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George Stobbart

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As the holiday season approaches and Britons rush to get travel insurance to cover them while abroad, the protection provider Friends Provident is urging people to protect themselves for life, not just while on holiday.

New findings reveal that only one third of Brits (31%) have some form of protection cover in the event they become ill or are unable to work, but a massive 81% take out or have travel insurance when they go abroad.

This is despite the main reasons for taking out travel insurance (cover against accident or illness and for peace of mind) being the same as those for taking out income protection.

Furthermore, nearly two thirds (59%) of people believe they are more likely to suffer an injury or illness while in the UK than abroad yet people still opt to take out travel insurance over critical illness (31%) cover or income protection cover (29%).

Commenting on the findings, Ed Stuart-Brown, head of protection sales at Friends Provident said: “It is concerning that people place such an emphasis on the short term rather than the long term when it comes to their well being. Having insurance while they’re abroad is a good thing but what happens if they return home and perhaps become unable to work due to illness or injury? They will find it a real struggle to make ends meet and if the absence is prolonged the very last thing they will be worrying about going forward is holiday insurance!”

Stuart-Brown’s comments were reiterated in the findings which revealed only 27% of the respondents employers would provide sick pay if they were unable to work for 6 months. Worryingly, 16% said they wouldn’t be able to cope financially, 12% would have to dip into their savings, 11% don’t know how they would survive, and 9% would have to borrow money from friends and family. Only 13% said they could fall back on a protection insurance policy.

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U.S. companies that partner with hospitals and other health providers could face steep fines if they disclose private patient information under a new federal rule proposed on Thursday.

Billing companies, customer service contractors and other businesses regularly handle private health records, but currently, they are not liable for information breaches.
The proposed rule would treat these companies the same as doctors, hospitals and insurance companies that already face penalties for disclosing private information, such as a patient’s medical or payment history.

The maximum civil penalties are $50,000 per violation, and $1.5 million a year. “That means we have much greater ability to keep personal health information safe and secure,” U.S. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said at a news conference.

The Department of Health and Human Services, which issued the rule, also announced it would post summaries of all major breaches online. “There have been a number of incidents and complaints that we have received over the years that do involve business associates having lost information, or misdirected information, or otherwise mishandled their protected health information,” said Susan McAndrew, deputy director for health information at the HHS Office of Civil Rights.

The move is the latest in a broader effort by the Obama administration to update and streamline the medical records system in the United States.

The changes are authorized under the HITECH act, a measure included in the 2009 stimulus package to encourage doctors and hospitals to adopt electronic health records. The rule announced on Thursday extends the reach of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, which protects patient privacy and sets security standards for electronic health records.

The changes would be “the most sweeping improvements to HIPAA practice and security standards since they went into effect in 2003,” Sebelius said.

Earlier this year, the agency sharply increased the maximum penalties. Previously the maximum amount was $100 per violation and $25,000 a year, Sebelius said.
The health agency will take comments on the proposed rule over the next two months.

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Insurance giant Aviva has agreed a £20m four-year deal to become the new sponsor of Premiership Rugby. The deal, which begins in September, sees Aviva take up the reins from current sponsor Guinness, with the competition to be named Aviva Premiership Rugby.

Aviva UK chief executive Mark Hodges said: “Rugby is the fastest-growing participation sport in England with more than 100 000 active adult players – and another 150 000 under the age of 19. “We’ve invested a lot of time and effort looking for and researching the right sponsorship opportunity, and we know that rugby fits absolutely with Aviva. It appeals to many of our customers, intermediary partners and to the other businesses we work with in the UK, so this sponsorship will give us exciting opportunities to connect with them and deliver significant business benefit. “This is a fantastic chance for us to work with Premiership Rugby on a partnership with a sport that has values which closely mirror our own.”

Mark McCafferty, chief executive of Premiership Rugby said: “A title sponsorship deal with Aviva, which is such a strong international consumer brand, is another significant milestone in the growth of Premiership Rugby and provides us with a long term partnership commitment to our sport and to our work in the community.”

The sponsorship deal runs from September 2010 until May 2014 and will include more than 135 games each season, watched by 1.7 million people at the grounds and many more on Sky, ITV and ESPN.

It also allows Aviva to extend its Grassroots programme designed to encourage young people to get involved in sport. The 12 rugby clubs in Aviva Premiership Rugby will commit 15 000 man hours to work with 36 000 pupils at 600 primary schools in England, as well as providing them with equipment and teacher training. It complements Aviva’s existing sporting sponsorship with UK Athletics (UKA), giving the brand year-round visibility in the sporting arena with a major events through the summer and winter seasons.

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The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) has won the Commercial Initiative award at the prestigious Trade Association Forum Best Practice Awards.

BIBA in conjunction with Tokio Marine Europe Insurance Ltd have developed a personal travel insurance policy for its members to sell. The product has proved a great success over the three years that it has been offered, providing families with high quality, low cost travel insurance which has helped reshape the UK travel insurance market.

The result is a win situation. The public benefit through a much better travel insurance product, BIBA’s members generate income from selling it and BIBA has generated a further income stream to invest in its members.

BIBA Chief Executive, Eric Galbraith, said: “This is an excellent example of how BIBA is achieving success on behalf of members. This award is a testament to the hard work of the BIBA team and we are delighted to receive recognition from our trade association peers, this is our hat trick of Trade Association wins, building on success in 2008 and 2009.

Alastair Blundell, Executive Operations Officer at Tokio Marine Europe Insurance Limited said, “We are delighted that the BIBA travel product has won this prestigious award. Our aim from the start was to develop a market leading product which the BIBA membership could sell with confidence and would demonstrate why a consumer benefits from purchasing insurance via a professional broker.”

The awards, hosted by the Trade Association Forum, received more than 130 entries and were presented at a ceremony at Hotel Russell, on 1 July.

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Following the announced UK insurance premium tax (‘IPT’) increase from 5% to 6% from 4 January 2011, the market has been thrown into uncertainty with the HMRC’s policy on implementation. The impact is leaving brokers and their clients exposed to new tax liabilities.

When there is an IPT increase, doubt arises on the correct tax rate to apply because the rate is only set when the insurer actually writes up the contract in their accounting systems. The means that policies agreed by brokers and their clients which incept prior to the rate increase may actually be charged at the new higher rate if the insurer delays recording the contract. In such case, the insurer should revert to the insureds for the extra cash or make a commercial decision to absorb the tax rise.

To get round this HMRC and the Treasury usually allowed a special concessionary period of at least three months after the tax rise. This meant the contract attracted the correct old rate if it had already commenced prior to the tax rise. This enabled the industry to plan properly and make the necessary changes in their systems.

For this latest IPT rise, the tax authorities have so far not allowed such a concession. This may threaten the industry with planning difficulties and fresh tax liabilities. The brokers and insurers are now lobbying to have this change reversed, but to little effect so far.

Richard Asquith, MD of TMF VAT & IPT Services commented: “It seems a harsh change of policy. The timing of the increase on January 4 2011, with new year renewals coming-up, means the lack of clarity will hurt the industry. In the past, the tax authorities had assured the industry that it would consult if there was to be a change in the transitional policy, but this time, it does not seem to have happened, leaving the industry confused. A further sting from this could come with mid-term adjustments being at the new IPT rate.”

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The US unemployment rate fell to 9.5 percent last month as more than half a million people abandoned the job hunt, fueling doubts about the economic recovery.

The Labor Department reported a net loss of 125,000 jobs last month even as unemployment fell to its lowest rate in almost a year. The falling jobless rate — down from 9.7 percent in May — offered some succor to President Barack Obama, who is running out of time to put the economy firmly back on track before congressional elections in November. “Make no mistake, we are headed in the right direction but… we are not headed there fast enough for a lot of Americans. We are not headed there fast enough for me either,” Obama said.

The White House has warned that unemployment will remain high for the rest of the year, while polls show it is a crucial issue with voters.

Most analysts had expected the ranks of jobless Americans to swell well beyond 15 million in June, pushing the unemployment rate up to 9.8 percent.

In the end the number of unemployed fell to 14.6 million in June as 652,000 Americans left the job market and more than 20,000 took up temporary posts. “The unemployment rate dropped because the labor force shrank even more rapidly as discouraged workers stopped looking for work,” said analysts at Societe Generale.

The report was akin to a Rorschach test for Wall Street, with some seeing the evidence of a slow recovery and others an ominous sign of problems ahead.

The biggest cause for concern had been the weakness of the private sector, which created a modest 83,000 jobs in June, well up from May’s revised total of 33,000.

Faced with an uncertain outlook and poor access to credit, US firms have been reluctant to rehire workers. The June figures also showed the evaporation of hiring for the 2010 Census, which had accounted for around 95 percent of new jobs in May. Census hiring fell back by 225,000.

Obama’s Republican foes said the report was further evidence of a stalled recovery, “Today’s report reinforces that the vast majority of new jobs added to the economy over the last several months have been temporary or government jobs,” said Congressman Eric Cantor.

But not everyone was so gloomy. “Despite the slightly larger drop in payroll numbers, there were some positive signs in this report,” said Jason Schenker of Prestige Economics. “A recovery is clearly underway, although it will be a slow one for the job market,” he added.

Either way the report looked unlikely to turn the page on a tortuous few months for the top 30 US companies, which have lost more than 10 percent of their collective value.

The continued weakness of the private sector has sparked calls for Obama to provide more government spending to restart the recovery. “The private sector is not yet poised to take over and sustain a robust recovery,” said Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank.

But proponents of such a plan admit it will be nearly impossible as Washington zeroes in on elections in which government spending is likely to feature prominently.

Congress is currently locked in a bitter debate over extending unemployment insurance for over one million workers and is likely to balk at a wider spending package. “This is one of those cases where the political realities are completely at odds with economic sense,” she said advocating fresh stimulus of around 400 billion dollars. “I don’t know what is going on in the heads of these people, the economic case is so cut and dry, it is so clear what needs to be done.”

Washington, July 2, 2010 (AFP)

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According to State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company claims data, vehicle crashes are more likely on the 4th of July than on other major U.S. holidays.

An average of 6,031 collision claims has been made by State Farm policyholders on July 4th over the past five years (2005 to 2009). New Years Day is a distant second with 5,403 State Farm collision claims per day. Memorial Day is a close third with 5,321, followed by Easter (5,261), Labor Day (5,211), Thanksgiving (4,271) and Christmas (4,092).
However, all seven major holidays produce fewer crashes than do most other days of the year. The average number of collision claims made per day by State Farm’s auto policyholders over the last five years is 7,435.

“We tend to associate holidays with driving and driving with crashes,” says State Farm Vice President-Strategic Resources Laurette Stiles. “But the fact is we are even more susceptible to collisions on a regular old day when we are driving to and from work and making all of the other little trips we routinely make.”

Nonetheless, State Farm encourages motorists to be cautious this weekend as the nation celebrates birthday No. 234.

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The patchy US economic recovery faces a crucial litmus test Friday when fresh unemployment figures are released, but few expect positive results.  Most analysts say the ranks of jobless Americans are likely to have swollen to more than 15 million, pushing the unemployment rate from 9.7 percent to 9.8 percent.

That would be bad news for President Barack Obama, who is running out of time to put the economy back on track before Congressional elections in November. Although the White House has repeatedly warned that unemployment will remain high for the rest of the year, polls show it is still a crucial issue with voters.

The drop would also be bad news for markets, which have been convulsed by worry about a double dip recession in recent weeks.

The last quarter has been tortuous for the top 30 US companies, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing more than ten percent of its value, in large part over fears about the fate of the US economy. “This Friday’s employment report will provide an important gauge on the robustness of the recovery underway,” Goldman Sachs analysts warned.

Goldman predicts that payrolls shrunk by 100,000 last month, the first negative figure this year. One reason for the skepticism is the continued weakness of the private sector, which created just 41,000 jobs in May. Faced with an uncertain outlook and poor access to credit, US firms have been reluctant to rehire workers.

Analysts fear the June figures will also see the evaporation of hiring for the 2010 Census, which accounted for 95 percent of new jobs in May.

And on Thursday the Labor Department reported yet more people claimed unemployment benefits last week, when new jobless claims rose to 472,000, an increase of 13,000 from the week before. “Claims drifted higher still over the course of June… suggesting the labor market has not regained the traction that appeared to be building in the first four months of the year,” said Deutsche Bank analysts.

The weakness has sparked calls for Obama to provide more government spending to restart the recovery.

But proponents of this plan admit it is nearly impossible as Washington zeroes in on elections in which the national debt is also likely to feature prominently.

Congress is currently locked in a bitter debate over extending unemployment insurance for over one million workers and is likely to balk at a wider spending package.

The US House of Representatives extended federal unemployment benefits through November 30 on Thursday, but now the Senate has to take up the controversial measure.

Without the extension, some 1.7 million unemployed would be unable to receive their benefits after July 3, according to the House Financial Services Committee.

A new vote on the measure is not expected until Congress returns from its week-long July 4 Independence Day holiday recess. “I think this report will show that really we need to do more,” said Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank. “The private sector is not yet poised to takeover and sustain a robust recovery.”

With state governments cutting jobs to balance their books, Shierholz said there was a strong case for extending unemployment benefits and aid to states, despite the political difficulties. “This is one of those cases where the political realities are completely at odds with economic sense,” she said advocating fresh stimulus of around 400 billion dollars. “I don’t know what is going on in the heads of these people, the economic case is so cut and dry, it is so clear what needs to be done.”

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Aon Benfield announced that it has signed an exclusive partnership with the University of Cologne – a leading research centre with a long record of wind storms diagnostics, extreme weather modeling and impact assessment – to advance research into European windstorms. The University of Cologne is the latest institution to join Aon Benfield Research, the academic and industry research collaboration.

Windstorm activity is one of the main catastrophe hazards in Europe and events such as Kyrill in 2007 cause widespread damage and pose a serious threat to re/insurers’ balance sheets. Aon Benfield’s focus on redefining client value has fuelled the company’s drive to gather more scientific data to enable detailed analysis of the impact of extreme windstorms on re/insurers’ European portfolios. A better understanding of potential losses means re/insurers can make more informed decisions on their reinsurance purchase.

The partnership will combine meteorological and climatological expertise from the University of Cologne with a technical insurance application from Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe modeling center of excellence within Aon Benfield’s Analytics team.

The partnership is focusing on the following areas:

– introduction of output data generated by global climate models to extend the analysis period beyond the typical 50 years of meteorological records;
– winter storms, the key hazard for most of western and central Europe, and in addition summer / hail storms where some countries in central and eastern Europe also face exposure;
– how the losses of western, central and eastern regions correlate and impact the available capacity of reinsurance cover.

John Moore, International head of Aon Benfield’s Analytics team, commented: “Windstorms are a major driver of reinsurance purchases so this partnership is all about giving our clients access to the latest research and data in order to generate the most comprehensive loss estimations. The University of Cologne has an excellent reputation in this sector and together we’re redefining the approach to calculating windstorm risks by making it more scientifically robust.”

Dr. Joaquim Pinto, senior researcher at the Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology from the University of Cologne, said: “Research on windstorm occurrence, their development and impacts have been the main focuses of our team. It is a pleasure to accept Aon Benfield’s Impact Forecasting invitation to coordinate efforts and combine state-of-the art scientific knowledge with risk modelling expertise.”

Adam Podlaha, head of Aon Benfield’s Impact Forecasting International team, added: “Insurers are increasingly requiring approaches that span more than one territory to reflect their portfolios. As such we’re investing more in this business critical area and, in particular, to strengthen the physical basis of our catastrophe models that assess European weather-related losses. Our partnership with Cologne University combines the experience of our firm’s expertise in probabilistic loss modelling with the scientific skills of a leading institution in European weather and climatology research. This brings a new dimension to the world of catastrophe modelling and reinforces our unique capabilities as the world’s premier reinsurance intermediary.”

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Nearly 50,000 noncommissioned officers and their eligible family members can now to take advantage of one of the nation’s highest ranked* financial services providers thanks to an agreement between the Non Commissioned Officers Association and USAA.

USAA, a leading financial services provider to the military community, is now NCOA’s preferred provider of property and casualty products such as auto, home and renters insurance as well as financial services such as banking, investments and financial planning.

“Having USAA as our Association’s preferred provider in such critical areas as finance and insurance will help ensure our members have access to a premier provider of these services for the military community,” said NCOA president and retired Marine Sgt. Maj. Gene Overstreet, 12th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps.

“USAA is known for its commitment to its members and so is NCOA,” Overstreet said. “This is definitely a win-win relationship and I am excited to welcome USAA to our NCOA family.”

For USAA, the agreement is a natural evolution of its ongoing effort to help facilitate the financial security of members of the U.S. military and their families.

”The NCOA and USAA have joined forces in a vital mission – taking care of service members and their families,” said retired Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Eric Benken, 12th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force. “This alliance further advances the NCOA credo – ‘Strength in Unity.’”

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2009 WAS AN EXCEPTIONALLY CALM YEAR FOR US HURRICANES:
Losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters have continuously trended upwards in the past two decades (Munich Re report) and we have seen high volatility from one year to the next. In 2009, there were no major hurricanes on the scale of Katrina (2005) or Ike (2008), but that may change within days or weeks in the upcoming 2010 hurricane season beginning June 1.

Shubharoop Ghosh, Managing Director of eCityRisk commented: “In 2009, we were lucky not to have a serious hurricane event. However, that does not give us the excuse to be unprepared or underprepared for a hurricane of catastrophic proportions this year.” Born out of a situation like Hurricane Katrina, some of the business issues that risk managers face, span across multiple business functions such as operational, strategic and financial. In the wake of a major disaster,
– are you concerned about the accuracy of initial loss estimates?
– do you worry about the implications of going public with inaccurate loss predictions?
– how do you obtain claims information when loss adjustors cannot get into the affected area?
– how do you obtain an independent validation of loss estimates? After Katrina/Ike actual losses differed significantly from initial estimates.
Progressive risk managers of today are trying to dig deeper to find answers to these questions in order to protect their assets.

YOUR RATING IS AT STAKE, AND SO IS YOUR REPUTATION:
Important lessons were learned by the insurance industry from the Katrina (2005) and Gustav/Ike (2008) events. These had direct implications on the ratings of insurers or re/insurers and the very reputation of these companies. The pain caused by discrepancies between actual losses and initial estimates was enormous. It created a number of serious problems, including:

– Dramatic fall in share price. Inaccurate initial post-disaster loss estimates resulted in major upward revisions of loss estimates up to 400% (4 times) in the case of Katrina. This was linked to dramatic share price falls of certain insurers.
– Poorly informed Capital Management decisions. Costly mistakes resulting from liquidating assets to cover inaccurate estimates of expected claims, or based on inaccurate information that an event has tipped the company into a layer where they incur loss.
– Reduced confidence in company performance. Initial estimates proved inaccurate, and, in many cases, losses increased significantly, reducing confidence of rating agencies, shareholders, investors and reinsurers.
– Downgrading. Being placed under CreditWatch or Downgraded due to poor reporting or unexpected losses. A.M. Best downgraded 15 ratings after Katrina and held 10 companies under review.

VISUAL INTEL FOR LOSS ESTIMATION AND CLAIMS:
Recognizing the risks and limitations of a post-disaster response strategy focused on modeled estimates, progressive insurance and reinsurance companies are now introducing additional post-disaster damage information in the form of Visual Intel to calculate ground-up loss and independently validate modeled results.
Visual Intel for loss estimation and claims process is:
– Evidence-based – a highly effective means of quickly and independently assessing damage/business interruption for claims and producing/refining initial ground-up losses.
– Factual – real-world disaster footprints, fly-by, street-view and satellite information for personal/commercial lines, treaty/facultative policies served in Google Earth or GIS format.
– A valuable investment – part of your cat plan that will reduce uncertainty and increase accuracy of initial figures.
– Recognized – by Lloyd’s and A.M. Best as a credible source of damage and loss information.

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AXA Elevate has appointed three new distribution directors, Craig Metcalf, Daniel Neep and James Smith, effective from 1 June 2010

Craig Metcalf has worked in the financial services industry for almost eight years, first at M&G as account manager, and for the last four years as senior regional sales executive for Cofunds.

Daniel Neep was previously at Cofunds, having been there since 2006, following five years as an IFA consultant at Friends Provident.

James Smith has worked over 20 years for a variety of financial service providers including National Mutual Life and Standard Life, and most recently Cofunds.

Reporting to Andy Coleman, head of business development for AXA Elevate, the new trio of distribution directors will support the regional AXA Wealth teams in developing a collaborative approach to assisting IFA firms through business transition.

David Thompson, managing director of wealth investments and distribution, AXA Wealth, said: “Craig, Daniel and James have consistently out-performed for their previous companies and I am delighted to strengthen the distribution team at AXA in such a significant manner. They have experience in integrating and embedding platforms into IFA businesses and have a huge desire to make a contribution in assisting our customers through business change. All three will be pivotal in helping AXA Elevate and IFA firms alike, continue to grow and develop in preparation for the post-RDR world.”

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Aviva announced on Monday June 7th the appointment of Anthony Middle as the UK strategic partnerships director.

The new role of strategic partnerships director – part of the insurer’s organisational structure created at the beginning of this year – brings together some of Aviva’s key partnerships to create value and growth across the UK.

Anthony Middle will join Aviva in December from Axa, where he was most recently managing director of commercial lines for their UK general insurance business.

As part of this role he was responsible for the strategic development of the commercial business, including distribution across intermediary, direct and corporate partnerships channels, underwriting, marketing and operations. His previous positions with Axa also included that of corporate partnerships director.

Cathryn Riley, Aviva’s UK commercial director, said Anthony would be working closely with the distribution directors on both the life and general insurance side of the business, strengthening the integrated approach and maximising opportunities for partners.

“We are already a leading player in this area – this is about strengthening that position and investing further in our capabilities to reflect our ambitions and reinforce our commitment to the partnerships market,” she said.

“Anthony brings a fantastic wealth of experience, a real knowledge of the market and a commercial mindset that will help us accelerate our vision for this strategically important part of our business. “He has a strong presence in the insurance industry which will be invaluable when developing this very pivotal role for Aviva.”

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France and Germany on Wednesday called for a European ban on certain high-risk market dealings such as naked short selling in a joint appeal that came amid tensions over the eurozone debt crises.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel wrote jointly to EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and urged quick action to regulate certain transactions due to “turbulence” on the markets.

“The commission’s work should include a possible ban at European level on naked short selling of all or certain shares and bonds and of certain credit default swaps on sovereign securities,” they wrote in the letter.

Credit default swaps are instruments offering insurance against the risk that a government might be unable to honour payments due on debt it has issued to investors to cover its overspending. “Naked” short selling is a particularly aggressive technique of selling  assets for a future date without having any immediate access to it, even through borrowing. Traders seek to profit from a future drop in prices.

The biggest market for such financial products in Europe is in London where the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat government is already facing regulatory moves from EU authorities considered unwelcome for British financial centres.

A sudden, unilateral decision by Germany to ban some forms of “naked” short selling in government debt caused consternation in European government debt markets and helped make big deficits and debt in the eurozone a hot issue.

“Strong measures have already come into force,” Merkel and Sarkozy wrote in the letter dated Tuesday but released on Wednesday. “Severe turbulence on the financial markets in recent months has however raised serious concerns among member states of the European Union and all our citizens,” they added.

“We believe there is an urgent need for the (European) Commission to speed up its work concerning the strengthened framework of the market” governing transactions such as the credit default swaps and short selling.

They called on the commission to present a comprehensive action plan before a meeting of economic and finance ministers of the 27 EU countries on July 9. Sarkozy and Merkel are to hold talks on Monday in Berlin ahead of a European Union summit later that week that will be dominated by worries over the eurozone’s debt crises.

There have been mounting disagreements between the two leaders over economic policy, including frequent clashes over multi-billion-euro (dollar) bailout packages for Greece and then the wider eurozone. Paris had blamed Berlin for dragging its feet over a near trillion-dollar plan drawn up to prevent Greece’s fiscal woes from spreading to other vulnerable countries, saying that it pushed up the price of the package.

Paris, June 9, 2010 (AFP)

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CHICAGO, June 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Aon Corporation (NYSE: AON), the world’s leading risk advisor and human capital consultant, has been named the world’s best global insurance broker for the third straight year by the respondents of Euromoney magazine’s annual insurance survey.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20041215/CGW049LOGO)

Aon also was named:

Best Broker in North America
Best Broker in Asia
Best Broker in the Middle East
Best Broker in Central & Eastern Europe
Best Broker in Latin America

“Aon is honored to once again be recognized as the world’s best global insurance broker by the readers of Euromoney Magazine,” said Greg Case, Aon president and chief executive officer. “In today’s economic climate, understanding risk is now more important than ever for businesses and Aon’s ability to offer our clients distinctive value, unmatched talent and operational excellence has allowed us to establish our position globally as a leading client service firm.”

Euromoney is the leading journal of the international financial markets. The publication’s Insurance Survey, now in its third year, is the only global poll to canvass the opinion of decision-makers at large corporate and financial institutions, with more than 400 respondents in over 60 countries. Subscribers to Euromoney can access all of the awards and citations online at www.euromoney.com.

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Aon Corporation has been named the world’s best global insurance broker for the third straight year by the respondents of Euromoney magazine’s annual insurance survey.

Aon also was named Best Broker in North America, Asia, the Middle East, Central & Eastern Europe and in Latin America.

“Aon is honored to once again be recognized as the world’s best global insurance broker by the readers of Euromoney Magazine,” said Greg Case, Aon president and chief executive officer.

“In today’s economic climate, understanding risk is now more important than ever for businesses and Aon’s ability to offer our clients distinctive value, unmatched talent and operational excellence has allowed us to establish our position globally as a leading client service firm.”

Chicago, June 8

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Two-time Arkansas Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln overcame anti-incumbent sentiment Tuesday to win a hardfought run-off against upstart challenger Bill Halter.

Lincoln, whose campaign had enjoyed support from President Barack Obama as well as the service of former President Bill Clinton during campaigning, squeezed home by a 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent margin.

Halter and Lincoln had entered the head-to-head run-off after the incumbent senator failed to win 50 percent of votes in a May 18 primary.

Halter won backing from influential unions and progressive groups during his campaign, while Lincoln angered liberals for failing to support a public health insurance option in Obama’s historic health reforms.

Lincoln will now challenge Republican representative John Boozman in November’s mid-term elections. Boozman has a comfortable lead over his Democratic rivals according to most recent polls.

Washington, June 8, 2010 (AFP)

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US voters headed to the polls Tuesday to choose candidates for November’s midterm elections, with Democrats and Republicans alike battling to overcome a wave of anti-incumbent sentiment.

With President Barack Obama focusing squarely on the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill, 12 of 50 states were selecting candidates in primaries which could set the tone for midterm polls in five months time.

Seething discontent at the sagging economy and soaring unemployment have left politicians on all sides struggling to win over voters, who have already jettisoned congressional incumbents in primaries last month.

Tuesday’s elections saw a further slew of contenders fighting for their political lives, with Arkansas’s two-term Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln striving to overcome upstart challenger Bill Halter in a run-off. Lincoln had angered progressives by failing to support a public health insurance option in Obama’s historic health reforms.

Halter tapped into the political mood by branding Lincoln a creature of Washington oblivious to heartland anger during campaigning. Several recent polls have put Halter ahead in his bid to win the right to challenge the Republicans for the Arkansas seat in November, when all of the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate is up for grabs.

Another closely-watched race Tuesday is in Nevada, where Republicans are choosing a candidate to take on Democratic Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, their number one target in November. The apparent favorite is a former member of the desert and gambling state’s assembly Sharron Angle, who backs the right-wing Tea Party insurgency that has rocked Republican politics.

The Tea Party movement has demonstrated its power in some key nominating races in which the electorates are small and made up of only the most committed grass roots activists. But it is unclear however whether it will be as potent in elections with a wide-ranging electorate, where moderates, independents and Democrats all play important roles.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll indicated support for the movement was waning, with 50 percent of Americans now holding an unfavorable view of the group, up from 39 percent in March.

In California, there could be a coup for hi-tech business as two powerful businesswomen seek prominent places on the Republican Party ticket. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is seeking the party nomination for what would likely be a colorful battle against Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer, who is bracing for a tough reelection fight in November. Meg Whitman, a former eBay CEO meanwhile is tipped to win the party’s gubernatorial nod to battle Democrats to succeed California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who cannot seek reelection as he is term limited.

California’s primary campaign is already the most expensive in state history, with billionaire Whitman pumping in an astounding 68 million dollars of her personal fortune into her election bid to date. If Whitman wins, she will be the first woman nominated for governor by the California Republican Party. California has never elected a woman governor.

South Carolina, meanwhile, witnessed a brutal but inconclusive battle for the Republican gubernatorial ticket. The Sarah Palin-endorsed frontrunner Nikki Haley — who was forced to deny repeated allegations of extra-marital affairs during the campaign — just failed to score an outright majority against her opponent. Haley, who fell just short of the magic 50 percent mark, must now contest a runoff on June 22 against Gresham Barrett, who scored just over 21 percent.

South Carolina is no stranger to controversy swirling around the Governor’s mansion — the current resident, Republican Mark Sanford, mysteriously disappeared last year, then resurfaced and confessed to an affair with a secret lover in Argentina.

Los Angeles, June 8, 2010 (AFP)

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The White House Tuesday cited the specter of the Gulf oil spill as it threatened a presidential veto of a Republican bid to block the government’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

Officials said that the bill, designed to crimp the power of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would prevent the implementation of 2007 decision by the US Supreme Court, requiring the government to decide whether carbon dioxide gas emissions pose a threat to human health.

The White House said the legislation, expected to face a vote in the Senate on Thursday, would also block a government program promoting new fuel economy standards and cutting oil consumption.

“It would also undermine the administration’s efforts to reduce the negative impacts of pollution and the risks associated with environmental catastrophes, like the ongoing BP oil spill,” the administration said in a statement.

“As seen in the Gulf of Mexico, environmental disasters harm families, destroy jobs, and pollute the nation’s air, land and water,” the statement said. “If the President is presented with this Resolution of Disapproval, which would seriously disrupt EPA’s ability to address the threat of (greenhouse gas) pollution… his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the Resolution.”

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, who is sponsoring the bill, said that the effort was needed to decide “whether or not Congress or unelected bureaucrats, at the EPA, should set climate policy for this country.” “The overreach we see by the EPA is truly unprecedented in terms of overreach into the legislative branch by the executive,” she said. “The EPA intends to take control of climate policy and take it away from the Congress. This is absolutely unacceptable.”

Republicans say that efforts by the government to impose new regulations to control greenhouse gas emissions would hamper big business and severely harm the economy as it recovers from the worst economic crisis on record.

Obama is pushing Democrats in Congress to use the Gulf oil disaster, which he says shows the folly of over-reliance on fossil fuels, to launch a new bid to pass climate change legislation that is mired in the Senate.

Jim Manley, spokesman for Democratic Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, said that Republican backing for the amendment amounted to a giveaway to big oil firms, at a time of national crisis spawned by the Gulf disaster.

“This giveaway, otherwise known as the Murkowski disapproval resolution, is backed by oil company lobbyists because it would increase the nation’s consumption of oil by at least 455 million barrels, and probably waste several billion more,” he said. “With Republicans standing up for Wall Street, health insurance companies and now big oil companies, this begs the question — is there any special interest Republicans will not protect?”

Washington, June 8, 2010 (AFP)

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Cooper Gay, London-based independent wholesale, reinsurance and specialist retail insurance broker , and US wholesale broker Swett & Crawford have confirmed they are in advanced deal discussions to create  what they claim would be the world’s largest independent global wholesale and reinsurance broker.

If an agreement is reached the two businesses will come together under a new group holding company, of which a high proportion of ownership will be retained by the working employees. Management of the combined group will be led by Toby Esser as group chief executive. Neal Abernathy will continue to be the chief executive of Swett & Crawford, with Cooper Gay’s North American businesses reporting to him as well.

Cooper Gay and Swett & Crawford together place some $3.5bn in premiums in the London, US and international insurance markets and employ over 1500 staff based in more than 60 offices across four continents. Completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.

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