News
Gallagher partners with Knight Frank Finance; Azur announces MBO; Criterion appoints MD
Friday Round Up: Insurance Post wraps up the major insurance deals, launches, investments and strategic moves of the week.
Lloyd’s steps up worst-case scenario planning for cyber and geopolitical risks
Lloyd’s is conducting exercises with the aim of better understanding how a major cyber event or adverse geopolitical developments might give rise to losses for the market.
Aviva UK&I GI sees growth as it returns more than £5bn in capital since 2021
Aviva Group CEO Amanda Blanc has announced strong results for the UK and Ireland general insurance business, while launching a £300m share buyback scheme, having taken capital return to over £5bn in two years.
In it, to win it! The British Insurance Awards 2023 deadline is 8 days away
With a closing date of 17 March, you will need to start preparing your 2023 British Insurance Awards entries sooner rather than later to make the cut; and be in with a chance of winning at the industry’s most prestigious insurance awards show.
Q&A: James Baird and Paul Richards, Consilium
Consilium recently brought in Paul Richards to lead the business as co-CEO alongside James Baird, who was appointed CEO in November. Insurance Post asks them how the two-CEO structure works, and how being colleagues for 23 years helped shape the decision.
Hiscox’s UK & London Markets’ GWP drops for 2022 but sectors stay profitable
Hiscox’s UK and London Markets businesses both dropped gross written premium in real terms but continued profitability, as the insurer announced the launch of an ESG sub-syndicate.
Admiral builds on pre-pandemic profits in 2022 despite inflation pressures
Admiral has reported pre-tax profits of £616m from its insurance operations in the UK last year, despite markedly deteriorating loss ratios.
Insurtech 2.0 must embrace the concept of brokers
Flock CEO Ed Leon Klinger said in order for insurtechs to continue to grow their scale and distribution capabilities, they needed to use the concept of brokers.
Hiscox chairman Childs to retire
Hiscox chairman Robert Childs will retire and step down from the insurer’s board later this year, ending a 37-year career at the insurer.
Aviva and Axa lead the way in achieving equity for women
Aviva and Axa are leading the way when it comes to creating a more diverse, inclusive and equitable insurance industry for women, according to an analysis of press coverage.
Big Tech makes too much money out of insurers to compete with them
Big Tech firms have little incentive to become full-stack insurers themselves – they are making more than enough money servicing the industry to compete with it.
Ifed secures first Serious Crime Prevention Order
The Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department has obtained its first ever Serious Crime Prevention Order against a fraudster who scammed insurers and lawyers out of nearly £250,000, and its DCI is targeting more orders in the future.
Pizza Express and insurers clash over alleged number of claims on Aon wording
Pizza Express and its insurers have clashed in court over the wider market applicability of a preliminary hearing to determine whether the restaurant chain is able to claim £250,000 or as much as £178m for its Covid business interruption losses.
CII & PFS CEOs claim recent talks were ‘never hostile’
In a joint letter addressed to the Insurance Institute of Sheffield, Personal Finance Society interim CEO Don MacIntyre and Chartered Insurance Institute CEO Alan Vallance have insisted interactions between the two bodies since December have never been …
FOS aims to slash insurance complaints queue
The Financial Ombudsman Service intends to change the way it records the number of complaints against insurance companies, in a bid to encourage more businesses to settle with policyholders before an investigation is launched.
Justice minister refuses to commit to regular fixed recoverable costs reviews
Justice minister Lord Bellamy has refused to commit to regularly updating new or existing fixed recoverable costs (FRCs) for inflation, but confirmed an extension to FRC will be going ahead in October.
Pool Re CEO warns terrorism threat is ‘evolving’ due to the cost-of-living crisis
The cost-of-living crisis has affected SMEs’ ability to afford some types of non-essential insurance products, such as terrorism cover, according to Tom Clementi, CEO of Pool Re.
Russian airlines approach Aercap over ‘potential insurance settlements’
Russian airlines have reached out to aircraft leasing giant Aercap over “potential insurance settlements” after over 100 planes were stranded in the country when conflict broke out in Ukraine last year.
Lloyd’s working to address ‘awful’ infrastructure within the London Market
Rich Boyd, head of digital claims at Lloyd’s, has said the marketplace is working on a way to help insurtechs and start-ups to sell into and connect up to London-based underwriters’ tech systems.
RSA quickens broker base build-out and plugs proposition gaps
RSA is aiming to strike up new trading relationships with twice as many brokers as it did last year in 2023, following steps to improve its level of service and its proposition.
Jensten buys three brokers; CFC launches IP solution; Optio appoints CEO
Friday Round Up: Insurance Post wraps up the major insurance deals, launches, investments and strategic moves of the week.
War exclusions curb Beazley’s cyber growth
Updated war exclusions slowed down the growth of Beazley's cyber book last year, according to CEO Adrian Cox.
Climate litigation on the rise as Shell is sued
Kennedy’s partner Alex Nurse expects climate litigation to be on the rise as Shell is facing a legal battle filed by shareholders for its failure to adopt and implement an energy transition that aligns with the Paris Agreement.
Howden snaps up Reich
Howden has bought Reich Insurance Group, for an undisclosed sum, in a “significant step” to increase its footprint across north west England.