QBE Insurance Group has appointed David McMillan as group chief operations officer, and Victor Walter as deputy group chief financial officer (CFO). The company also announced that Pat Regan will remain as the acting group CFO. The company has been looking for a permanent group CFO since December 2016, but the search is still underway. […]

Hiscox said it has narrowed down its shortlist for a new EU base to two counties, Luxembourg and Malta, adding that Brexit was unlikely to impact the firm strategically. The insurer today announced record annual results, with profits soaring and its retail operations growing to represent half of the firm’s business. Hiscox’s share price jumped […]

The UK’s insurers were left reeling this morning after the government announced changes to a key insurance sector discount rate, costing them hundreds of millions of pounds Direct Line said annual profits for 2016 would be cut by up to £230m, while motor insurer Admiral estimated it will take a hit of up £100m and is to […]

RSA has reported profit and earnings growth in 2016, surpassing analyst expectations with a set of results that chief exec Stephen Hester said demonstrated a “seamless” transition from transition to outperformance. The figures Group operating profit went up 25 per cent to £655m, from £523m last year, while underlying pre-tax profit rose to £556m from £417m. Net written premiums dipped […]

After a blistering final quarter of 2016, the first few weeks of 2017 have seen dealmakers continue to mine a rich seam of M&A, with big ticket transactions including Tesco’s acquisition of Booker and Reckitt Benckiser’s bid for Mead Johnson hitting headlines in the UK, and Luxottica and Essilor’s €50bn (£42.4bn) merger among many others making waves further afield. And just […]

A South African asset manager has been given the green light by regulators to take a £435m stake in insurance firm Hastings. Rand Merchant Investment Holdings (RMI) revealed plans to buy 29.9 per cent of Hastings’ shares in December. Today, UK, South Africa and Gibraltar regulators rubber-stamped the deal, which is expected to complete on […]

Regulations to ensure UK insurers hold sufficient capital have been a success despite being too costly and taking too long to put into practice, the Bank of England said today, one year after the rules first came into force. Insurance companies will report their first annual results including disclosures on Solvency II in the coming weeks. And […]

Insurance firm Brit said it had weathered a tough year and was confident changes and initiatives would enable the firm manage market headwinds. The figures Gross written premiums fell from $2.0bn (£1.6bn) to $1.9bn, a decrease of 2.3 per centon a constant exchange rates basis. Net earned premium decreased by 6.1 per cent to $1.5bn. The firm’s combined ratio – […]

Bruce Carnegie-Brown is to be recommended as the next chairman for Lloyd’s of London, the insurance market. A Lloyd’s Council meeting is expected to be convened shortly, probably one day early next week, to ratify the decision. The Council has historically followed the recommendation of the Nominations Committee on important appointments. The appointment is also […]

The Association of British Insurers has abandoned their simple products initiative that followed the 2013 Sergeant Review. The review, which was undertaken by a steering group led by former Financial Services Authority managing director Carol Sergeant, recommended the introduction of a “simple financial products badge for qualifying products via a robust accreditation process”. This would be […]