Penny Black
Penny Black’s insurance week
Penny is a firm believer in it never being too late to spice up life a little.
Penny Black’s insurance week
Any company that has ever rebranded will know the path is a perilous one.
Penny Black’s insurance week
Penny got more information than she bargained for when she visited Axa’s London offices last week to get an update on its commercial lines strategy.
Penny Black’s insurance week
Mooching around the insurance industry as she does, Penny is lucky enough to meet some fairly colourful characters.
Penny Black's insurance week
Penny likes to think she scrubs up pretty well but she was certainly left in the shade when tan-tastic The Only Way is Essex star Amy Childs strutted past in Soho during a coffee break with Concise PR director Alex Wise.
Penny Black's insurance week
If Penny thought that Take That fever had passed following the end of the reformed pop band's UK tour she was very much mistaken.
Penny Black's insurance week
Penny thought she got invited to all the best gigs, but clearly her invitation to Markerstudy's 10th anniversary bash at The Savoy was lost in the post.
Penny Black's insurance week
As if the big brokers don't have enough on their plate contending with regulators breathing down their necks, Aon and Willis now have to ward off Decepticons too.
Penny Black's insurance week
Despite last week being a damp squib for British sport, with Andy Murray, the English cricket team, the England under-17s football side and then David Haye failing to deliver the goods, Penny can bring some good news.
Penny Black's insurance week
Last week, Penny found herself at the Association of British Insurers' biennial conference, where star guests included business secretary Vince Cable, Allianz chairman Clement Booth and BBC political editor Nick Robinson.
Penny Black's insurance week
Penny had to check the date when she received word of a new insurance policy for players of the magical game of Quidditch — championed by Harry Potter and his Hogwarts classmates.
Penny black's insurance week
One could be forgiven for losing track of what's going on behind the revolving door at Aviva Towers of late, where the UK insurance giant has been hit by a spate of senior management changes.
Penny Black's insurance week
Last week, Penny caught up with the man of the moment, outgoing Towergate CEO Andy Homer. Modest as always, Mr Homer insisted that for luring Mark Hodges from Aviva he and his colleagues deserved a "pat on the back".
Penny Black's insurance week
Penny cannot help but feel rather jealous of Josh Mitchell, the graduate who has landed a £40 000-a-year job as an 'ambassador' at sporting and musical events for the creatures from the compare the meerkat adverts.
Penny Black's insurance week
Still fresh in the mind, this month's Biba conference was awash with the usual rumours that started on stands and, by the second night, were sworn gospel.
Penny Black's insurance week
Another year, another Biba conference; brokers nurse their hangovers, hacks try to recall the juicy story slurred in their ear at 2am, and insurers vow to return to the exhibition hall next year with a bigger stand than Aviva, nicer cup cakes than Zurich…
Penny Black's insurance week
Given his aspirations as a pop impresario, Penny was interested to see former IAG UK boss and Hastings investor Neil Utley enter the annual Rich List chart above the likes of George Michael, Robbie Williams and Phil Collins.
Penny Black's insurance week
It is always nice when a familiar face reappears on the heady insurance circuit, so it was with some pleasure that Penny heard Zurich's former European CEO Annette Court is currently scouring the UK insurance market for her next big move.
Penny Black's insurance week
After devoting 44 years of his life to Allianz and its previous incarnations, it would seem that technical claims manager Roy Hebburn deserves a decent send off, having announced his retirement.
Penny Black's insurance week
Watch out Simon Cowell and congratulations to Hastings boss and music mogul in the making Neil Utley, whose new record label has netted singer Charlie Simpson as its first signing.
Penny Black's insurance week
Penny understands the launch of widely anticipated new insurance trade body the Managing General Agents' Association has been held up by a lack of technological foresight.
Penny Black's insurance week
It is always heartening to see people battling adversity, and those in New Zealand have had it bad over the past six months.
Penny Black's Insurance Week - 31 March 2010
You can say what you like about them, mused Penny, but insurance people know a good corporate jolly when they see one.
Penny Black's insurance week
Penny jetted off to Dublin last weekend with the aim of celebrating a glorious triumph of England's rugby boys over the Irish.