Year: 2012

Big Data

Father of the Web warns insurers against data profligacy

18 May 2012 alastair walker 2

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

17 May 2012 alastair walker 0

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

16 May 2012 alastair walker 0

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. […]

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Insurance & Reinsurance

BIBA to tell brokers commission disclosure is inevitable

11 May 2012 alastair walker 2

The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) is warning brokers that the revision of the Insurance Mediation Directive (IMD) could result in both mandatory disclosure of commission for the insurance industry by 2019, and the potential […]

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Insurance & Reinsurance

CBI warns against class action proposals

25 April 2012 alastair walker 0

The CBI has argued that proposals to enable group actions against companies will damage business in the UK. Responding to the launch of a Department for Business, Innovation and Skills consultation on private actions in competition […]

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Insurance & Reinsurance

Risk manager prominence rising across boardrooms

25 April 2012 alastair walker 0

Risk managers in financial institutions across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) are seizing the opportunity created by the financial crisis to demonstrate how they create value and are rapidly gaining new-found kudos in […]

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Insurance & Reinsurance

Micro-insurance expanding rapidly says Munich Re & ILO

10 April 2012 alastair walker 0

The number of microinsurance schemes worldwide has increased substantially over the past five years and now reaches an estimated 500 million worldwide, according to the Microinsurance Innovation Facility of the International Labour Organization and the […]

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Household Insurance

Update: Marsh UK flood cover has insurer backing

3 April 2012 alastair walker 0

Global broking group Marsh said its affordable flood insurance plan has “critical mass”, despite pessimism from one commentator today.

Marsh and its sister company Guy Carpenter announced ‘Project Noah’ which they claim can secure affordable flood insurance for at risk properties in the UK, only to have the idea chastised following a tweet from an Insurance Edge reader.