Blog Post
Everyone's talking about fraud
Fraud, fraud, fraud. Is it the most interesting aspect of insurance? It's definitely the most reported on. Look at the insurance section of most online news outlets, and there's a disproportionate (for those who know better) number of fraud stories.
Where have all the skateboards gone?
As a child I had a skateboard, and so did pretty much everyone in my school class. Then along came Back To The Future (number 2 to be precise) and promised us hoverboards, which by the way I am still waiting for.
The first to fall
The most worrying news of the last week, if not the biggest, was that two brokers entered administration.
Asking for trouble
I got my first mobile phone about eight years ago – having fought a long battle with my mother, she finally realised my "I couldn't find a pay phone" excuse for consistently arriving home late and slightly the worse for wear from the 'cinema' would be…
Broker's Ark
If you’ll excuse the mixed metaphor, I think the topic most likely to explode in insurance land this year is flooding.
So long, brave new dawn
The FSA is looking for nearly £580m in fees from the industry in its final year of existence, a 15% increase on the previous year.
A Festivus for the rest of us
A couple of years ago I bought a bank. You probably did too. Ever since I have been paying out generous bonuses, none more so than the £1m I gave to Stephen Hester yesterday for kindly running the Royal Bank of Scotland so well.
Forget Europe, let's just concentrate on China
I attended the Coface Country Risk Conference in Paris earlier this week, where I heard from a number of economists from all over the world.
Where now for Groupama et al?
So we’ve got three insurers up for sale, namely RBSI, Brit and now Groupama. Consolidation in the insurer space has been predicted for some time now but I don’t think people expected it to happen like this – more deals done behind closed doors than…
A New Year footballing insurance prediction
While the memories of sitting crushed against the sofa by the weight of too much turkey are starting to fade, my New Year prediction is unfortunately also one of being crushed, but this time it involves brokers and debt mountains.
Those flip-flopping insurers
Insurers are a funny bunch. They always seem to be changing their minds about stuff. One day they love a particular line of business, the next they are getting out of it. It's the same with individuals.