Zürich Insurance, one of the more popular insurance companies in the UK, has today been hit by a £2.28 million fine from the FSA after admitting losing confidential details relating to 46,000 UK customers. This is the largest fine handed it a UK based insurance company and perfectly illustrates the seriousness of the charges which the company has admitted.
Lloyd's of London has today confirmed that a number of natural disasters as well as the BP oil rig debacle in the Gulf of Mexico have resulted in significant losses for insurers around the world. UK insurance companies have taken their fair share of multimillion pound hits over the last 12 months although many believe that ultimately an increase in regulations and the need to tighten current insurance policies could result in more business for the UK insurance sector in due course.
Over the last few days the ongoing dispute between Aviva and the RSA has dominated the headlines and many people believe that the insurance industry is very much primed for a number of mergers and acquisitions in the short to medium term. Royal Bank of Scotland is already under pressure from the European Union to dispose of its Direct Line and Churchill insurance operations in the short to medium term.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has recently issued a number of fines in relation to insurance fraud which has left many people underinsured or in some cases uninsured despite paying their premiums. However, despite the fact that many consumers have forwarded this their premiums in good faith and assumed that the relevant cover has been taken out many will find the shocking reality when they try to claim in the future. So what can consumers do to protect themselves?
The management of Aviva is this weekend under immense pressure from leading shareholders over the non-disclosure of an approach by RSA and a potential £5 billion offer for the company's general insurance business. Many believe that this highly sensitive piece of information should have been released into the public domain instead of being brought to the attention of the market by the financial press.
It has today been revealed by Sky news that UK insurance companies Aviva and RSA have been in communication regarding a potential sale of the Aviva general insurance division. It is believed that RSA made an offer of around £5 billion for the operation which was immediately rebuffed by Aviva. It is not clear why the approach was not publicised at the time, reported to have been last month, but the news has most certainly shaken up the UK insurance sector.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has today confirmed that around 3 million people may well be eligible for compensation payments which could top £2 billion over the alleged mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI). So far the authorities have received in excess of 100,000 complaints regarding PPI and there are many more expected in the short to medium term.
While the vast majority of people in the UK know fine well that life insurance could be something of a godsend for those left behind in the event of a tragedy it seems that many people still have inadequate life insurance cover in place. Those who have a mortgage in the UK will have some form of insurance attached to this mortgage which will see the outstanding balance paid off in the event that both or one of the holders was to die. However, should you have additional life insurance in place?
Spanish financial giant Santander, the owner of UK assets such as Abbey, Alliance and Leicester and parts of Bradford and Bingley, has today announced an exclusive five-year deal with UK insurance giant Aviva. The agreement sees Santander enter into an exclusive deal which will see the company sell Aviva life insurance through its 1300 UK branches.
Lloyds bank has today agreed to withdraw PPI, payment protection insurance, from the list of services provided by the group. Earlier this year we saw the regulators suggesting that the way in which PPI is sold to the general public should change in the future. A cooling off period and a more detailed analysis of the total cost of PPI, together with discussions regarding the fact that many consumers may already be covered, were just two proposals put forward.