the industry since October when it said it would delay the start of new Solvency II rules by a [...]
Time to reach for the stars: Britain’s new space industry has the potential to blast off November 2, 2011 SIR RICHARD Branson opened the world’s first commercial spaceport last month. As his new venture Virgin Galactic recognises, space is an industry where the sky’s not the limit. For too long the domain of superpower rivalry between America’s Nasa and Russia’s Federal Space Agency, space is now giving way to the private sector, funded by [...]
Smiths Group boss Bowman in pay u-turn October 30, 2011 THE chief executive of technology firm Smiths Group has bowed to shareholder pressure and abandoned a controversial multi-million pound rewards scheme. Philip Bowman has dropped the value-sharing plan, a complicated scheme that paid out in shares, after opposition from shareholders and the Association of British Insurers. He will instead be subject to a simpler long-term [...]
FSA wants new rules on pricey account extras October 27, 2011 THE FINANCIAL Services Authority has said it wants to clamp down on the way banks and building societies sell insurance on packaged accounts which can turn out to be “useless”. The regulator wants to prevent another mis-selling scandal by forcing lenders to check whether a customer is eligible to claim under each policy and then [...]
ABI lays out new pay rules September 27, 2011 HUGE executive salaries and bonuses threaten the reputation and efficient working of UK companies, an influential shareholder group has warned today. The Association of British Insurers has issued strongly-worded new guidelines for listed company boards, warning them to avoid ratcheting up salaries and stop paying for failure. The ABI, which represents life insurers and pension [...]
Breedon to step down from Legal & General September 22, 2011 CHIEF executive Tim Breedon is retiring from Legal & General at the end of 2012, by which time he will have spent 25 years at the insurer. “With the company in excellent shape I feel that next year will be the right time to retire from the company. By giving notice of this now, the [...]
Tech Skills a worry despite the optimism September 12, 2011 SENIOR MARKET UNDERWRITER, TECHMEDIA, ZURICH INSURANCE THE technology sector is under continual pressure to adapt, develop and deliver with a high expectation for innovation. The UK economy thrives in the technology arena as we have a rich vein of creativity and entrepreneurialism, especially emanating from universities and other further education facilities. Arguably the greatest invention [...]
Government bans injury claim referral fees September 9, 2011 The government has banned the referral fees paid for customer data that have been blamed for a surge in personal injury claims against car insurers, retailers and the NHS. The Ministry of Justice has said the ban on such fees, to apply solely to personal injury cases, is designed to tackle the alarming rise in [...]