Direct Line Insurance reports lower profit amid rising inflation and uncertain economic conditions August 2, 2022 Direct Line Insurance Group reported lower profits for the first half of 2022 as rising inflation and a gloomy market outlook impacted performance. The insurance company had a 47 per cent drop in operating profit to £195.5m from the first half of 2021 as it dealt with “challenging” market conditions and tighter FCA regulations. Profit [...]
Claims globalisation has ‘had its heyday’ are premature, Lloyd’s chief executive says August 2, 2022 Claims the dual shocks of Covid and the war in Ukraine have halted the “all conquering forces of globalisation” are “premature,” Lloyd’s of London chief executive John Neal told City A.M. In an op-ed in this newspaper, the insurance chief said that while we will “rightly see a degree of retreat and retrenchment” in [...]
Brits turn to criminality as living costs skyrocket: 15 people added to insurance fraud register every day July 26, 2022 Around 15 people are being added to an insurance fraud register every day amid concerns that more could be tempted into criminality as living costs rise. The Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) said it has seen a 17 per cent increase in people being added to the Insurance Fraud Register (IFR). The IFR is a national [...]
Liz Truss promises post-Brexit bonfire of EU rules that hinder UK growth July 22, 2022 Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss has vowed to seize the opportunities posed by Brexit by scrapping EU regulations that hinder the UK’s growth. The Conservative MP said that if she becomes prime minister, she will scrap any EU rules that hinder investment or fail to support growth in the UK economy by 2023. If Truss [...]
Beazley delivers best combined ratio since 2015 despite profit decrease July 22, 2022 Beazley has delivered its best half-year combined ratio since 2015 despite a decrease in profit. In the six months ended 30 June, the insurance firm posted a profit before tax of £18.6m ($22.3m) – down 87 per cent on last year – while its returns on annualised equity went down by 14 per cent. Gross [...]
Government’s plans for Solvency II shakeup will force insurers to hold more capital on their books, sector warns July 21, 2022 Insurers have called on the UK government to reconsider their plans to shake up the Solvency II rules that govern the country’s insurance sector, after warning the current plans could backfire. The government’s current plans to reform the European Union’s Solvency II regulations could see life insurers forced to hold more capital than they are [...]
Moneysupermarket posts better-than-expected results due to surging demand for bank comparison services July 21, 2022 Price comparison website Moneysupermarket today said its first half performance was “ahead of expectations” after 19 per cent higher revenues saw its pre tax profits grow 20 per cent compared to last year. The website said its financial performance was boosted by returning demand from travel insurance comparison services and “exceptional” trading in its banking [...]
LV= faces pressure to say whether outgoing chief Mark Hartigan will take payout on exiting firm July 19, 2022 Critics have hit out at mutual insurer LV= over its refusal to say whether it will give outgoing chief executive Mark Hartigan a payout, following his exit from the firm. LV= has so far refused to say whether Hartigan will receive a payout or how much he might take, after the insurer on Monday announced [...]
Insurers could speed up rewriting policies to reduce exposure to claims following crypto crash July 15, 2022 The drastic crash in the crypto market could lead to insurers speed up rewriting policies to reduce exposure to claims. Following the crypto rout, which has seen prices of major cryptocurrencies plummeting and wiped out billions of dollars from the market, insurers will likely review or amend policy wordings to avoid indirectly insuring losses from [...]
Solvency II reforms will not be a ‘free lunch’ for insurance sector, Bank of England says July 8, 2022 The Bank of England (BoE) has said its post-Brexit shakeup of the rules that govern the UK’s insurance industry will not be a “free lunch” for the sector, that puts policyholders at risk. In a speech on Friday, Sam Woods, chief executive of the BoE’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) said policyholders must be protected as [...]