Insurance for the Olympic Games a major issue for UK insurers

Insurance professionals prepared to provide coverage for the Olympics There is a scant one hundred days before the 2012 Olympic Games begin in the United Kingdom. Preparations for the event are still underway and London’s insurance community is beginning to feel the pressure. Many of the city’s insurance agents and providers have been working for over a year to establish a safety net for the event. The Olympics is fraught with risk as the event attracts thousands of foreign visitors and athletes and collects them into a single, localized area.…

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Combined Insurance Co. of America receives $8.7 million fine for regulatory breaches

Non-life insurance company, Combined Insurance Co. of America has received fines totaling $8.7 million in the United Kingdom and Ireland due to a number of regulatory breaches. The insurer sells its products via agents affiliated with the company, and is required to pay a fine of $4.36 million to the Central Bank of Ireland through its Combined Insurance Co. of Europe Ltd. division. Separately, the company received a fine worth $4.34 million from the U.K. Financial Services Authority as a result of a failure to manage its selling processes, as…

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Swinton Commercial helps its commercial customers to protect themselves against Halloween mischief

As the end of October approaches, so does Halloween, Mischief Night, and Guy Fawkes, meaning that businesses in the United Kingdom are taking extra efforts to protect themselves against any possible damage to their properties that can occur during this time.  In this light, Swinton Commercial is recommending that businesses check their insurance policies and make certain that they are adequately covered against this type of problem.  Previous years have seen damage to the doors, windows, and paintjobs on stores on Mischief Night, an annual tradition most common in the…

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Property maintenance neglect by landlords revealed in insurance claims

Simply Business, the biggest business and landlord insurance broker in the United Kingdom, has released data that showed that landlords’ tightening budgets are starting to affect their ability to maintain their properties, and that the number of insurance claims made for avoidable issues such as burst pipes, leaks, damage do to frost, and problems relating to wear and tear have risen by 5 percent since 2008. This information was drawn from the claims made by more than 3,500 private landlords and indicated that the largest cause of claims is water…

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U.K. insurers market outside of Lloyd’s performs better than expected

Property and casualty insurance companies that are operating outside the Lloyd’s of London market in the United Kingdom have brought in the equivalent of approximately 75 percent of the income of their more high-profile competitors, which is a notably larger amount than had been previously predicted.  According to the first comprehensive survey of the sales of members of the International Underwriting Association (IUA), the insurers, known as the London company market, generated $26.6 billion (16.4 billion pounds) in gross premium income last year. On the other hand, last year, Lloyd’s…

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Cinven buys U.K. Guardian life and pension from Aegeon

Cinven Ltd. has announced that it has purchased the life and pension unit of U.K. Guardian from the Dutch insurance company which owns Scottish Equitable, Aegon NV, for $449 million, in the effort to reduce its expenses within the United Kingdom. According to Aegon, which is based in the Hague, by the end of June 2011, the U.K. Guardian unit had recorded a value of approximately $445 million. Its unit for asset management will still be responsible for Guardian’s approximately $12 billion in assets on Cinven’s behalf. By 2015, Aegon’s…

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Uninsured vehicles now considered a criminal act in U.K.

Changes to the United Kingdom’s car insurance laws are coming and Swinton Insurance, one of the largest car insurers in the country, is warning motorist to take heed. Next month, it will be illegal to own an uninsured vehicle. Swinton has taken it upon themselves to caution both policyholders and the general public of the new law in the hopes that they will take necessary measures to protect themselves accordingly. The current laws in the UK forbid motorists from driving uninsured vehicles, but the new law asserts that the simple…

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