Latest News – Page 1954
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News
Felix losses to be less than £200m
?Hurricane Felix is expected to cause no more than £200m worth of insured losses, experts have predicted. The US National Hurricane Centre, which has been tracking Felix, said it was heading north towards Texas.But it had since veered slightly south and was expected to strike Honduras, Nicaragua, Belize and then ...
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News
News in Brief
?Hampden raises £5.2mHampden Underwriting raised an initial £5.2m before expenses following its flotation on AIM this week. AIG buys travel insurerAIG Europe acquired Direct Travel Insurance Services, one of the UK's leading independent travel insurance specialists. Aon head for Cila committeeAon’s head of claims John Bell was appointed chair of ...
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News
Brit cautious after half year profit rise
Brit Insurance Holdings has warned its second half year profits are likely to take a hit, despite announcing strong first half results.The company reported strong overall profits and underwriting performance with its gross written premium (GWP) up 4.6% to £727m. First half pre-tax profit rose to £106.8m, up from ...
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Backchat
Baloney back on the menu
?The saga of Barney Baloney the clown has taken another twist following the news that Croydon broker Hencilla has sensationally granted the catastrophic comedian public liability (PL) insurance. Commentators were worried that Tesco had blown the incident – which saw Barney being barred on the grounds that his peanuts were ...
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Backchat
Smart & Cook's canine acquisition
?Backchat was amused to see this latest shot of Smart & Cook chief executive Paul Meehan.Dismissing wags’ suggestions that these were the broker’s latest acquisitions, Backchat was heartened to discover that the company was adopting the puppies – appropriately named Smartie and Cookie – as part of a fund raising ...
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Backchat
Drama as IFB foots The Bill
The press machine surrounding the much trumpeted Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) finally hit the jackpot last week after the organisation was featured as part of a key storyline in the prime time TV show, The Bill. Well known insurance scams such as ‘crash for cash’ and ‘car ringing’ were unearthed ...
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Backchat
Driven to distraction
?Reams of research reports pass across Backchat’s desk, some more surprising than others. This week, Norwich Union helpfully informed us that drivers can be distracted by crying babies, fighting children and barking dogs. Not to mention the revelation that one in four drivers has taken his eyes off the road ...
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News
Pensions group accuses Pointon of PYV bail-out
Financial services adviser the Pointon Group has acquired Lloyd’s broker PYV Risk Management, a subsidiary of PYV Group. Pointon Group chairman Geoffrey Pointon said the £3.25m acquisition was an attempt to revive the fortunes of the business. But members of the Pointon Group pensions scheme have declared the move as ...
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News
R&SA seeks alliance for property expansion
US investment giant could provide capacity for insurer’s expansion
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News
Allianz claims switch puts 37 jobs at risk
?Allianz will soon be consolidating its claims divisions in a move that could cut up to 37 jobs.The company is reorgan-ising its claims divisions based on specialisation and will be closing its Leeds and Glasgow offices.Commercial property claims will handled in Birmingham, with motor and personal injury claims looked after ...
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News
RBS to allow brand on aggregator site
At least one of Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) insurance brands is expected to appear on Tesco’s forthcoming aggregator site. The move by RBS to allow an insurance brand to participate in a price comparison site would represent a U-turn by the banking giant, which has taken an anti-aggregator stance. ...
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News
AXA ties up two more broker acquisitions
AXA’s broking division, Venture Preference, has made two acquisitions as it closes in on its target of £500m SME commercial premium. The company has acquired two commercial brokers, the Davis Group and Smith Grayburn Young (SGY) Insurance Services. Davis specialises in transport insurance, and controls £37m in premium. The value ...
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News
Protectagroup buys Hodge
?Protectagroup has taken a significant step toward its £25m brokerage target by the end of next year with the acquisition of Hodge Insurance Brokers.Hodge has a brokerage of £1.86m and controls £9m in premium, and is the first of three major acquisitions planned by Protectagroup. Protectagroup chief executive, Paul Ragan, ...
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News
Price-cutting forces Amlin to rethink commercial focus
Lloyd’s giant Amlin this week said it would continue to reduce its participation in the UK commercial market, owing to intense competition within the sector. The warning came as the insurer reported record profits for the first half of the year, beating analysts’ forecasts. Amlin saw pre-tax profit increase by ...
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News
Admiral profit soars as premiums grow 10%
Admiral has announced record profit growth over the first six months of this year, fuelled by the success of its non-underwriting businesses, including aggregator Confused.com. Profit before tax rose by 26% year on year to £86.3m, while group turnover grew by 16% from £359.2m to £417.8m. Total premiums grew by ...
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News
Homeserve pulls D&G buy-out
?Homeserve said this week it had pulled out of talks to buy specialist warranty and elect-rical appliance insurer Dom-estic & General Group (D&G). Meanwhile, D&G confirmed that it was in discussions with other potential bidders saying it was “confident that sig-nificant value can be realised for shareholders through a premium ...
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Primary General launches online tradesman policy
One-stop-shop for placing smaller risks
