HBOS & LLoyds TSB merger sees Insurance brands disappear
Those who like to see agglomeration in an Insurance Industry dominated by 'Bancassureurs' will no doubt be pleased by the latest merger.
According to the
HBOS website 'Over 7 million customers rely on our household, travel, repayment, health and pet insurance. Our business already generates over £1.7 billion premium income and nearly £½ billion profits – and we’re growing very fast. '
(Maybe they haven't updated the site yet)
Yes very fast and note the amount of profits!
Insurance blogger sees no benefits of this merger to the general public - there will just be less outlets selling less brands or versions of the same offering which are usually overloaded with commisssion profit!
Our advice to those seven million new LloydsTSB customers (and the existing ones) is - shop around on the internet - save money! Apathy costs!
Alternatively get one of those good old fashioned
insurance brokers to do it for you - at least that way you'll be properly covered and not paying over the odds for all your insurance needs!
Labels: credit crunch, HBOS, Insurance Brokers, Insurance companies
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Hurricanes Claims rise daily for yacht insurers
The wave of hurricanes that has devasted many parts of the Caribbean and the Gulf Coast of America has hit Yacht Insurance companies hard. Many billions of pounds and dollars are invested in vessels large and small in this part of the world and the London Insurance market caters for the large part of coverage and underwrites most of the risks.
Yacht Insurance has been suffering over the past few months due to the credit crunch with
small boat insurers reporting a steady drop in business compared to this time last year. Despite Britains yachting and boating success at The Olympics, the boat is often the first thing to go when people start making cutbacks. Similarly orders for new sailing vessels are down.
With the damage costs of the wave of hurricanes mounting daily - Early reports suggest that Hurricane Katrina alone could cost more than £100m, according to the latest estimates from American risk assessors, however this could easily mount rapidly over the next few weeks as claims assessors have yet to asses the damage in the more remote areas. A re-insurance expert has said that reserves of $18 billion are being bandied around. Senior UK industry risks managers are also suggesting the total loss from the storms could be in excess of £10 billion when the winds finally settle.
A spokesperson for
Yachtline - one of the UK's largest online yacht insurers - and specialist
caribbean yacht and mega yacht underwriter, refused to comment on the amount of claims received but did say that the number of claims was up four times on this time last year.
It looks like it may be stormy waters ahead for
Yacht Insurance this year!
Labels: boat, Hurricanes, Insurance, yacht, yachts
UK Finance Giants withdraw Unemployment Mortgage Protection Insurance for own employees
Insurers may withdraw Mortgage Protection Insurance cover to their own employees
In the wake of the credit crunch, collapse of Lehman Bros. , the inevitable threat hanging over the future of Amercian insurance giant AIG, and the unprecedented collapse of UK Insurance giant HBOS shares by 40% in one day, you could argue that MPPI unemployment Insurers are right to worry and already some capital lenders are refusing to offer payment protection insurance to homeowners and employees who work for banks and building societies.
Some Underwriters have gone further becoming more risk averse and have included all financial services sector workers including insurance company employees, IFAS and insurance broker staff.
This adds to the growing list of trades and professions who are now finding it increasingly difficult to puchase unemployment insurance to protect their mortgages, income level or loans.
Construction workers, estate agents, conveyancing solicitors and services and more recently removal firm staff can no longer easily purchase mortgage payment protection insurance or the other products that could ease the pain of being unemployed.
The move could be indicative that the UK Insurance market is heading for recession. Insurance Staff have been made unemployed gradually over the the last six months, with a recent 6000 redundancies at Norwich Union flying under the general radar, with other insurance company giants creating redundancy hitlists.
A spokesperson for
Personal Accident - one of the UK's largest online independent mortgage protection insurance providers, who compare policies on price and cover - said, "It's true that we have received notices from some of our underwriters withdrawing certain particular income related unemployment cover for a list of trades within the financial services sector.
However we can still offer age-related policies for
income protection insurance and
mortgage protection insurance to all bank and building society staff, which generally offer better cover at lower prices as they are not lifestyle rated and available to anyone. As these are monthly policies they are simple to change midstream - you could save yourself a fortune in premiums if you switch your policy from a bank or building society and a lot of worry if you are unfortunate and join the ranks of the mass unemployed, or your building society or bank collapses leaving your policy worthless.
Could you meet your mortgage repayments or pay bills without a job? These are very worrying times...."
Simon Burgess head of independent provider
Burgesses agreed. "Age-related unemploment insurance offers the best solution to financial services workers who may be threatened with unemployment. We offer policies to cover your mortgage, wages or debts whilst you are unemployed. I would however advise anyone thinking of protecting themselves from financial harm if they lose their job, to act fast as there is a ninety day exclusion no claims period from the start of the policy." He added, "Although our mortgage protection insurance has seen a downturn with the number of new mortgages being taken out virtually non-existant due to the credit crunch, we have recently seen a sharp rise in the number of
unemployment insurance applications, particularly from workers in financial services."
So it appears that if you want to be able to pay your mortgage in three months time or still have an income you should take out
payment protection insurance cover today. This is particularly prudent for financial services sector workers whose jobs appear to be most at risk.
Labels: income, income insurance, Insurance, mortgage payment protection, mortgage payment protection insurance, mortgage protection insurance, mppi, unemployment, unemployment insurance
