Insurance News
The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (Biba) has reported a 36% turnover drop for the full year ending 31 December 2020. Biba files its accounts as a small business and, as such, the document on Companies House does not show profit and loss. During 2020 the body was forced to cancel its conference, which accounts for a significant chunk of its income, due to Covid-19.
In further news...BIBA has launched a new scheme with the Reading based InsurTech OneClickCover Ltd offering members access to a highly innovative, data-driven online home insurance platform that provides customers a quote in a few seconds, using just the property address.
Acturis Group has reported a 14.5% increase in revenue to £104.9m for the year ended 30 September 2020. The software house also saw an increase in operating profit to £33.1m in 2020, up from £30.2m in the preceding year.
The Financial Conduct Authority has warned customers about a clone insurance operation operating under the name Beagle Insurance. Beagle Insurance is using some of the details from authorised firm Medical Travel Compared, which is domiciled in Gibraltar, in order to scam people in the UK.
In further news...The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has hit LBGI (Lloyds Bank General Insurance Limited, St Andrew’s Insurance Plc, Lloyds Bank Insurance Services Limited and Halifax General Insurance Services Limited) with a fine of over £90 million. The fine of £90,688,400 has been issued for LBGI’s failure to ensure that the language of millions of home insurance renewals communications was “clear, fair and not misleading”.
The City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED)executed ten warrants last week as part of a crackdown on ‘ghost broking’ across the country, resulting in seven arrests. Ghost broking is a tactic used by fraudsters who sell fake car insurance through a number of different methods. The arrests formed part of a week of action led by officers from IFED, a specialist police unit dedicated to tackling insurance fraud which is hosted by the City of London Police.
Ageas UK is undergoing a restructure to become a more “focused” organisation, according to Chief Executive Officer Ant Middle. He explained that this includes looking at the shape of the business and investing in automation and technology in response to changes in customer behaviour. Ageas confirmed last week that it is set to make redundancies in its Bournemouth office as a result of the restructure.
International (re)insurance Broker and Aventum Group unit Consilium has rolled out a new Delegated Underwriting Authority (DUA) service for coverholders called Exponential, which is aimed at disrupting the prevailing market for binder placements.
Marsh McLennan subsidiary Guy Carpenter has announced the launch of a suite of climate advisory and modelling services. The company has established a range of services designed to address multiple facets of both physical and liability risk, while utilising the capabilities of other Marsh McLennan businesses to tackle transition risks.
Legal expenses insurance and assistance provider ARAG plc has revealed it turned a profit for 2020, despite the complications of the COVID crisis, and saw an increase in its Premium Under Management for the year. ARAG’s gross written Premium Under Management rose from £40.1 million in 2019 to £42.8 million in 2020, an increase of almost 7%, while the business recorded a pre-tax profit of almost £0.5 million in the UK, delivering its 11th profitable year in succession.
A hacker forum is auctioning off the information of 700 million LinkedIn users. The stolen dataset was posted on the RaidForums hacker site on June 22. Cybersecurity website PrivacySharks analyzed the dataset and reported in a blog post that it contains information such as users’ full names, gender, email addresses, phone numbers and industry information.
US District Judge Reggie Walton, who is also hearing Capitol riot cases, won’t be available to take on the United States of America v. Aon Plc et al antitrust suit until the last couple of months of 2021.
Although US businesses are making good progress in advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) within their organizations, a new report from Marsh and RIMS found that there are still “substantial shortcomings.” The report, “Excellence in Risk Management Report,” found that 71% of organizations surveyed have increased their focus on DE&I over the past five years. However, it also revealed that only 54% consider the lack of a DE&I strategy a core business risk.
Following its most recent meeting, the Board of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) announced that it will be conducting a widespread membership consultation and engagement initiative around all aspects of the CII’s membership offering, with a particular focus on achieving even greater recognition of the professionalism of our sector.
Pool Re, Britain’s leading terrorism reinsurer, has announced the launch of Re:New, an expert advisory group founded in order to explore how to protect the UK economy from systemic risks.
Arc Legal Assistance, along with its sister company Legal Insurance Management, has formed a new partnership deal with Lloyds Banking Group. Through the partnership, Arc Legal will provide family legal protection cover for Lloyds Banking’s 1.2 million home insurance customers across the UK. This offer will be available to all customers of the Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland brands.
There are only two months to go until IDEX's Lands End to John O'Groats bike ride, raising money for mental health charity 'Fight for All the Feels'. We have recruited 10 brave souls to undertake the challenge, with representatives from Partners&, NFU Mutual, Aviva, Gymshark, Broker Network, Mitie and Geo Underwriting. If you'd like to support their efforts, follow the link where you can make a small donation, and if you'd like more information contact Rebecca Howarth - rebecca.howarth@idexconsulting.com.
Sponsorship link: https://lnkd.in/egmBDy7
Mergers & Acquisitions
After acquiring its first business in the south, JM Glendinning Group has revealed it is on track to acquire 10 to 15 more businesses in the next five years.
Staysure Group has bought Rock Insurance Group, a travel insurance white labelling and partnerships business, for an undisclosed sum. The travel insurance specialist stated that the deal is set to be “mutually beneficial” and will expand its customer base as well as allow Staysure Group access to sell Rock’s products and services.
ES Risks has been acquired by Aston Larkin a move which adds a team of 45 to the consolidator’s roster. The business, established in 2007, is based in London and provides bespoke and niche wholesale (re)insurance facilities to industry clients which include Brokers, MGAs and (re)insurers across some 20 countries.
The purchase of Loss Adjuster Kudos is “a good example of innovation in the sector”, according to Partners& Chief Executive Officer Phil Barton. Barton explained that the driving force behind the deal, which was flagged last month, was the desire to make the experience at claim better for clients. He commented: “The deal came about because we were looking to enhance our client proposition and specifically looking to excel in the areas of risk identification and claims recovery. And in the pursuit of developing our proposition, we were introduced to Kudos by our regulatory Director.".
Movers & Shakers
Allianz Insurance has named a new Head of Motor Claims and appointed three Claims Managers for Property, Injury, and Supply Chain. Ian Kershaw, who was previously Head of claims at Co-op Insurance, has joined Allianz as Head of Motor Claims. Anthony Doyle has also joined the Insurer from Crawford & Company and was appointed Technical Claims Manager for Property. The Insurer has also made two other appointments, which are internal promotions: Laura Bottomley has been appointed Technical Claims Manager for Injury in the major loss team, and Sharon Carter has been named Supply Chain Manager in charge of Property and legal suppliers.
Tokio Marine HCC International has appointed Matthew Clayton and Ross Thompson as Senior Underwriters and Jonathan Olle as Senior Media Property and Liability Underwriter.
Mark Greening and Ron Atkinson join Atlanta Group, getting appointed to newly created senior roles. Greening was appointed as Director of Trading for Aggregators and Innovation, and Atkinson as Director of Wholesale.
Apricot Insurance has announced the promotion of Liam Foley to Sales and Development Manager.
Specialist global Insurer Hiscox has announced two new appointments under its Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS) and Energy businesses. It has named Vincent Prabis as Managing Principal of Hiscox ILS. He also joins the Hiscox Re & ILS executive team as part of his appointment. Hiscox has also appointed Riaz Thanduparakkal as Line Underwriter for the company’s Energy business. He will lead the unit’s underwriting team in developing their product offering for the Energy sector.
MS Amlin Underwriting Limited (MS AUL)has appointed James Maxwell as its Interim Chief Risk Officer. Maxwell assumes his new role on July 05, 2021, following the departure of the previous Chief Risk Officer, Vishai Desai. Desai is leaving the company for personal reasons, a release said.
Executive Vice President Malcolm C. Roberts– the former Chemical Engineer who joined FM Global in 1995 as a Loss Prevention Consultant in London – will become the Commercial Property Insurer’s Chief Executive from January 01 next year.
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All information provided in this Market Digest has been gathered from multiple General Insurance Media sources and individual company press releases.
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