Insurance companies set to increase premiums across the board
As we have covered on a number of occasions, many insurance companies have "sneaked in" premium increases over the last few weeks when their sector has been overshadowed by that of the banking and mortgage industry. This constant increase in premiums has gone largely unnoticed but over the next six months, as UK consumers look to renew their policies, they will become all too evident.
The insurance companies have been as hard hit as anybody by the fall in the property market and the stock market as they depend upon these investment arenas to supplement their premium income. While we have heard no alarm bells from the leaders in the industry, there is no doubt that they will have suffered a decline in their asset base and will be looking to replenish this via increased premiums.
Quite how the UK consumer will take this apparent ongoing increase in premiums remains to be seen as money becomes tighter and tighter for many of the UK population. There has been no indication of any assistance in this area as yet by the government although this cannot be ruled out in the medium term with the insurance reporting season due to start fairly soon.
Share this..
Related stories
UK banks still short of capital
In a disappointing move for the UK banking sector and the UK government, the Bank of England still believes that many UK banks are still short of capital adequacy. This is despite the fact that billions upon billions of pounds of taxpayer's money has been poured into the sector, with little return as yet. So what exactly is going on?
While it would be wrong to suggest that the UK ba...
Why is London under attack from EU finance ministers?
Ever since the EU Parliament began to grab control from EU members there has been a concerted effort to reduce the influence and power held by London. With decades of tradition, the London financial markets have a significant standing on the worldwide stage and despite many attempts to weaken the situation in the past, the city remains defiant.
However, many people are concerned tha...
UK government pledges help for Corus workers
The UK government has come out in support of the 2,500 Corus employees who lost their jobs earlier this week with a commitment to a support package to try and get as many of them back into work as possible. The government announcement has been backed up by Euro MP Glenys Kinnock who is strongly in favour of a support and benefits scheme designed to offset the obvious serious impact of these job lo...
Read MoreBank of China makes play for UK mortgage market
The Bank of China has this week made a play for the UK mortgage market by increasing its loan-to-value ratio from 75% to 80% on residential mortgages. The rate on buy to let mortgages has been increased from 65% to 75% and for commercial mortgages from 65% to 70%. While the Bank of China may not be the most recognised name in the UK mortgage market it does offer a number of mortgage instruments wi...
Read MoreWhen will the ever increasing number of repossessions start to fall?
Looking back at figures for the first three quarters of 2008 there has been a gradual increase in the number of house repossessions in the UK. The figure has now reached levels not seen since the tough recession in the 1990s and there are real concerns that this figure has not yet peaked and may well become the highest seen for decades in the UK.
The government has been attempting t...