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UK must increase flood defence spending, insurance scheme chair urges
Receive free UK insurance industry updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest UK insurance industry news every morning. Ministers must “go further and faster” on UK flood defence spending as the scale of the challenge from a worsening climate grows, the outgoing chair of the country’s flood reinsurance scheme has warned. Mark Hoban told the Financial Times that the government, which has pledged a record £5.2bn on tidal barriers and other defences by 2027, would need to increase funding still further as climate change makes flood risk worse. The former City minister said returning…
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Climate risks have made California uninsurable. When will we wake up? | Kate Aronoff
State Farm, the country’s largest property insurer, announced this week that it will almost entirely stop issuing new policies in California, the country’s largest property insurance market. The reasons for forgoing all that new business are entirely economic. The company cited “historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation, rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance market”. Those things are owed largely to the wildfires engulfing bigger parts of the state in bigger chunks of the year. California’s woes have a lot to do with the climate crisis, which fuels the hot, dry conditions that turn wooded hills into kindling.…
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Insurer Just Group’s sales double as corporate pension deals surge
Receive free Just Group PLC updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Just Group PLC news every morning. Retirement income sales at the FTSE 250 life insurer Just Group more than doubled to £1.9bn in the first six months of the year, as soaring gilt yields fuelled corporate pension deals and sales of individual annuities. Just completed 35 corporate pension deals during a record first half, the company said in a trading update released on Tuesday. In such transactions, companies offload some or all of their pension liabilities, and the assets backing them, to…
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World Ocean Day: the top Seascape stories of the past year | Climate crisis
As World Ocean Day rolls around again, it is hard to believe how much has happened since the last one. From the war in Ukraine to the death of entire languages, our understanding of how threats to the ocean reflect threats to humanity itself is constantly evolving. Here are some of the stories we have covered over the past 12 months. Researchers have found that seaweed forests are far more extensive than previously realised. These underwater forests can act as a vital buffer against the climate crisis, absorbing carbon dioxide from seawater and the atmosphere. They could also help efforts…
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Price of UK car insurance accelerates to all-time high
Receive free UK insurance industry updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest UK insurance industry news every morning. The cost of UK motor insurance has soared to an all-time high, according to a closely watched index, heaping extra pressure on households already confronting a cost of living crisis. Motorists were quoted an average of £776 for motor policies in the second quarter, up a record 40 per cent on the previous year, according to an index from comparison site Confused.com and insurance broker Willis Towers Watson. “The price increases we’re seeing are so significant…
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How to save on insurance as Australian firms hike premiums by up to 20% | Australia cost of living crisis
If your car or home insurance is due for renewal, prepare for a shock. Many insurers are applying double-digit price hikes to premiums, significantly outpacing inflation. Insurance Australia Group (IAG), the country’s biggest general insurer that includes the brands NRMA Insurance and SGIO, is raising motor premiums by 14%, and property premiums by 20%. Its nearest rival, Suncorp, which owns the AAMI and Apia brands among others, is also increasing rates at the fastest pace in a decade, representing a new super cycle of premium hikes. The industry has defended the decisions, arguing that a combination of price rises, severity…
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Annuities look sexy again: should Barbie buy one at 64?
Last time I wrote about the fictional finances of a plastic doll, Barbie was 60 and consolidating 200 pension pots from her varied portfolio career since she first appeared in 1959. Now she’s 64 — though eternally youthful — and has a new movie out, she is old enough to worry about whether to buy an annuity. If, like the blonde bombshell, you’ve had a later life surge in prosperity, you’ll be pleased that the problem of the lifetime allowance on pension contributions has disappeared after the government scrapped the limit. You may also be happy to reach retirement age…
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We’re at a loss, as ManyPets doubles the cost of our dog’s lifetime cover | Money
When my family adopted our dog Hyko five years ago, we immediately took out pet insurance with ManyPets. They are highly rated, so I thought it was a safe, if expensive, option, at £530. We went for pricier “lifetime” insurance so he’d be covered for chronic conditions, not just one-off accidents or illnesses. This turned out to be a smart move as he had his first seizure shortly after we adopted him. After some tests, we discovered that Hyko would be taking epilepsy medication for the rest of his life. We weren’t too worried, though, because ManyPets promised “you won’t…
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Can the UK financial regulator really end rip-offs?
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Life insurance fears deterring Australians from having genetic testing | Health
Concerns about insurance are stopping Australians from having life-saving genetic testing. Genetic screening can help prevent, diagnose and treat some conditions, however the life insurance industry is still allowed to ask for results when issuing some policies. The industry’s peak body introduced a moratorium in 2019 designed to stop discrimination but a new report funded by the federal government has found it is inadequate. Some 88% of patients with experience in genetic testing and 90% of health professionals who took part in the study said laws were needed to regulate the issue. “Insurance fears can also act as a barrier…
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