Admiral’s share price hits record highs and leads the FTSE 100 higher after strong results March 3, 2016 Insurance group Admiral has posted a six per cent rise in pre-tax profit to £377m which sending its shares to a record high and leading the FTSE 100 to fresh highs for the year. Higher car insurance rates were one of the biggest drivers of profit for the company, as Admiral pulled in more customers but lowing its prices to [...]
Formula One rising star Jordan King on how it takes more than cash to become a champion March 2, 2016 Jordan King is just 22-years-old, but to talk with him you’d think he’d been racing in Formula One for a decade, such is his calm confidence and commercial aptitude. He’s currently contesting F1’s feeder series, GP2, and testing for the Manor F1 team with the hope of stepping up to a race seat next year. [...]
Insurance industry underprepared for the disruption of the internet of things, and it’s disappointing tech-savvy and highly connected generation Y March 1, 2016 Consumers' increasing love of technology could revamp the insurance industry, but many in the profession are underprepared for the change ahead, a report out today has found. According to the Capgemini and Efma's most recent annual World Insurance Report, most modern day consumers, particularly those from generation Y, have vastly different needs and demands that traditional insurers [...]
Stealth taxes on insurance are driving up costs for businesses and motorists: Don’t make it any worse, chancellor March 1, 2016 The rise in the rate of Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) from 6 to 9.5 per cent, announced in last year’s Budget, did not grab the headlines. But it has had a very real impact. It has led to a further financial squeeze on millions of responsible businesses and households who have done the right thing [...]
Budget 2016: The AA pleads with chancellor George Osborne not to hit motorists by hiking insurance premium tax or fuel duty February 29, 2016 Motoring insurer and breakdown cover provider AA has today revealed that it has written to chancellor George Osborne to ask him not to hike insurance premium tax or fuel duty in next month's Budget. The company is concerned that the chancellor might be considering raising one or both as a quick win to boost the [...]
Britain should vote to leave the EU to take back control of our laws February 22, 2016 At a recent panel discussion at Lincoln’s Inn on whether Britain should stay in or leave the EU, Kate Hoey MP told the audience, “lawyers always have so many different opinions”. She is right: lawyers are also debating EU membership. We have formed a group, Lawyers for Britain, led by Martin Howe QC, for lawyers [...]
Ladies who don’t lunch: Maike Currie talks to financial services entrepreneur Joanne Smith about dry January and why compliance is the “new rock ‘n roll” February 18, 2016 My lunch date with Joanne Smith, financial services veteran turned entrepreneur, is long overdue. I have been using stalling tactics and to be honest it’s due to her area of expertise: compliance. (Read: boring box-ticker.) But it’s a New Year and, cloaked in noble resolutions, I finally make the time to meet her at a [...]
ABI warns chancellor George Osborne against further hikes to Insurance Premium Tax in Budget 2016 February 16, 2016 Any further rise in Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) would “hit millions of people doing the right thing”, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has said. IPT affects 50m car, home, pet and private medical insurance policies. The insurance body has said the tax rise from six per cent to 9.5 per cent announced in the chancellor’s 2015 Summer Budget has [...]
Let the good times roll: EY Item Club forecasts strong growth for UK financial services February 15, 2016 The financial services industry can expect decent growth over the next few years, a group of forecasters have said today. Mortgage lending, business borrowing and consumer credit are all set to grow at healthy rates over the coming years, as the UK economy shrugs off recent severe stock market declines. However, the EY Item Club said [...]
Human drivers will be obsolete by 2050 as driverless technology takes over, say researchers Moshe Vardi and Bart Selman February 14, 2016 Cars driven by humans will become obsolete with the rise of driverless car technology, leading researchers have predicted, and it could happen as soon as 2050. "You cannot ride a horse in downtown Houston anymore. If you like horse riding, you have to go to horse ranches. The same is likely to happen with cars," said Moshe Vardi, [...]