UK consumers reject government plans for US-style collective action lawsuits
New study claims that UK consumers disagree with proposals to introduce opt-out collective actions. The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) says 57 percent of British consumers oppose UK … Continue reading
Report highlights insurer concerns over 3D printing technology
The insurance market’s concerns over the complexity of supply chain and product liability issues have been raised in a new report on 3D printing technology. The report from law firm … Continue reading
Westminster should probe comparison sites
By Ralph Savage If yesterday’s hearing at the House of Commons Environment select committee on floods proved anything, it is that they must include comparison web sites and major distributors … Continue reading
UK insurers predicted to maintain market-leading dividends
By Ralph Savage The UK’s leading insurers can maintain their market-leading dividend payments to shareholders despite tough conditions, analysts at Markit said today. However, in a separate note, Investec maintained … Continue reading
Will motor insurance ever be profitable?
By Jamie Marchant Who’d be a private motor insurer? Following record price increases in 2011, the market still only returned a 106% combined ratio that year and although specialists and … Continue reading
Father of the Web warns insurers against data profligacy
Sir Tim Berners-Lee has urged insurers to avoid the temptation of using increasing amounts of publicly available data about consumers on the web to price their products.
The inventor of the World Wide Web made a plea to the industry at the British Insurance Brokers’s Association conference in Manchester yesterday, requesting that information we share about ourselves on line – particularly by young people through social networks – should not be gathered for the purposes of pricing risk.
#BIBA2012 Insurers enjoying clear path down corridors of power
When Andrew Marr told delegates at the British Insurance Brokers’ Association 2012 conference that insurers have historically been mistrusted around Westminster, I wondered if he might be about to quote former PM Harold Macmillan by adding; ‘but you’ve never had it so good’.
The BBC political commentator opened his speech to a packed Manchester Central Auditorium with the suggestion that general insurers might have been unfairly lumped in with the life insurance market in gaining this poor reputation amongst the political class.
Aspirin effect equivalent to eradicating smoking says RMS
Financial modelling experts have confirmed the potential impact of daily Aspirin doses on life expectancy and said UK pension liabilities could rise by £100bn. Recent medical reports have confirmed the … Continue reading
Where does the buck stop?
By Jamie Marchant With the ink barely dry on the latest round of annual results from the leading insurers the usual bleating began from CEO’s about the parlous state of … Continue reading
Insurer v Broker claims spat: Score draw or own goal?
Perhaps we should start by recognising that airing such disputes so publicly will undoubtedly shine an unfavourable light on our profession and on the insurance market as a whole and that this takes away from all the good things that we do every day? Shooting first and asking questions later is never the best option. Where’s the value in scoring a few points if it then hurts the market’s reputation universally?
Insurers’ hands increasingly tied says EIU research
By Ralph Savage Ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, proposed tough new regulatory regimes and risk of contagion are the biggest long-term challenges facing insurers around the world, according to a new report … Continue reading
Insurers paying fewer claims says BIBA
by Ralph Savage New research has accused insurers of becoming stricter on paying claims in the economic downturn. According to the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA), 90% of insurance brokers … Continue reading
