Commercial
Direct Fleet eyes expansion with new role creation
Direct Fleet Insurance has today appointed Joanne Cassidy to the newly created role of renewals manager as part of its expansion strategy to grow its broker and insurer partnerships.
Digital Insurance Strategies: Online insurance fails to take off for SMEs as customers are ‘not quite ready’
Take-up of online insurance remains stunted among small and medium-sized enterprises, according to a panel of speakers at Post’s Digital Insurance Strategies conference.
View from the Top: There may be trouble ahead
A catalogue of natural disasters in recent times have been pushing our industry’s bottle to the brink, says Peter Hubbard.
Keelan Westall aims to increase e-trading brokers by a third
Keelan Westall aims to increase the number of brokers trading on its e-trading platform from the current level of 400 to 600 by the end of the year.
Biba and ABI agree Toba template
The British Insurance Brokers’ Association agreed a standard template with the Association of British Insurers for Terms of Business Arrangements.
Claims Club Monthly Missive: Learning from Bethany Probert
It seems that barely a month passes without the industry suffering publicity bad enough to harm the reputation of an individual firm or, worse still, the entire industry.
Marsh restructures UK & Ireland corporate practice
Marsh has amalgamated its national corporate and risk management practices with its UK & Ireland operation along with Marsh Risk Consulting in its newly created corporate division.
The Broker Business Club: At your leisure
The most recent edition in our series of Broker Business Club roundtable discussions, in association with Zurich, took place in London in July. Our panel discussed the opportunities and threats within the highly specialised leisure market.
The Broker Business Club: Food for thought
The latest in our series of Broker Business Clubs in association with Zurich, took place in Belfast where the panellists discussed the food and beverage sector and the pressures, strains and opportunities that existed within it.
Willis appoints new European captive head
Lesley Harding has been named chief executive officer of Willis' global captive practice in Europe, effective 1 March.
Airclaims names new MD post-McLarens merger
Mark Hunter has left his post as chief executive of Airclaims by mutual agreement amid a restructure of management roles, 18 months after the aviation management specialist merged with loss adjuster McLarens.
DLG improves combined ratio to 99.2%
Direct Line Group has reported a 9.3% rise in operating profit for ongoing operations to £461.2m (2011: £421.9m) including an underwriting profit of £28.2m compared to a loss in 2011 of £72.3m and a combined operating ratio of 99.2% (2011: 101.8%).
Rate hikes the only answer to CL market’s poor results
The dismal state of the UK commercial lines market can only be remedied by insurers inputting rate rises in 2013 and resisting their natural urge to compete on price, the heads of major firms have said.
Editor's comment: Stop me if you’ve heard this one...
“I know a song that will get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your...”
Claims Club: Axa’s Williams calls for improvements for ‘undervalued’ claims teams
The tide could soon turn for claims professionals who are “underpaid and undervalued” compared to their underwriting peers, according to Axa commercial lines and personal intermediary underwriting managing director David Williams.
Post magazine – 28 February 2013
The latest edition of Post magazine is now available to subscribers as a digital and interactive e-book.
Independent midwives seek cover ahead of legislation
An organisation representing independent midwives is in discussions with a broker over plans to secure affordable professional indemnity insurance, ahead of the launch of new legislation.
Bluefin Ebitda increases 27.5%
Bluefin Insurance has reported a 27.5% rise in Ebitda to £22.7m (2011: £17.8m) and a 54.3% pre-tax profit of £17.9m (2011: £11.6m).
Top five European news stories
The top five European news stories from www.insuranceinsight.com over the past seven days.
Zurich warns firms to tackle rising levels of workplace stress
Stress levels, low morale and staff absence look set to continue to negatively impact the workplace unless the economic environment improves, Zurich has warned.
Allianz UK profit slides 4.3% to £161.5m
Allianz reported a 4.3% fall in operating profit to £161.5m in 2012 (2011: £168.7m). The insurer's combined ratio also deteriorated to 96.3% from 95.7% in 2011.
AIG income falls to $3.4bn in 2012
AIG's net income fell to $3.4bn (£2.23bn), or $2.04 per diluted share, in 2012 compared with $20.6bn, or $11.01 per diluted share, the year earlier.
Axa UK CEO "happy" with 9% commercial lines growth
The UK boss of Axa has admitted that he is “happy” with its performance in a “tricky” commercial market, although he stopped short at revealing its combined operating ratio for the 2012 financial year.
IAG to write off $260m following Equity sale to Aquiline Partners
Insurance Australia Group has announced that it recorded a loss of $182m in respect of its "discontinued" UK operations in the six months to 31 December 2012.