All articles by LII editorial
LII editorial
Regulator takes UK with-profit insurers to task
Regulator takes UK with-profit insurers to task In a letter to chief executives of all insurers that provide with-profits funds, the UK financial services regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), has hammered home the need to treat policyholders fairly
New deal for cancer survivors
One in every six American men is likely to contract prostate cancer in their lifetime and this year alone 186,000 men will be diagnosed with the disease, according to US insurer The Hartford For most of these men, 90 percent of whom are at least 55 years old, this has made obtaining life insurance extremely expensive or even either impossible The Hartford believes this is an unduly harsh approach by insurers and has announced that it has become the first US insurer to offer life insurance at standard rates to men who have been successfully treated with radiation for moderate levels of prostate cancer.
UK regulators failed abysmally
The near-collapse of the UKs oldest mutual insurer Equitable Life in 2001 was preceded by a decade of regulatory failure, concluded UK Parliamentary Ombudsman Ann Abraham in a 2,800 page report that has taken four years to complete In her report, presented to both houses of parliament, Abraham called on the government to apologise to Equitable Life policyholders and to establish and fund a compensation scheme for those policyholders. Abrahams condemnation was directed at three regulatory bodies the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the Government Actuarys Department and the former Department of Trade and Industry in relation to their regulation of Equitable Life in the period before 1 December 2001
Slack security costs UK insurer dearly
Protecting customers personal details has become a serious issue, as one of the UKs largest insurers, Norwich Union Life (NUL), discovered to its cost in December 2007 Found by the UKs financial services watchdog, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), to have failed to protect customers confidential information and manage its financial crime risks, the insurer was handed a £1.26 million ($2.5 million) fine Norwich Union Life let down its customers by not taking reasonable steps to keep their personal and financial information safe and secure, said FSA director of enforcement Margaret Cole
ING comes out top Down Under
In a hard fought battle ING Australia has walked off with the title of Best Value Life Insurer in as study conducted by Australian financial product research firm CANNEX. In its study CANNEX assessed term life insurance, trauma insurance, disability insurance, income protection insurance and packaged multi-risk life insurance products available from 15 life insurers After careful collation of results from 15 insurers included in our research, ING Life stood out for consistency across Australia in all five categories, said CANNEX in a statement.
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Prudential aims to slash costs
Prudential aims to slash costs UK insurer Prudentials objective of reducing annual costs by £195 million ($403 million) by the end of 2010 has come closer to realisation thanks to a major new outsourcing agreement with Capita Group
Joint venture launches UNIQA into Takaful
Austrian composite insurer UNIQAs expansion strategy in emerging markets has taken a notable step forward with the founding of an Islamic Sharia law-compliant life and health insurance company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Named Takaful Al-Emarat, the new insurer is based in Dubai and is a joint venture (JV) between UNIQA and UAE insurer Al Buhaira National Insurance UNIQAs stake in the JV is 15 percent, Al Buhairas 20 percent and other unnamed founders 10 percent
Big boost for HSBC’s Asian bancassurance power base
Big boost for HSBCs Asian bancassurance power base UK bancassurer HSBC drove its expansion plans in the Asian insurance market forward vigorously in September, officially opening its first life insurance unit in Taiwan and sealing deals that will lead to the establishment of new life insurance companies in India and China and giving it a strong foothold in Vietnams insurance market.
PPI proposals stir up a storm in the UK
PPI proposals stir up a storm in the UK Rocked by controversy, the UKs £5 billion ($7.7 billion) annual premium payment protection insurance (PPI) market has been the subject of numerous regulatory enquiries. The Competition Commission (CC) has now proposed remedies to increase competition market, remedies as controversial as the PPI market itself.
Signs of a recovery appearing
After a decade of falling new business volumes in its home market, the Swiss life insurance industry is confident that last years modest increase in premium income signals the start of a sustainable recovery Swiss life insurance business, individual and group, is in the midst of a growth turnaround, proclaims the Swiss Insurance Association (SIA) in a review of market developments in 2007