Throwback Thursday: Record fire loss; Sedgwick buys broker
Insurance Post’s Throwback Thursday steps back in time to January 1991 to remind you what was going on this week in insurance history when fire claims surged and Sedgwick was buying a broker.
10 January 1991: Record fire losses
An increase in commercial and industrial fires was blamed for the worst fire losses to hit insurers since records began in 1958.
According to Association of British Insurers figures, fire claims increased by 36% in the third quarter of 1990 to £225.1m.
The ABI of the day attributed the uptick to companies economising on fire prevention in a bid to save cash as back then there wasn’t a lithium-ion battery or air fryer in sight.
Sedgwick buys broker
Sedgwick Dineen, an Irish insurance company 75% owned by Sedgwick Group, bought Legal & Commercial Insurance, a Dublin-based broker.
Sedgwick Dineen chairman Pat Dineen said he hoped to accrue significant benefits from the deal as Irish exporters grew closer to the European insurance market.
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