Aegon sells reinsurance unit to Scor to help pay off its outstanding state aid April 26, 2011 FRENCH reinsurer Scor is to pay $913m (£554.6m) for most of Dutch insurer Aegon’s Transamerica Reinsurance operations, to make it the second largest life reinsurer in the US. Aegon, which has been winding down and selling operations after requiring state aid at the height of the credit crisis in 2008, said yesterday the disposal would [...]
FSA probe for Pru advisers April 20, 2011 ADVISERS to Prudential’s failed $35bn (£21.5bn) bid for AIA last year are being probed by the City regulator over concerns about the standards of their work on the deal. Prudential was ordered by the Financial Services Authority to start an investigation into whether the three banks advising it on the takeover, which involved plans for [...]
Banks lose payment protection claims challenge April 20, 2011 UK banks face a flood of compensation claims from mis-selling payment protection insurance when approving loans or credit for customers, following a High Court ruling. The High Court dismissed a challenge brought by the British Bankers’ Association against its verdict that new rules banning the sale of payment protection insurance at the point a loan [...]
Sinking ships April 18, 2011 S&P’s downgrade of US debt outlook rocks global markets US told it must slash budget deficit or lose AAA-rating Eurozone yields soar as sovereign debt crisis intensifies SOVEREIGN debt fears gripped markets on both sides of the Atlantic yesterday, after the US’s triple-A debt rating was put on a negative outlook by ratings agency Standard [...]
Hammerson’s Nelson to be Lloyd’s chair April 18, 2011 JOHN Nelson, chairman of shopping centre developer Hammerson, was named the next chair of the Lloyd’s of London insurance market yesterday. Nelson, who is also deputy chairman of home improvement firm Kingfisher, will take over from long-standing chair Lord Levene in October. He will receive a £525,000 salary plus benefits for the post, which will [...]
City veteran tries insurance April 18, 2011 INVESTMENT banker turned industry leader John Nelson is to fill the large shoes left by Lloyd’s chairman Lord Peter Levene from October. A City grandee whose finance career started at Kleinwort Benson and continued at Lazard, where he ran its corporate finance division for 13 years, Nelson is now best known for his leadership of [...]
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 [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 17, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES EU TO PROBE DATA TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT Regulators are to launch the first pan-European investigation into telecoms companies’ controversial data traffic management practices, in an attempt to safeguard so-called net neutrality principles. European regulators will scrutinise whether fixed-line phone and mobile operators are giving consumers enough information about their traffic management policies. ACTELION GAINS [...]
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 [...]
Hammerson chair for Lloyd’s April 14, 2011 John Nelson, chair of FTSE?100 property company Hammerson, is believed to be a front-runner for the role of chairman of Lloyd’s of London, the UK’s biggest insurer. The firm’s current chair, Lord Levene, will step down this year, leaving vacant a post that is seen as an ambassadorial role for the British insurance industry. Nelson [...]