PB Week: Putting high net worth cars in the hands of an amateur

This latest corporate jolly, courtesy of Royal & SunAlliance, was easily the most enjoyable press junket I’ve been on in quite some time. The Palmer Jaguar JP1 was my favourite, but the entire day was wonderful fun. It was mixed bag of results from the R&SA team: John Beadle, UK counter-fraud manager, won the Land Rover off road challenge but Graham Johnston, commercial motor underwriting director, unfortunately came last in the Renault Clio Cup car race and the Porsche 911 JP3 event.

I was placed a respectable 37th out of 48 (with a top ranking of 26th place for both the Palmer Jaguar JP1 event and the Land Rover Discovery off road challenge), which may not sound spectacular to many of you, but I’m proud of it. Particularly as I beat Post’s representative, reporter Louise Meeson. See our feature on high-net-worth cars in April’s Market Watch feature.

Elsewhere, Ernst & Young released its latest risk list on what insurers and brokers should be on the lookout for in 2008. Imaginatively titled “Strategic business risk 2008”, the report presents the top ten concerns for the insurance industry for this year, which include climate change in the long-term, emerging markets: risk and opportunity but competitive threat from new players and channel distribution, particularly looking at the way in which technology is changing the way insurance is sold and purchased.

Ernst & Young and Oxford Analytica interviewed over 70 industry analysts from around the world to identify the emerging trends and uncertainties driving the performance of the global insurance sector over the next five years, though some of the outlines, such as geopolitical or macroeconomic shocks, may be less relevant to UK brokers.

Editor's comment: Any more for any more?

The news that Neil Campling's Barnett and Barnett had been bought by Australian insurer IAG, and that Campling has admitted he would like to buy similar minded and sized regional brokers, raises the question: how many more potential consolidators can there be in this market?

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