News Analysis
Penny Speed meets... Ian Muress, EMEA chief executive, Crawford
Being an insatiable socialite, Penny Black is always eager to probe the personalities behind the professional veneer of her industry friends. What better way to squeeze in and share as many intimate revelations as possible than her very own ‘speed…
Career file - David Hunt: Biba names Lord Hunt as chairman
Lord David Hunt of Wirral has been named as the new chairman of the British Insurance Brokers' Association, replacing Andy Homer.
Career file: Andy Watson: Watson becomes ABI motor committee chairman
Ageas UK chief executive Andy Watson has been appointed chairman of the Association of British Insurers' motor technical committee.
Market Moves: 9 January 2014
Ecclesiastical, LV, Ageas, Zurich and Torus are among the insurers recruiting this week, while Willis, and Arthur J Gallagher are the brokers making moves.
Career development: Simply Business creates 100 new jobs
Simply Business has embarked on a recruitment drive that will result in the creation of 100 insurance jobs within the firm's Northampton headquarters.
Career development: Higos expands graduate scheme
High-street broker Higos is to grow its graduate training scheme following the success it has seen since launching in June this year.
Career File - Richard Ward: Departing Lloyd's CEO named Brit chairman
Lloyd's chief executive Richard Ward will become Brit Insurance Holdings chairman once he steps down from his current role at the end of the year.
Market Moves: Firms hopeful new hires will be Christmas crackers as recruitment enters festive frenzy
The insurance industry has sought to get its Christmas shopping done early, bringing home a number of presents for clients this week. Aviva tied a ribbon around Fraser Edmond, who replaces Sam Hudson as broker performance director, Zurich unwrapped Tim…
Career development: CII welcomes government apprenticeships announcement
The Chartered Insurance Institute has welcomed the Treasury's announcement of its gateway project to help people find apprenticeships and graduate training places within insurance.
Career file: Amlin UK's CEO to retire in 2014
Amlin UK's chief executive Brian Carpenter will be retiring in 2014.
Market Moves: Southern Rock swoops for Brightside staff plus new roles for Gienal and Carruthers
This week saw insurance group Southern Rock grab the headlines when Post exclusively revealed the insurance group, parent of Go Skippy, had swooped for five staff at Brightside. Also hiring this week were Covéa, while Zurich UK found itself a vacancy…
Career file - Paul Williams: Williams to replace Holman as Brightside CEO
Brightside has appointed Towergate director Paul Williams to take over as chief executive early next year following the departure of Martyn Holman.
Market Moves: Hiscox bolsters its underwriting team as a multitude of insurers make fresh hires
It has been a busy week for recruitment, with insurers picking up staff to lead operations old and new. Hiscox was among the bigger movers, recruiting three new underwriting staff, while Allianz brought in Neil Brettell to replace the promoted Jon Dye…
Claims Club: Industry on alert as fraud gangs target claims for smartphones and tablets
Insurers are becoming increasingly alive to the activities of organised criminal groups amid a high level of fraudulent gadget insurance claims.
Claims Club: Deafness claims on the rise as CMCs pursue new avenues
Insurers have repudiated almost three-quarters of industrial deafness claims so far this year as claims management companies look to expand on their traditional personal injury focus.
Claims Club: Insurers unconcerned by St Jude storm losses despite high-profile buildup
The scale of the St Jude Day storm in the UK has been described as greatly exaggerated by claims bosses, who have played down the lasting industry impact of the much‑publicised weather event.
Career development: Deputy PM praises Bluefin for apprenticeship success
Bluefin has been congratulated by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg after being recognised in the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers list.
Career development: UK General hails apprenticeship success
UK General has recruited four full-time apprentices following their completion of a 12-month scheme.
Career File: Colm Holmes - Zurich's Colm Holmes appointed Aviva UK CFO
Aviva has appointed Colm Holmes as chief financial officer for its UK & Ireland general insurance business.
Market Moves: Big moves among brokers as Lyons and Trott re-emerge in new roles
A hectic spurt of recruitment this week saw some top-level moves at some of the UK’s largest brokers, with Gallagher recruiting an RSA account manager to help run sales in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Meanwhile. the Scottish broker’s former managing…
Career development: Bluefin pioneers level-four apprenticeship
The launch of the general insurance level-four apprenticeship for school leavers has been marked by an event at the Chartered Insurance Institute's historic Aldermanbury head office in London.
Career File: Charles Crawford -Ex-Davies CEO launches consultancy firm
Former Davies chief executive Charles Crawford has launched his own consultancy firm 13 months after leaving the loss adjuster.
Market Moves: Aspen, Barbican and XL bring in new underwriters as insurers are most active recruiters
Insurers maintained their recruitment emphasis this week with multiple hires across the sector. XL, Aspen and Barbican were among those to reveal new underwriting roles, in the form of a fine art underwriter, a global chief underwriting officer and a…
Career file: Sam Hudson - Aviva's Hudson to join Equity in January
Sam Hudson, Aviva's broker performance director for intermediary and partnerships, is to join Equity from the start of next year as commercial director.