UK pensions and Waspi campaign: Why state pension age is going up and what we need to do to bring it down, be it a more productive workforce, immigration, building more houses or having more children March 4, 2016 The current Waspi campaign by women affected by changes to state pension age has brought the issue back into focus again. And it will really ignite in 2018 when male state pension age starts to increase above its current level of 65. It’s a common misconception that the national insurance we and our employers pay [...]
Just like Tidjane Thiam’s departure from Prudential for Credit Suisse showed us, chief executives are becoming increasingly important to share prices March 4, 2016 You can't put a price on a life – or so we’re told. A new study, published recently in the Strategic Management Journal, begs to differ. Its authors studied 631 deaths of chief executives between 1950 and 2009, of which 240 were considered to be sudden and unexpected; they then monitored the reaction in the [...]
Abbey Life, Countrywide, Old Mutual, Police Mutual, Prudential and Scottish Widows face further investigation into life insurance exit charges by Financial Conduct Authority March 3, 2016 Six insurance firms face investigation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) into what impact exit charges are having on their customers. The announcement follows today's publication of a review by the watchdog into 11 firms on fair treatment of long-standing life insurance customers. Six of the 11 companies – Abbey Life, Countrywide Assured, Old Mutual, Police Mutual, Prudential [...]
Mother’s day 2016: Mum’s daily household chores are worth nearly £30,000 per year March 3, 2016 They say you can't put a price on family. Well, unless you're in insurance, of course. With Mother's Day just days away, new research finds that our mums' daily household chores are worth almost £30,000 a year in life insurance payouts. The value of a mother to a UK family, in terms of their daily contributions to [...]
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 [...]
City Moves for 3 March 2016 | Who’s switching jobs March 3, 2016 Watson Day Chartered surveyor firm Watson Day has appointed Richard Turnill as a partner. He joins partners Nick Threlfall, Ian Gutteridge, Julian Scannell and Kevin Dempster, who founded Watson Day in 1989. Richard qualified as a chartered surveyor in 2007, following a graduate position at Cluttons. In 2009 Richard joined Glenny’s south east London and [...]
Cyber crime going underreported as businesses cough up ransoms – often in bitcoin – for hackers to keep their data safe March 3, 2016 Businesses are paying out hefty cash ransoms to cyber criminals as they scramble to prevent online bandits from releasing large caches of their customers’ stolen personal data. Experts believe that several big firms have shelled out to hackers, often in the form of bitcoin, in order to save face and stop the data leaks going [...]
Cyber security: System glitch responsible for displaying customer details to others on Wal-mart’s online pharmacy in the US over a 72-hour period in February March 2, 2016 Some US customers logging onto Wal-mart's online pharmacy last month may have been left scratching their head at their supposed medical history, after a coding error made other users' information visible. The retail giant confirmed today that just under 5,000 customers may have been able to see the wrong set of customer information during a 72-hour period in [...]
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. [...]
Financial Conduct Authority to publish scorecards for general insurance products March 1, 2016 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is to start publishing “scorecards” rating a small number of general insurance products. The watchdog said it will collect data from companies and present it in “an easily accessible format” on its website. “We believe that publishing a range of information will help to boost competition between firms, encouraging them [...]