Esure and Directline founder Sir Peter Wood leads insurance start-up funding round May 28, 2019 Esure and Directline founder Sir Peter Wood has led a £2.5m funding round in insurance start-up Pikl. Wood received £360m when he sold his stake in Esure to private equity firm Bain Capital last year. The serial entrepreneur also founded Directline in the 1980s, allowing customers to buy insurance over the phone, later selling his [...]
Life in the slow lane? City of London Corp hopes to impose 15mph speed limit across Square Mile May 24, 2019 As the home of London’s hustling financial sector, the Square Mile is not known for moving slowly. But for motorists, that could soon be about to change, after the City of London Corporation agreed to make it the first area in the country with a 15mph speed limit. Read more: Seeking solace in the Square [...]
City Moves for 21 May – Who’s switching jobs at Cazoo, Invesco and Headland? May 21, 2019 Today's City Moves includes Cazoo, Invesco and Headland. Cazoo Cazoo has announced Alex Gersh, formerly chief financial officer (CFO) of Paddy Power Betfair, has joined as its first CFO. Having raised over £30m late last year, Cazoo is seeking to transform the used car market in the UK. Alex joins Cazoo after spending 6 years [...]
Expensive business: Five ways to prepare your finances for your first child May 9, 2019 It has arrived. And I’m not just talking about the royal baby, but the mania – the 23-page newspaper spreads, the bets on baby names (Archie was definitely not the bookies’ favourite), the frenzy over the first glimpse of the little sprog. I don’t want to put a downer on all the celebrations, but babies aren’t [...]
Half of motorists think charging loyal car insurance customers more should be illegal April 24, 2019 Fifty per cent of motorists think it should be illegal for insurers to charge existing customers more than new customers for the same cover, a new survey said today. The research by price comparison site Go Compare showed 61 per cent of participants felt insurers treat existing customers less favourably by charging those who renew [...]
Watchdog warns general insurers over value for money and high commissions April 10, 2019 The City watchdog has warned general insurers it is prepared to crackdown on distribution chains failing to give customers value for money. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that poor manufacturing, sales and distribution approaches were rife in the sector. Read more: Dixons Carphone hit with £30m FCA penalty The regulator’s investigation found customers were [...]
Did a monkey break your smartphone? Aviva reveals its most unusual insurance claims April 10, 2019 A horse mounting a car after mistaking it for a female companion, a monkey smashing a holidaymaker’s phone and a gorilla biting a trekkers arm, were just some of claims paid out by insurance giant Aviva last year. The insurer paid out more than £3.8bn last year as the Beast from the East and airport [...]
Self-driving cars could inject £62bn into UK economy by 2030 if Brexit is a success, says trade body April 4, 2019 Self-driving cars could provide Britain's economy with a £62bn boost by 2030, but only if the UK agrees a favourable Brexit deal, a report by a leading trade body has found. The report, produced by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), says the UK is the world's number one location for connected and [...]
The AA’s opting for the long road to stability April 4, 2019 Shares in the AA have been swerving all over the place since it returned to the stock market in 2014. After jumping from a float price of 250p to 430p the following year, the ambitions of the team that steered the roadside rescue outfit through an unusual management-buyout-cum-IPO began to stutter. The stock slid and [...]
Breakdown group AA blames investments for profit slump April 3, 2019 Breakdown and insurance firm AA said today that its profit before tax for the year ended January 2019 fell more than 60 per cent to £53m. The figures The company said its steep profit drop was a result of a £26m investment in its roadside and insurance business and said it was distorted by a [...]