Our man in the know sets out the week's winners and losers

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Broker on the ropes

Life as a PI broker can be hard, but that’s not why Simon Lovat of United Insurance Brokers will be staring over the side of the Canary Wharf Tower in a couple of weeks. He’s abseiling down the building to raise money for London Air Ambulance. Let’s hope he doesn’t need its services himself.

Rally result

Those of you wondering how XL London Market aviation underwriter James Owen fared in the Targa Tasmania rally (Backchat, 23 March) will be pleased to learn that he came 58th in the Late Classic Handicap segment and 73rd in the Classic Outright. Not bad for a chap who was merely hoping to finish.

Out of Africa

Tony Allen is turning into a bit of an Indiana Jones character. While in Uganda last week, he had to hide in a friend’s house to avoid the riots. The kind-hearted founder of personal lines broker Allen & Allen was only there to help African Revival, a UK charity that focuses on improving education on the continent.

Record run

UK General’s Michael Warren and his group of 47 participants in the London marathon won the Guinness World Record for the highest number of marathon runners linked together. The team took seven hours and 28 minutes. Just don’t talk to him about toilet stops.

Power hungry

Sometimes good ideas can exceed expectations. I hear PowerPlace’s GetThePower catapult game, where players can win an iPad, is so addictive that brokers are racking up high scores at weekends and on the phone to underwriters.

High-risk activity

Talk about the brave. Hiscox’s chief operating officer Alan Millard will tackle Everest next month. It’s so dangerous, Millard had to organise his own specially tailored insurance with Bupa. He tells me: “Climbing Everest will be the riskiest activity I have ever attempted.”

Insomnia cure

Lord Sheikh’s official launch of his new broker, Macmillan Sheikh, at the House of Lords was sleep inducing. Speeches went on for over an hour, and some struggled to keep their eyes open. Where was the coffee?

A class act

It was good to see Chris Hanks back in the classroom this week. The Allianz Commercial boss and CII president avoided detention as he gave kids at Lambeth College a lesson on the benefits of a career in the insurance industry. To watch the video, go to: goo.gl/VsShe

I am a music man

There’s no stopping serial entrepreneur Neil Utley. Fresh from IAG, he’s moved onto pastures new – and signed up Charlie from Busted for his new record label, Nusic Sounds.

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