Direct Line boss James quits as another insurance firm counts the cost of the deep freeze January 27, 2023 Direct Line said it was seeking a new chief executive following the resignation of Penny James. James, who was also a director of the FTSE 250 company, will be leaving with immediate effect. Jon Greenwood, who was Direct Line’s chief commercial officer, will step in as acting chief executive officer until a permanent replacement is [...]
December’s deep freeze: Cost of living crisis leaves Aviva with a £50m bill for burst pipes and water tanks January 25, 2023 Aviva said last December’s freezing weather meant it had to pay out £50m to policyholders claiming for damage caused by burst pipes and water tanks. An Aviva spokesperson told City A.M. said soaring energy costs had led to more frozen pipes because households were more reluctance to turn on the heating, leading to more extremes [...]
Aviva is ‘very happy’ with UK’s post-Brexit Solvency II reforms, top exec says January 22, 2023 Aviva is “very happy” with the current state of the UK’s plans to overturn the EU rules that govern the amounts of capital insurers must hold on their balance sheets, one of the firm’s top execs told City A.M. Adam Winslow, the chief executive of Aviva’s UK & Ireland general insurance business, said Aviva is [...]
FTSE 100: London edges ever closer to a new record high January 14, 2023 The FTSE 100 fell short of hitting some all-time highs on Friday after a strong start to the year. Pushing up to fresh five-year highs, the FTSE hit its highest score since the record points it had tallied in May 2018. It closed at 7,844.07 on Friday after briefly peaking at 7,864.95 a little earlier [...]
FTSE 100 close: JD Sports springs London flagship index to 2018 high January 11, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 index leapt to its highest level since 2018 in afternoon exchanges in the City today after a series of strong retailer earnings signalled the UK consumer is holding up well amid the cost of living crunch. The FTSE 100 index climbed 0.99 per cent to 7,770 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE [...]
UK insurance: shares in Aviva and Admiral shrug off Bank of England’s warnings of a ‘prolonged’ recession in the sector January 10, 2023 The UK’s insurance companies were told to brace themselves for a “prolonged” recession by boosting their risk management processes, the Bank of England (BoE) has said in a letter to sector CEOs. In a letter to insurance chief executives, the BoE’s insurance watchdog warned that various risks might stem from the downturn as it called [...]
Square Foot Mile: Corporate office space deals surged by 25 per cent in 2022 December 23, 2022 Big corporate deals for London HQs has caused office leasing volumes to surge by almost 25 per cent. The post-pandemic return to the office is in full swing, with central London take-up rising by 24 per cent this year. Of the increase, demand for high-quality space in the capital has skyrocketed with 60 per cent [...]
Allies, Advocates and Active Bystanders: Privilege and power for change December 20, 2022 DiverCity® Podcast · Allies, Advocates and Active Bystanders: Privilege and power for change In this episode, host Julia Streets is joined by Danny Harmer, Chief People Officer for Aviva Plc. As an ally, Danny shares her views about the privilege of allies, how allyship can drive meaningful change and the ways in which advocates and [...]
‘I won’t soak the City’: Starmer promises not to hike bank taxes if elected December 8, 2022 Sir Keir Starmer has promised not to carry out a tax raid on the banks if he is made Prime Minister as he continues his electoral pitch to the City. The Labour leader said he would not slap a windfall tax on City financial services firms or hike the banking surcharge during Labour’s business conference [...]
Rachel Reeves: Macron is ‘eating UK’s lunch’ when it comes to global investment December 7, 2022 French President Emmanuel Macron is “eating the UK’s lunch” when it comes to attracting global investment, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said. Reeves today told City A.M. that France was stealing investment away from British start-ups post-Brexit, with the shadow chancellor promising to help pension funds unleash billions of pounds of long-term capital into the [...]