UK Government CON DEM The FSA Insurance Regulator

The Coalition UK Government led by the right wing Conservative party, have fired their first major shot in the destruction of the Bureaucratic State with the announcement last night of the abolition of The Financial Services Authority, The FSA, which governs the regulated activities of all sectors of the UK Insurance Market.
In a speech to those lovable Bankers and Merchants (Merchant Bankers having a Ruby to you and me Cockneys!) at the annual Lord Mayor of London’s dinner at the Mansion House last night,  Champagne swaffing hatchet man George Osborne announced that the FSA will cease to exist in it’s current form by 2012.
Osborne said,
“What we are proposing is a new system of regulation that learns the lessons of the greatest banking crisis in our lifetime. I can confirm that the Government will abolish the tripartite regime, and the Financial Services Authority will cease to exist in its current form.

The Cost of Insuring The FIFA World Cup

Every four years Insurance Companies underwrite all the risks associated with holding and attending the World’s largest sporting event – The FIFA World Cup Finals.
Insurance Blog reports on the risks and covers available and the large premiums paid to ensure that this years Tournament currently going on in South Africa, went without a hitch…

The prior concerns and fears that had been raised over the insurance cover for the 2010 World Cup failed to materialise as the tournament passed off without a major incident or claim.
FIFA had been forced to build a R6.3 billion contingency fund (around a billion US dollars) to cater for the possible collapse of the 2010 event -  a lot of money when you consider that the winners Spain only receive £40 million pounds ($60 million) in prize money.  FIFA have taken out cover  for any kind of interruption, delay or abandonment of the World Cup and the consequent loss of revenues.
Individual players and their respective Football Association’s had to make their own arrangements for sports disability and sports accident  insurance , with the number of top players appearing at the tournament making it the most injury exposed in the history of the sport.

Insurance Marketing Old School

Insurance Blog was gazing through some very old travel guides when we noticed that Insurance Marketing has come a long way since the start of Insurance….
This old advertisement for The London Assurance Company from the turn of 19th century suggests that insurance was something that you didn’t talk about in public – like money!

‘Very good people to deal with”  What’s all that about then?
Good at what? Deal with What?
“Good Day Mister. I’m from London Assurance. We’ll deal with it for you! (Cockney Accent required)
An interesting thing about the advert is the Firemark in the centre depicting the coat of arms of the Corporation of the City of London, The George Cross.

Aon in the Red! AIG loses the Shirt off it’s back

The prawn sandwiches were out in force yesterday at Old Trafford as the new sponsors of Manchester United Football Club,  Aon the giant American Insurance Broker, took over the lucrative deal from disgraced and broke AIG the not so giant American Insurance Company.

AIG had to pull out their 14 million a year deal which ran until the end of May this year, after the company was bailed out by the US Treasury to keep it alive.
It’s been a bad week for AIG who failed to complete the sale of their Asian division AIA to the man from the Pru, as the Treasury ‘overvalued’ the operation at 24.5 billion.

UK Housing Market Home Insurance Mini Boom

Wthether it’s a sign of Spring or the green shoots of recovery, recent activity in the UK housing market has seen an appropriate response from the major UK home insurance companies, with a multi million pound spend on prime time TV advertising.
The home insurance market had gone quiet in recent months but recent positive indicators in the housing market have led to this bombardment on every TV and commercial Radio station. Home Insurance is definitely the flavour of the month with the market under capacity due to many people cutting levels of cover or dropping covers completely because of the recession.
So what’s been happening in the UK housing market recently to have caused this big budget spend?
Well in April house prices had risen by 8.5 % since January which is a startling recovery in itself, and the figures for the number of valuations carried out in May confirm the trend with Valuation activity in May up by over a quarter compared to May 2009, according to the latest research by Connells Estates Survey team.
This confirms that both the supply side of housing and the demand side from potential buyers appear on the face of it bouyant. It remains to be seen if the Bank Assurers are prepared to underwite this economic activity with the supply of mortgages necessary to complete all these potential deals.