The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) had noble beginnings. Also known as the pensions lifeboat, it was designed as safety net of last resort for employees with defined benefit pensions whose companies become insolvent. There are over 800 schemes in the PPF which has secured the retirement savings of 250,000 people since its launch around a […]
Munich Re revises annual profit target on investment result
Munich Re, the world’s second-biggest reinsurer, revised its full-year profit target to include restructuring charges at its primary insurance unit and losses on equity investments that hit first-quarter earnings. The shares fell to the lowest in more than eight months. Munich Re’s new profit target of 2.3 billion euros ($2.6 billion) now includes restructuring costs at the […]
Simple interview questions that could be costing you dearly
Savvy hiring managers can glean a ton of information about you by asking just a few, well-chosen questions. But while they may seem simple — that’s the point — some are actually designed to get you to reveal information you may have been trying to conceal. In other words: they’re trick questions. “To uncover areas that may […]
Inga Beale interview: How Lloyds of London are Monitoring Manmade Risks
Lloyds of London Chief Executive Officer Inga Beale discusses risk and how she manages them. Beale joined Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua at the International Financial Services Forum in London, where she also discussed insuring against the risk of Brexit. Source: Bloomberg
PRA outlines SII IMAP approval bureaucracy cuts
The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has outlined plans to unburden itself from the administrative quagmire around approving internal models under Solvency II. In a consultation paper released last week that detailed the UK regulator’s expectations on insurers transitioning to Solvency II, the PRA said it wished to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy from the process for both […]
Carney sets scene for Brexit rate cut
The Bank of England (BoE) is laying down the groundwork for a cut in interest rates if the UK quits Europe. According to the Sunday Times, BoE boss Mark Carney (pictured) has been sounding out the UK’s top banks to determine whether their balance sheets can absorb a rate reduction. One bank boss told the paper […]
Direct life insurance sales surge 216% last year
Direct to consumer term assurance sales soared 216 per cent last year, stealing market share from banks where sales halved. Data compiled by Swiss Re for its annual Term and Health Watch showed the number of UK life insurance policies sold without an intermediary jumped to 115,633 last year, up from 36,586 in 2014. At […]
Cirencester Friendly’s profits grow 5% to £17.6m
Cirencester Friendly’s profit grew 5.2 per cent last year to £17.6m, buoyed by strong relationships with advisers the company’s CEO said. In 2014 the mutual’s total income figure was £16.7m. Cirencester’s annual report and accounts revealed premium income rose 5 per cent from £14.9m in 2014 to £15.6m in 2015, while investment income was up […]
Axa looks to keep expanding in Brazil’s growing insurance market
Axa SA, France’s largest insurer, is open to more acquisitions to keep expanding in Brazil even as Latin America’s largest economy suffers its deepest recession on record. Axa expects Brazil’s 360 billion-real ($102 billion) insurance market to grow 10 percent this year despite the economic rout, said Philippe Jouvelot, president of its Brazilian unit. The […]
Brexit a ‘grave concern’ for London market: IUA
The trade body representing the London company market has issued a stark warning against the UK voting to leave the European Union. “The feedback we have received from our members clearly shows that the benefits of EU membership are highly valued and the possibility of these advantages disappearing is of grave concern,” said Dave Matcham, […]