What the other papers say this morning – 27 February 2014 February 26, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Hester to shore up RSA with £1.5bn Stephen Hester is finalising plans to shore up RSA’s balance sheet by as much as £1.5bn with one of the biggest equity raisings by a UK insurer, said people with knowledge of the matter. The former Royal Bank of Scotland chief, drafted in to run RSA [...]
Rangers puts its iconic Edmiston House on the line February 24, 2014 Car parks and derelict buildings in Glasgow are not the obvious things that spring to mind when considering potential investment opportunities for Isle of Man-registered hedge funds. Yet Laxey Partners, the $2bn activist investor, this morning announced that it has insured a £1m loan to Scottish football giant Glasgow Rangers against land and buildings around [...]
What you need to know before the US open February 20, 2014 US stock index futures suggest markets will open lower, as investors look again towards ongoing emerging market turmoil. The continuing and severe violence in Ukraine at the moment has seen the country’s hryvnia plummet to five-year lows, and state debt insurance rising to 2009 highs. Weaker growth from China – the Markit/HSBC purchasing managers’ index [...]
City & Gild: You can’t handle the truth! February 14, 2014 I find a useful shorthand definition for ‘brand’ is the combination of product and reputation – where reputation is past performance and future promise. Which, if you read the press in any given day, should be the cause of sleepless nights for CEOs around the world. Because, in this day and age of social media, [...]
LV boss expects car insurance premiums to rise in year ahead February 3, 2014 THE BOSS of insurer LV has said he expects car insurance premiums will rise in the next year, after the industry overestimated the impact of regulatory changes. LV has released a trading statement for 2013 showing overall losses for the business in both its general and life insurance arms. The insurer made an £89,000 loss [...]
Crime’s downward path: A promising trend with no room for complacency January 23, 2014 IT’S BEEN called the riddle of peacefulness. Many think crime is a growing problem: a 2013 Ipsos Mori study found that 58 per cent didn’t believe it was falling, while 51 per cent thought violent crime was getting worse. Yet Britain, in common with much of the developed world, has enjoyed nearly 20 years of [...]
Car and home insurance costs hit record low January 22, 2014 CAR AND home insurance premiums have fallen dramatically since 2012, a major survey has revealed. Research conducted by the AA shows record falls in the cost to consumers, including £100 sliced off motoring premiums in the last two years alone. But Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance, warned that prices would not continue to fall in [...]
How telematics is changing the car insurance world forever January 21, 2014 I have two siblings, a younger sister and an even younger brother. My sister is a self-confessed terrible driver who once managed to write off a car in a 20mph collision outside the Post Office in our local market town. My brother, an engineer, works at Jaguar Landrover. So whose insurance quote is higher? You [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 17 January 2014 January 16, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES EE float put on hold by owners The flotation of EE, Britain’s largest mobile operator, has been put on hold by Orange and Deutsche Telekom, after the joint owners concluded they would secure a higher valuation for the business when its 4G telephone services take off. Orange and Deutsche Telekom – which has [...]
Moneysupermarket energy switching revenues jump 200pc January 14, 2014 A sharp increase in people changing energy providers has provided a staggering revenue boost to price comparison site Moneysupermarket's energy switching service. In a statement this morning, the web-based business said that revenues from switching were up almost 200 per cent in the fourth quarter, in the wake of the price hike announcements from energy firms [...]