Millions of gig economy workers miss out on auto-enrolment and a workplace pension November 8, 2017 Millions of British gig economy workers are missing out on a workplace pension as auto-enrolment bypasses the sector, according to a study released today. Gig economy workers could boost the size of their pension pot by up to £75,000 if a form of auto-enrolment were extended to cover all workers, according to research by the [...]
Insurance premium tax: Insurers fire shot across Treasury’s bows, urging chancellor Philip Hammond against a further hike November 8, 2017 The UK’s biggest insurance body has called on chancellor Philip Hammond not to “punish” the British public by hiking insurance premium tax (IPT) for the fourth time in two years. The government has doubled IPT to a rate of 12 per cent in less than 18 months, with the most recent two percentage point rise [...]
Aviva readies to float new £200m commercial property real estate investment fund (REIT) November 7, 2017 Aviva has become the latest firm to back London’s post-Brexit property market, announcing it will float a new investment company focusing on UK commercial real estate. The real estate investment trust (Reit) from Aviva Investors, the alternative investment branch of insurance firm Aviva and the largest manager of UK commercial property, with £24bn under management, [...]
Direct Line share price wobbles after revealing technology revamp impairment November 7, 2017 Direct Line shares wobbled this morning after revealing a technology systems overhaul was not going to plan. The FTSE 100 insurer, which was spun-off from Royal Bank of Scotland in 2012, is spending up to £100m each year on revamping its legacy systems and developing new technology to improve the “customer journey”. But the value [...]
Bollington and Wilsons insurance brokers merge as private equity firm Inflexion buys both November 6, 2017 Private equity firm Inflexion has boasted a double buyout this morning, as it announced the acquisition of Bollington Insurance Brokers and Wilsons Insurance Brokers. The UK-focused firm also added that it would merge the two companies to create Bollington Wilson Group, which will generate annual gross written premiums in excess of £120m. Both Bollington and [...]
RSA share price dips as insurer reveals impact of recent hurricanes in the US and Caribbean November 2, 2017 Insurer RSA booked a £50m loss over the recent hurricanes in the US and Caribbean, but said markets were “largely unchanged” elsewhere in the third quarter. The figures The group reported year-to-date net written premiums of £5.1bn in the third quarter, up eight per cent from the same period of 2016. UK premiums rose five [...]
Cohabiting couples: Don’t get caught out November 1, 2017 As fewer couples choose to tie the knot, it’s clear that marriage is no longer widely seen as the be-all-and-end-all to a relationship. Instead, many couples are opting for the cohabitation route – as sexy as that sounds. Figures from insurance giant Zurich estimate that there are more than 400,000 cohabiting families in London alone. [...]
Don’t let the bitcoin bubble blind you to the wonders of smart ledger technology October 31, 2017 Last Monday, 500 people attended the Long Finance Digital Currency Educational Trade Fair. They were excited about Initial Token Offerings (ITOs) and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), and heard pitches for new cryptocurrency-based tokens and coins for investment. Cryptocurrency capitalisation has risen from circa $50bn at the beginning of 2017 to over $170bn now. ITOs and [...]
World’s biggest fund managers control more money than the total wealth of Europe October 30, 2017 The world’s 500 biggest fund managers now control over $80 trillion (£61 trillion) of money, according to research released today. Total assets under management swelled by 5.8 per cent to $81.2 trillion by the end of 2016, according to Willis Towers Watson. This means the largest fund managers in the world control more money than [...]
Deficit hangs over Hammond: Chancellor facing new £20bn black hole says Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) | City A.M. October 30, 2017 Philip Hammond faces another £20bn hole in his deficit reduction plans, as the chancellor comes under political pressure to increase spending in the forthcoming Budget. Analysis by the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), published today, shows that a productivity forecast downgrade from the government’s Budget watchdog may leave the total deficit as high as [...]