Insurer Zurich boosts profit 20 per cent and hikes dividend February 7, 2019 Swiss insurance behemoth Zurich said today that it boosted operating profit 20 per cent to $4.6bn (£3.5bn) in 2018. It said it is "Well on track" to deliver on its 2017 to 2019 targets with $1.1bn in cumulative net cost savings achieved out of a target of $1.5bn its profitability and return on equity metrics [...]
Royal London to transfer £1bn of assets to Ireland over ‘no-deal’ Brexit concerns February 6, 2019 The UK's largest mutual insurer, the Royal London Mutual Insurance Society (RLMI), is to transfer £1bn of its assets to Ireland amid increasing concerns over a no-deal Brexit. A High Court judge yesterday granted RLMI permission to move its business from the European Economic Area (EEA) to a newly formed Irish subsidiary, Royal London Insurance DAC, because of [...]
RSA UK chief executive out after poor financial performance February 5, 2019 The insurer RSA has replaced the chief executive of its UK and international division following poor financial performance. Steve Lewis, UK and international chief executive since January 2015, is leaving the business and being replaced by group chief financial officer (CFO) Scott Egan. Group chief executive Stephen Hester said: "I'd like to thank Steve for [...]
European companies suffer 60,000 data breaches in eight months February 5, 2019 More than 59,000 data breaches have been reported across Europe since data protection laws were brought in last year, new figures have revealed. The Netherlands, Germany and the UK topped the list of the most reported breaches in the eight months since new GDPR laws came into force, according to law firm DLA Piper. Read [...]
Lloyd’s of London hires chief financial officer from Allianz February 4, 2019 Lloyd’s of London has appointed former senior Allianz executive Burkhard Keese as chief financial officer. The insurance market has hired Keese from the German insurance giant where he spent 14 years, most recently as chief financial officer of Allianz Deutschland. Keese’s hire comes as Lloyd’s new chief executive John Neal moves to build his executive [...]
Under the neon lights of Tokyo, the City is forging closer relationships with Asia February 4, 2019 Next week will see me travel to one of the busiest cities on earth, home to nearly 40m people and more square footage of advertising and media than anywhere else in the world: Tokyo. My visit is part of a 12-day trip to four Asian cities that will also take me to Seoul, Hong Kong, [...]
Time to appreciate the perks of the job? February 4, 2019 For full-time office workers blinking out of the window onto the cold, grey, concrete City, the advantages that they enjoy over the self-employed might not seem obvious. You daydream about rocking up at one of those shared workspaces at 11am in your jeans, laptop on your back, ready for a self-managed day of freelancing, and [...]
Hiscox chief executive Bronek Masojada elected as alderman in City of London election February 3, 2019 The chief executive of insurance provider Hiscox Bronek Masojada has been elected as a new City of London alderman. Masojada won Thursday's aldermanic election in Billingsgate with 52 votes with a turnout of 46 per cent. The runner up in the election was Andrew Heath-Richardson, director of development at the Canary Wharf Group, who secured 25 votes. Five [...]
New Lloyd’s boss John Neal apologises for ‘unacceptable’ results as he sets out his vision for the future January 29, 2019 The new chief executive of Lloyd’s of London apologised for the insurance markets’ “unacceptable” performance and unveiled a plan to get it back on track in his first public speech today. John Neal, who joined Lloyd’s four months ago from insurer QBE, took the job against a backdrop of poor results at Lloyd’s which suffered [...]
Changing industry, changing skill-set January 25, 2019 | City Talk In the 1990s, the skill-set required by asset management professionals was vastly different. The investment universe consisted primarily of equities and bonds. Alternative asset classes like hedge funds and private equity were accessible only to high net worth individuals and some particularly sophisticated pension funds. Balanced managers were hired to outperform benchmarks, not produce outcomes. [...]