Greg Clark’s flawed and feeble remedy will fail to stamp out the late payment problem October 4, 2018 Brexit confusion, in-fighting, and leadership peacocking have marred both the Labour and Conservative Party conferences this year, but business secretary Greg Clark provided a glimmer of hope for SMEs this week. Large companies could be forced to nominate a board member to ensure that invoices are paid properly as part of a planned crackdown on [...]
Not feeling capital: Debenhams faces growing cash reserve woes as credit insurer scraps cover to suppliers September 30, 2018 Embattled department store chain Debenhams suffered a fresh blow today as one of its leading credit insurers turned off the tap for cover provided to the retailer’s suppliers. Insurance provider Atradius is pulling its entire credit cover for Debenhams’ suppliers, amid fears about the future of the historic retail giant in the run-up to Christmas. [...]
RSA Insurance shares drop as firm warns torrid weather will hit profits September 28, 2018 Shares in British insurer RSA Insurance plummeted 7.7 per cent today after the firm said torrid weather in the UK had led to claims shooting up at the start of the year. Bringing forward a third quarter trading update, RSA said full-year underlying pre tax profits were likely to be lower than 2017 due to "elevated weather costs". [...]
Rothesay Life buys £860m of UK ‘bad bank’ mortgage loans September 27, 2018 Insurance giant Rothesay Life has bought an £860m equity release portfolio from the UK government's "bad bank", which was set up following the financial crisis. The portfolio was sold by UK Asset Resolution (Ukar), a holding company for the closed mortgage books of failed lenders Northern Rock, Bradford & Bingley and Mortgage Express. Read more: [...]
Insurer Ardonagh agrees to buy Swinton brand in £165m deal September 27, 2018 Ardonagh, the UK’s largest independent insurance broker, has announced a £165m deal to buy specialist insurance firm Swinton from a French rival. It will sell some of Swinton’s assets to fund its bid to take over the group, which has existed since 1957 and has a focus on motor and home insurance. It intends to [...]
Saga’s voyage of recovery interrupted by declining profits September 27, 2018 Retirement insurance and travel firm Saga this morning said it was making strong progress on its recovery despite reporting declining underlying before-tax profit. Underlying profit at the firm dropped 3.7 per cent to £106.8m – which was due to Saga investing heavily in its business and marketing, chief exec Lance Batchelor told City A.M. The firm's [...]
How psychology explains why we make money mistakes and our attitude to financial risk September 26, 2018 Many of us don’t think that we’ll ever experience a financial shock, whether that’s the boiler breaking down, an unexpected bill, or having to take extended time off work due to sickness or injury. Despite this, the Financial Conduct Authority found that more than half of UK adults show one or more signs of [...]
EY-backed London marine insurtech Concirrus raises £5m September 25, 2018 London insurance technology startup Concirrus today closed a further £5m fundraising effort from deeptech investor IQ Capital and EOS Venture Partners, taking its total amount raised to date to £12m. The news comes after the firm signed a global deal with Big Four accountancy firm EY in April earlier this year, pushing Concirrus’ disruptive machine [...]
Natural disasters halve Lloyd’s of London profits September 21, 2018 Pre-tax profits at Lloyd's of London have halved in the first half of 2018 as the insurance firm struggled under the weight of a series of natural disasters. The figures Profits dropped by 50 per cent to £0.6bn, compared with £1.2bn in the same period the previous year. For the first six months of the [...]
Insurance giant makes a £4.3bn bet on the future of Brexit Britain, Uni-leaving doesn’t make sense, and Macron’s not one to mince words September 21, 2018 The news that US insurance giant Marsh and McLennan has swooped on British rival Jardine Lloyd Thompson in a shock £4.3bn move sparked a lot of City chatter about the future of the sector. Will other US firms look to snap up UK rivals as they eye expansion? As one Lloyd’s veteran put it [...]