Big Data

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. […]

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Global insurance trends

Lloyd’s emerging market expansion given thumbs up

The Lloyd’s insurance market’s planned expansion into emerging markets is a net positive, even though writing insurance outside of established markets carries additional risks, according to Fitch Ratings.

Fitch said it expects the economic development of emerging market economies to boost demand for insurance and reinsurance. Lloyd’s already writes 25% of its business outside of Europe and North America, with the growth of insurance premiums outpacing that of developed markets. […]

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Global insurance trends

#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. […]