All Backchat articles – Page 8
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BackchatHo, ho, no
Stuck up here at Insurance Times Towers, Backchat is getting a little depressed by all the doom and gloom around us. The bars of Leadenhall market are more subdued than usual, their empty tables crying out for Jeroboam-swigging, bonus-wielding City boys. But with many firms expected to follow AIG’s example ...
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BackchatBackchat
Creme de la crimeDespite the best efforts of Groupama big cheeses Francois-Xavier Boisseau and Laurent Matras – who could build quite a career in comedy if insurance doesn’t work out for them, what with their “Ooh, aah Groupama” routine – the entertainer “Keith the thief” stole the show at the ...
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Backchat
It’s a dog’s life
A big well done to SME Insurance Services, which even in these austere times is finding a few pennies for charity. The company decided to support Guide Dogs for the Blind and hopes to raise £5,000 over the coming year to sponsor a guide-dog puppy through its first year of ...
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BackchatRiches, tea and biscuits
To Spencer House (above), the 18th-century London mansion that was built for an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales. With all that history and wealth sloshing around, it was an appropriate setting for the launch of Chubb’ s ultra high net worth policy. After a whistle-stop tour of the house ...
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Backchat
Barry the what?
ITV news presenter Alastair Stewart (above) got caught out by industry terminology when he hosted the recent ABI motor conference. The poor chap looked puzzled when the audience tittered each time he referred to Fortis’ Barry Smith as “Barry the broker”. Perhaps someone should have told him Smith is an ...
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BackchatAnd the band played on
Not to be a Scrooge but, this year, the Opera in the City Christmas concert seems a little reminiscent of the quote from Titanic: “Music to drown by. Now I know I’m in first class.”Still, the fifth annual event is bound to lift the spirits of those working in the ...
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Backchat
The unbearable lightness of motoring
Existential crisis is an unlikely topic for a press release from the RAC, but when its PR company sent Backchat a document headed “Young female motorists most at risk of being”, you have to wonder.A missing word seemed the more believable explanation. But at risk of being what? Abducted by ...
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Backchat
In enemy territory
Phil Rawlings, technical manager of motor claims for AXA, found himself surrounded by claimant lawyers without much insurer backup at the Motor Accident Solicitors Society’s annual conference last week. During a coffee break, Rawlings trawled the exhibitor stands and collected an armful of goodies, joking that he might as well ...
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BackchatDinner isn't served
Over at AIG, the new spirit of parsimony continues. As Insurance Times revealed a few weeks ago, the insurance giant cancelled its Christmas revels after the US government – its de facto owner – criticised taxpayer-financed corporate jollies. As if that weren’t enough of a blow for staff left wondering ...
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BackchatOn the block
As Backchat can attest, mixing alcohol and auctions is dangerous. BGL Group invited Backchat to a gourmet evening on Saturday at the Marriott hotel in Peterborough. The event, held in support of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, included dinner and wine tasting, hosted by a ...
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Backchat
Bye bye, B&B awards
The video montage that opened the Personal Finance Media Awards last week drew chuckles from the hacks gathered at the Bafta building on London’s Piccadilly.The event – in which features editor Lauren MacGillivray was named runner-up in the trade newcomer journalist of the year category – was previously known as ...
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Backchat
Peer pressure
Chris Hanks, general manager of Allianz Commercial, managed to turn a few heads during a recent visit to the House of Lords.He joined a friend, a leading peer of the realm, in a tour of the building and then went to lunch. When they entered the plush surroundings of the ...
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BackchatI do (buy cover)
With the UK on the brink of recession, insurers are looking for ways to encourage people to splash their cash on insurance. Ecclesiastical, renowned for its connection with church insurance, is hoping to earn a few extra pounds with a “credit crunch-friendly” wedding policy.“Couples may be forced to scale back ...
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BackchatBuffett takes stock
Backchat was intrigued by the latest pearl of wisdom from investment guru Warren Buffett. The “sage of Omaha” and world’s richest man is excited about US equities.“I’ve been buying American stocks; this is my personal account I’m talking about,” he tells a US newspaper.But haven’t US stocks been going down ...
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BackchatBang on ...
Moneysupermarket.com, the price comparison site, this week warns drivers about potential hikes in their motor insurance premiums if they are at fault in a car accident.The site also lists the occupations most likely to have an at-fault accident. Bus conductors are the worst, followed by metallurgists and GPs. But a ...
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BackchatSweet success for ABI
The ABI proved it is the bee’s knees at the recent Public Relations Consultants Awards.In the 28th annual awards, which celebrate the best work in public relations and public affairs, the ABI faced stiff competition from the likes of Grayling Global’s National Honey Week campaign (to promote honey, in ...
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BackchatVauxhall vintage
And so to the ABI’s annual financial media awards, a highlight in the calendar for insurance journalists and PRs alike. But glammed-up hacks hoping to spend a night swigging Dom Perignon and dancing down Park Lane were to be disappointed. In an apparent nod to the economic downturn, this year’s ...
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Backchat
Mo money
Reuben Aitchison, Aon’s hitherto goateed PR guru, is growing a moustache (or a “mo”, to use the vernacular). Why this sudden decision to sport retro facial hair? Apparently, it’s to raise money to fight prostate cancer. “Since I grew a goatee for a role in a stage production of Bouncers ...
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Backchat
So what’s French for moose, Henri?
Maybe pundits should have cut Sarah Palin some slack for believing a porkie from a fake French president. The final weekend of the US election campaign was enlivened by a prank call to the “pitbull with lipstick” from Marc-Antoine Audette, a Canadian comedian, who broadcast their six-minute conversation on a ...
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Backchat
Heady Benfield brew
Backchat was pleased to see Benfield’s typically quirky touches in its report on trends in the reinsurance market. The report, Capital Consequences – Billion-Dollar Question, published this week, spoke of a “witches’ brew” of events that could cause rates to harden. There was also reference to the “GI force” of ...
