Phoenix appoints Staunton as chair August 21, 2015 INSURER Phoenix Group has named current WH Smith chair Henry Staunton as replacement for outgoing chairman Sir Howard Davies. Staunton sat on the board of insurer Legal and General for seven years as a non-executive director and vice-chairman until 2013 and is also currently chairman of rent-to-own company BrightHouse Group. As an executive he worked [...]
Asian life insurer AIA weathers China storm to note rising profit August 21, 2015 ASIAN life insurer AIA yesterday reported a robust rise in the profitability of new policies it sells to customers alongside a double- digit increase in the value of this new business. Tottenham Hotspur-shirt sponsor AIA has shrugged off China’s slowdown. Formerly part of US giant AIG, it hiked its new business margin to 55.8 per [...]
Best of the Brokers for 21 August 2015 August 21, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com ADMIRAL GROUP Canaccord Genuity upgraded its rating for motor insurance company from “sell” to “hold”. It said profit before tax had beat expectations by 14 per cent over the first half of the year. The higher-than-expected profit was due to profit commission and [...]
COP21 talks: Why action on climate change has become an economic imperative August 20, 2015 In just 100 days, world leaders will gather in Paris for the COP21 climate change talks. The urgent need for action to reduce CO2 emissions and stop global warming was recently described by both Barack Obama and Pope Francis as a “moral imperative” and summed up by President Obama who said: “We are the first [...]
Foreign secretary Philip Hammond travels to Iran to reopen UK’s Tehran embassy after nearly four years August 20, 2015 The UK will formally reopen its embassy in Tehran this weekend, almost four years after the building shut down after being stormed by demonstrators. Foreign secretary Philip Hammond will travel to Iran "in the coming days" to reopen the embassy. At the same time the Iranian embassy in London will be reopened, the Foreign Office [...]
Miner Glencore and China lead FTSE to seven-month low – London Report August 20, 2015 THE FTSE 100 fell yesterday to its lowest level since January, hit by anxiety over metals consumer China’s economy, with Glencore leading the mining sector lower after poorly-received results. The blue chip index was down 122.84 points, or 1.9 per cent, at 6,403.45 points by the close – its lowest closing level since 15 January, [...]
Pension Insurance Corporation prospers despite fall in new business August 20, 2015 Pension Insurance Corporation yesterday said profits rose during the first half of the year despite a fall in the amount of new business. The company, chaired by Sir Mark Weinberg and led by ex-Goldman Sachs exec Tracy Blackwell, buys the stocks and bonds of final salary pension schemes and takes over responsibility of pensioner payments, [...]
Admiral Group share price soars as first half profit inches up August 19, 2015 Insurer Admiral climbed to the top of the FTSE 100 today after its shares jumped 4.6 per cent to 1,534p per share in early afternoon trade. The Cardiff-based group reported pre-tax profit rose one per cent to £186.1m in the six months to 30 June 2015, from £184.9m during the same period a year earlier. This smashed analysts' [...]
City Moves for 19 August 2015 | Who’s switching jobs August 18, 2015 KPMG Rob Clayton has been appointed partner in the professional services firm’s UK insurance tax team. He was most recently group tax director at Friends Life. Clayton has been leading tax teams in the insurance sector since 2006, and worked at KPMG between 1998 and 2001. Ropes & Gray The law firm has announced two [...]
FCA drops investigation into Quindell in light of Serious Fraud Office probe August 18, 2015 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has dropped its investigation into troubled insurance outsourcer Quindell with immediate effect, making way for the criminal investigation being carried out by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). "Quindell announces that it has been informed by the FCA that, in light of the investigation by the SFO into past business and accounting [...]