Munich Re boosts profit despite impact from typhoons and fires February 6, 2019 Reinsurance titan Munich Re today said it had beaten profit targets for 2018, delivering profit of €2.3bn (£2.02bn) during the year. Gross written premium stayed flat at €49.064bn Munich’s reinsurance business contributed €1.74bn to the consolidated result in 2018 and the operating result leapt from €73m to €2.464bn. Gross written premiums fell slightly to €31.286bn. [...]
RSA UK chief executive out after poor financial performance February 5, 2019 The insurer RSA has replaced the chief executive of its UK and international division following poor financial performance. Steve Lewis, UK and international chief executive since January 2015, is leaving the business and being replaced by group chief financial officer (CFO) Scott Egan. Group chief executive Stephen Hester said: "I'd like to thank Steve for [...]
Chris Grayling says it will be the EU’s fault if Britain leaves without a deal on 29 March February 5, 2019 Transport secretary Chris Grayling has said the blame will lie with Brussels if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal on 29 March. The Cabinet minister said the UK government had done all it could to secure an agreement and that it would be down to the EU's failure to compromise me if a [...]
Weathering the storm: City expects minimal Brexit impact on jobs February 5, 2019 The number of City jobs expected to move overseas in the event of a hard Brexit has fallen to just 2,000 – according to the latest survey of financial institutions. A Reuters study also suggests that investment banks are planning to increase their London headcount. In September, the Reuters survey showed that 5,766 jobs would [...]
European companies suffer 60,000 data breaches in eight months February 5, 2019 More than 59,000 data breaches have been reported across Europe since data protection laws were brought in last year, new figures have revealed. The Netherlands, Germany and the UK topped the list of the most reported breaches in the eight months since new GDPR laws came into force, according to law firm DLA Piper. Read [...]
Shadow banking assets grow to record global share as regulators urged to remain vigilant to risks February 4, 2019 Shadow banks have amassed their largest ever share of global financial assets as the Financial Stability Board urged regulators to “remain vigilant” to financial stability risks. The FSB’s annual monitoring report revealed that non-banks’ assets grew to $116.6 trillion (£89 trillion) in 2017, representing 30.5 per cent of global financial assets. Non-banks, the term now [...]
Lloyd’s of London hires chief financial officer from Allianz February 4, 2019 Lloyd’s of London has appointed former senior Allianz executive Burkhard Keese as chief financial officer. The insurance market has hired Keese from the German insurance giant where he spent 14 years, most recently as chief financial officer of Allianz Deutschland. Keese’s hire comes as Lloyd’s new chief executive John Neal moves to build his executive [...]
Under the neon lights of Tokyo, the City is forging closer relationships with Asia February 4, 2019 Next week will see me travel to one of the busiest cities on earth, home to nearly 40m people and more square footage of advertising and media than anywhere else in the world: Tokyo. My visit is part of a 12-day trip to four Asian cities that will also take me to Seoul, Hong Kong, [...]
Time to appreciate the perks of the job? February 4, 2019 For full-time office workers blinking out of the window onto the cold, grey, concrete City, the advantages that they enjoy over the self-employed might not seem obvious. You daydream about rocking up at one of those shared workspaces at 11am in your jeans, laptop on your back, ready for a self-managed day of freelancing, and [...]
Hiscox chief executive Bronek Masojada elected as alderman in City of London election February 3, 2019 The chief executive of insurance provider Hiscox Bronek Masojada has been elected as a new City of London alderman. Masojada won Thursday's aldermanic election in Billingsgate with 52 votes with a turnout of 46 per cent. The runner up in the election was Andrew Heath-Richardson, director of development at the Canary Wharf Group, who secured 25 votes. Five [...]