Industry News - July, 2009

Consultants Accenture has said European insurers such as Axa and Allianz must cut costs, outsource more and boost emerging markets revenues as the recession in their home markets deepens.

Thomas Meyer, who is managing director for Accenture’s insurance practice in Europe, Africa and Latin America said: “Insurance is a 300-year-old industry and it hasn’t changed that much since its inception, with the average insurer still handling about 85% of its operations that create value in-house... more...

Price comparison website Comparethemarket.com is reinvigorating its insurance marketing campaign with a new television and viral ad starring billionaire meerkat Aleksandr Orlov.
 
The ad, which features the Russian meerkat addressing viewers from his mansion, will be aired on channels including ITV1, Channel 4, Sky 1, Five, ITV2 and ITV3. According to the company, the meerkat character has captu... more...

Nationwide Building Society has controversially introduced a 125% mortgage product for negative equity customers looking to move home.
 
The company says it will not be heavily marketing the financial services offering, describing it as a niche offer, but the move comes as a surprise given the more cautious approach of many banks and building societies to lending.
 
Steve Manton, Chief Executive at more...

Leading insurance comparison website, comparethemarket.com, is thriving on the success of its hugely popular marketing campaign – comparethemeerkat.com – which features the now famous meerkat Aleksandr Orlov.

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AIG has announced that its global property casualty business is to become an independently operated company known as Chartis, subject to regulatory approval. The insurance marketing move involves the brands which go to market under the AIG and AIU Holdings names, including the commercial insurance, foreign general insurance, and private client group operations.
 
According to t... more...

As the severity and symptoms of swine flu become more widespread, online insurance specialist, Confused.com, advises those who plan on travelling abroad to ensure they have adequate insurance in place.
 
Insurance comparison website Confused.com recommends purchasing an annual trip policy, which will cover the traveller and holidays for a 12 month period. Customers need to be aware of any exclusions in the policies they purchase, especially as a small amount of providers actual... more...

A group aimed specifically at in-house lawyers has been launched on business-orientated social networking site LinkedIn.

Legal Week developed the group to act as a valuable legal networking tool for in-house counsel to interact and discuss the key issues impacting their role and the legal industry as a whole. Users are encouraged to share articles and raise topics for discussion which may be interesting to other members of the group.

The purpose of the LinkedIn site is to all... more...

Mobile operator O2 is to begin marketing financial services products, hoping that the diminishing reputation of traditional banking and finance brands will pave the way for non-banking brands to offer rival products.
 
The company’s new venture O2 Money is partnering with Natwest to offer two pre-paid payment cards, which are free to obtain and available to O2 customers... more...