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European governments are taking big steps towards revealing if banks can withstand shocks such as hit the global economy two years ago, and now in reaction to concern about finances in Spain. Officials in Germany and Spain have agreed to publish results of so-called stress tests done on banks to reassure investors who fear banks might be hit by massive losses on government bonds and real-estate loans.

Germany, which had resisted such a move, “approves the publication of stress tests within the European Union. The details must be defined by EU finance ministers” meeting in Brussels on Thursday, a finance ministry spokesman told AFP. “We see that markets are nervous and that trust between banks is lacking,” he added. “Given the context, more transparency might help stabilise the situation.” Tests throughout the 16-nation eurozone were being coordinated in London by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors, a European Central Bank (ECB) spokesman told AFP.

The CEBS was likely to oversee publication of compiled results as well, he added. In France, a source close to Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said tests on French banks showed “no particular cause for concern.” The governor of the French central bank, Christian Noyer, said that he favoured “the publication of the stress tests in Europe broken down by country and by bank”.

In Brussels, EU leaders were to mull how best to publish the results of the tests, which aim to establish how well equipped banks are to absorb a major event such as default by a key debtor. Stress test critics warn that markets could misinterpret the findings and turn against the banks, though US tests done last year are credited with having restored confidence in the banking sector there.

On Wednesday, the Bank of Spain said it would release information on Spanish banks that have become the target of growing market speculation. And ECB executive board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said that harmonised bank stress tests — fresh ones are being done on some 30 major eurozone banks — would be released for each eurozone member.

“Supervisors in Europe are stress testing the banks and those results will be made public within a couple of weeks, at the latest,” starting with Spain, he told CNBC television in New York. If banks did not have enough core capital, they would either have to merge with peers or raise fresh funds “within a given deadline,” Smaghi said. “In some countries like Spain there is some capital being put aside by the government in case the bank doesn’t find it in the private markets,” he added.

Spain’s banking system is laden with loans that went bad after the country’s real-estate market collapsed, and regional savings banks have been frozen out of the interbank money market. Analysts were not convinced centralised tests were effective or necessary, however. “It’s a complex exercise, it’s not really something that is easily digested by a wider audience,” Barclays Capital economist Thorsten Polleit told AFP. Beyond the risk of misinterpretation, Polleit said it was up to investors like insurance companies and pension funds “first and foremost to do risk analyses” themselves.

“People cannot rely on third parties to do the work properly,” he added. ING senior economist Carsten Brzeski saw two sides to the issue, he said. “If you have nothing to hide then just come out with the stress tests,” he told AFP. Then again, Brzeski noted markets were not panicking as they did a few weeks ago, and wondered whether EU governments should “always be hijacked by markets and always be pushed into this kind of ad-hoc reactive mode.” He suggested authorities should focus on problems with weak regional lenders in Spain and Germany but “keep their cool and continue with the structural work.”

Frankfurt, June 17, 2010 (AFP)

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New claims for jobless insurance benefits in the United States rose unexpectedly for the second straight week, the government said Thursday amid concerns unemployment may derail the economic recovery.

Claims climbed to 472,000 in the week to June 12, an increase of 12,000 from the previous week’s upwardly revised figure of 460,000 and the highest level in four weeks, the Labor Department said. Most economists had expected claims to fall to 450,000. “The labor market remains under duress,” said Andrew Gledhill, an economist at Moody’s Economy.com.

“Though it is important not to make too much of a one-week rise, it is illustrative of the failure of claims to move lower in recent months,” he said. After falling through much of 2009, claims have generally remained range-bound in 2010.

The latest Labor Department data also showed a rise in the total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits. During the week ending June 5, that figure hit 4.571 million; an increase of 88,000 from the preceding weeks revised level of 4.483 million. The four-week moving average of jobless insurance claims, a less volatile indicator than the week-to-week figures, was 463,500, little changed from the previous week’s revised average of 464,000.

Unemployment stands at nearly 10 percent, posing a major threat to US recovery from the most severe recession in decades. The United States has lost more than eight million jobs since the economy entered recession in December 2007. There is “more evidence that labor market conditions remain tough,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics. “The grim state of small businesses is keeping layoffs relatively high even as bigger companies are hiring,” he said.

Washington, June 17, 2010 (AFP)

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The trial of a doctor and his wife accused of contributing to the fatal overdoses of 68 patients by overprescribing pain medication went to jurors on Tuesday. Stephen Schneider and his wife Linda were portrayed by the prosecution in closing arguments as running a “Burger King for pain pill addicts” while the defense argued that the state’s case was overblown.

It case has drawn attention in part because of a debate over the medicaltreatment of pain in the United States, but also the high number of deaths attributed to the defendants. “This is a sordid tale of how money and not medicine controlled the defendants’ actions,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Treadway told jurors in closing arguments.

“The defendants were running a pill mill, not a legitimate medical practice,” she added. But defense attorneys said the case was pushed by insurance companies who didn’t want to pay for expensive medication that Dr. Schneider prescribed to poor people.

“This is a reimbursement case for insurance, at most,” Kevin Byers, the attorney for Linda Schneider, told jurors. He said the Schneiders’ practice had been “doctored up to look like a huge, rolling death machine.” At least one patients’ advocacy group has voiced its support for Schneider, who is no longer practicing medicine. The Schneiders are charged in federal court with illegally prescribing narcotics, health-care fraud and money laundering. They face up to life in prison if convicted.

The indictment against the couple alleges their actions contributed to the deaths of 68 patients. Treadway recounted testimony about many of them Tuesday, detailing how they had failed drug screening tests, required increased dosages of medication, and suffered non-fatal overdoses before finally dying. One patient was a stripper for whom Schneider prescribed drugs to relieve
performance anxiety, Treadway said. Many died within days of their last visit to Schneider’s clinic, she said. Schneider often saw more than 50 patients in a day at the clinic, which was
located in Haysville, a small town south of Wichita in south-central Kansas.

The Schneiders did not receive money for the drugs their patients took, but they fraudulently billed insurance companies and the government for patient services, using the money to buy a Hummer and a home in Mexico overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Treadway said.

Byers conceded that the volume of patients seen by the Schneiders made for a “chaotic” practice. “I’m sure there were mistakes made,” he said. “That doesn’t make it criminal or an illegal enterprise.”

Wichita, Kansas, June 15, 2010 (AFP)

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Tropical Storm Risk (TSR) Business, which provides real-time mapping and prediction of tropical cyclone windfields worldwide and is co-sponsored by Aon Benfield, has launched a breakthrough product to help (re)insurers estimate their potential wind losses for active hurricanes and tropical cyclones worldwide.

The new real-time product – the Ensemble Forecast Wind & Gust Swathe – comprises an ensemble set of 100 different forecast wind/gust swathes each with the same probability of occurrence. Re/insurers with access to a wind loss model will be able to calculate the impact on their portfolios of each outcome and thus the likelihood that portfolio wind loss will exceed different thresholds. The breakthrough technology enables probabilistic real-time hurricane wind loss forecasts for a portfolio based on real events. Product updates occur every six hours (or 12 hours for southern hemisphere tropical cyclones).

Professor Mark Saunders at Tropical Storm Risk said: “Considerable research underpins this new real-time forecast technology. The development recognises that wind-impact and wind-loss forecasts must be defined in terms of probability. Our approach, which models the forecast uncertainty of real events, provides an alternative perspective to the simulated event output of catastrophe models. With seasonal forecasts pointing to an active or very active 2010 hurricane season the release of this new product may be timely.”

TSR Business’s suite of real-time windfield products also includes:
• Surface Wind & Gust History – enables immediate post-event assessment of a storm’s impact on a portfolio;
• Forecast Wind & Gust Swathe – enables (re)insurers to anticipate and manage their portfolios at risk as cyclones target land by mapping the most likely forecast wind swathe up to five days in advance;
• Forecast Surface Wind Probabilities – maps the likelihood of being struck by hurricane strength winds up to five days in advance.

John Moore, Head of Aon Benfield Analytics International, added: “The launch of this breakthrough product illustrates how academia and the insurance industry can work hand in hand to deliver new products that boost risk understanding.”

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Dozens of Vietnamese-Americans gathered in sweltering heat here Tuesday to protest the impact of the BP oil spill on their community, much of which lives off a now polluted sea. More than 80 percent of the southeast Asian families in the Gulf region work in the seafood industry, which has been hard hit by water closings due to the spill.

Minh Than Nguyen, 25, the son of a shrimper left jobless by the worst environmental disaster in US history, exhorted fellow demonstrators at a commercial fishing wharf in Biloxi, 150 miles (93 miles) east of New Orleans.

“What do we want?” Nguyen said. “Justice,” the crowd shouted. Behind them, blue and white fishing boats with Vietnamese names like “Than Tam” and “Captain Sen” sat idle on the 57th day of the spill. Thousands of Vietnamese are now watching in dismay as the environmental calamity in the Gulf of Mexico threatens the lives they rebuilt here after the Vietnam War.

Of an estimated 40,000 Vietnamese-Americans who live in the oil-threatened
Gulf states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, one in three has thrived as commercial fishermen harvesting shrimp, crabs and oysters and processing seafood, says Leo Esclamado, an protest organizer based in New Orleans. “The fishing industry was a natural appeal for many Vietnamese refugees arriving in the US in the mid 1970s since these jobs did not require English proficiency,” Esclamado said.

“It also became a pathway to realize the American dream by becoming successful entrepreneurs of the sea. Now, the entire seafood industry and this American dream is ruined indefinitely.” Thousands of Vietnamese fishermen are suddenly out of work. Bills are due for college tuition, health insurance and property insurance for fishing vessels that cannot fish. Vietnamese fishers like Than’s father are now struggling to repay government business loans to replace crab traps lost during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

BP has hired Vietnamese-American fishermen to work in the oil spill cleanup operations, and paid 5,000 dollars each for initial damage claims. Information on jobs, health risks, and hazards from oil spill cleanup hazards — including snakes and alligators — are published in Vietnamese on the BP and Deepwater Horizon web sites. “We’ve tried hard to address this issue,” BP spokesman John Curry told AFP.

The British oil giant met with a coalition of Vietnamese groups June 1 to discuss their concerns, and a BP interpreter is available to answer questions about claims and work in Biloxi, Curry said. But the young activists said Tuesday that the US government and BP need to hire more Vietnamese interpreters to help their elders navigate spill-related documents required for employment, health care, and damage claims.

“In times like, these a lot of things get lost in translation,” Ann Dinh, an activist from New Orleans, told the crowd Tuesday. Dinh, 21, said certified Vietnamese interpreters are “rare” on the Gulf Coast — and that she herself is not proficient in the native language of her parents.

Van Lam, an outreach specialist for West Jefferson Medical Center at Marrero, Louisiana — the hospital closest to the offshore oil spill — said the Vietnamese she met at the rally were talking about canceling their health insurance to dave money.

“They also have to have insurance for their boat to help BP clean up the oil — but they can’t afford that either,” Lam said. Tuyet Nguyen, of Pass Christian, the wife of a shrimper, fought back tears as she described in broken English her husband’s undiagnosed complaints of numbness on his left side. “The first thing we need is a place to work and insurance — if the government can help,” she said, grimacing.

Biloxi, Mississippi, June 15, 2010 (AFP)

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Italy’s competition watchdog on Tuesday called for more deregulation of the transport, energy and finance sectors to breathe “oxygen” into the economy struggling in the global downturn.

“The injection of massive doses of competition” is needed in these sectors, Antitrust president Antonio Catricala said in the agency’s annual report to parliament. Italians pay twice as much for auto insurance, 28 percent more for electricity and six percent more for bank overdrafts than the European average, Catricala said.

Bringing these costs in line with neighbouring countries “would give oxygen to big business … would lead to a decrease in prices and greater consumption by families,” Catricala said.

Italy must pass a law on competition that the centre-right government has mooted but has yet to draft, he urged. In the energy sector, the report noted that “despite the advanced level of liberalisation of the markets, there are some isolated parts of the country such as Sicily where dominant positions have formed artificially.”

In telecommunications, Antitrust criticised long delays in the development of a new-generation broadband network. Regarding local public services such as water supply, “they remain solidly in the hands of former municipal companies and the mechanisms for competition are slow in being set up,” Antitrust said.

Banking establishments have “shown themselves to be more solid than in other countries (but) there is little stimulation for competition (and) many cross interests between the banks in terms of both shareholders and staff.” Operators of rail, road and airport facilities also have little competition, Antitrust said.

Rome, June 15, 2010 (AFP)

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A European country is not obliged to foot the entire health bill of a national who gets unexpected hospital care during a visit to another EU state, the European Court of Justice said Tuesday.

The case was brought by the European Commission which argued that Spain breached the principle of freedom to provide services after it refused to cover hospital costs that a Spanish resident had to pay for unscheduled care in France.

But the court ruled that Spain was not required to pay for costs that are not covered under the French health care system. The insured person “has no right, in principle,” to insurance coverage from Spain for costs that are not covered by another European Union country and must be paid by the patient, the court said.

The court pointed to two exceptions to the rule. A European country must cover costs when a person needs “immediate, urgent, life-saving” treatment in another EU state and cannot go home to be hospitalised, the court ruled. A state must also reimburse a patient who gets authorisation to get treatment for care that is not available in the home country.

Luxembourg, June 15, 2010 (AFP)

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Chinese banking giant ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China) is soon to open a branch in Belgium, the Belgian prime minister’s office announced Friday.

“ICBC will open a branch in Brussels within weeks” as long as it gets the green light from Belgium’s Finance and Insurance Commission, the CBFA, according to a joint statement issued after a meeting between Leterme and Jiang Jianqing, the Chinese bank’s chairman.

The presence of a satellite of China’s biggest bank could encourage more overseas investors, Leterme’s office said, adding that another major Chinese bank, the Bank of China, is also expected to arrive in Belgium in the near future. ICBC already has three affiliates within the EU, in London, Frankfurt and Luxembourg.

Brussels, June 4, 2010 (AFP)

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    Italian insurer Generali could be interested in “pieces” of AIG’s Asian unit AIA after British insurer Prudential abandoned its ambitious takeover plan, daily Corriere della Sera reported on Thursday.

    The newspaper, citing what it described as circles close to Generali, reported that Generali would be interested in purchasing AIA assets on the condition that American International Group cut the price and decide not to list the company Generali had expressed interest previously in some of AIA’s assets in the Philippines.

    On Wednesday, Prudential ended its bid to become the world’s top insurance firm outside China, after the troubled US group refused to cut the price tag from 35.5 billion dollars (29 billion euros) to nearer 30 billion dollars.

    The mammoth transaction would have been the biggest-ever takeover in the insurance sector. AIG, which was saved from bankruptcy by the US government in September 2008, announced last month it was selling AIA to Prudential and another unit, ALICO, to US rival MetLife to pay back a huge chunk of its government bailout.

    Rome, June 3, 2010 (AFP)

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    Prudential chairman Harvey McGrath said in an interview on Friday that no heads would roll at the British insurer after it abandoned an ambitious takeover of AIG’s Asian unit AIA.

    “The board is completely behind the management team. No one has offered to resign and no one has been asked to resign,” McGrath told the Financial Times. The aborted takeover had been masterminded by Prudential chief executive Tidjane Thiam and many commentators said his career had been badly tarnished.

    “There are a couple of shareholders calling for change, but they are outliers. The vast majority of our biggest investors are saying they don’t want to see change at the top,” McGrath added. “They are supportive of management and of Tidjane, who they have seen as (Chief financial officer) help to drive the performance of the group.” Prudential’s decision on Wednesday to abandon the takeover came after AIG refused to cut the price tag from 35.5 billion dollars (29 billion euros) to nearer 30 billion dollars.

    McGrath said the top team at Prudential was “quite devastated” when it heard AIG had rejected the renegotiated price. “But we were not worried at all about our positions,” he said. Thiam, who became chief executive in October 2009, was formerly Prudential’s financial chief. He told the Financial Times: “It is a clever thing to try and connect my inability to seal a 35-billion-dollar deal with my broad ability to run a company, but it is a fallacy.

    “To say I’m inexperienced in running a 35-billion-dollar transaction, that’s true. Not many have experience of running a 35-billion-dollar transaction.” The collapsed AIA deal cost Prudential around 450 million pounds (540 million euros, 660 million dollars). McGrath said: “This was an ‘in-strategy’ transaction and was an acceleration of the focus on growing the business in Asia. “Just because this transaction … did not work — or failed if you want to say that — it doesn’t mean that the underlying strategy has a problem.

    “The boards understand that and are behind the strategy and were behind the transaction.” Despite the collapse of the AIA deal, Thiam had stressed earlier this week that Prudential would maintain a strong focus on growing its business in Asia.

    He also said the group’s existing Asian business had helped it deliver a “record performance” in the first quarter of 2010. The acquisition of AIA would have doubled the size of Prudential and transformed it into the world’s top non-Chinese insurer by market capitalisation, ahead of major competitors Allianz and AXA.

    Sales in Asia make up half of Prudential’s new contracts across a number of countries including China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. The company also has a strong presence in Britain and the United States.

    London, June 4, 2010 (AFP)

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    Credit insurers have what it takes to be fully-fledged financial ratings agencies and compete with existing ones, French central bank governor Christian Noyer said Wednesday in a press interview.

    Groups that insure credit “have the know-how and experience, and they are even made to pay if they are wrong,” Noyer said told the German business daily Handelsblatt. “They could easily conquer the ratings market.” Credit insurers, like the German group Euler-Hermes, owned by insurance giant Allianz, or France’s Coface, owned by the Natixis group, sell companies insurance against client defaults and must thus accurately evaluate risks.

    Noyer’s comments come as the major international ratings agencies located in the United States and Britain countries have been criticised for their role in the global financial crisis. Agencies on which much finance currently depends for information failed to assess the dangers of complex instruments that contributed to the sub-prime crisis and are allegedly too close to some of the companies they evaluate.

    Groups like Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch also issue ratings for the debt of sovereign countries, and have downgraded those for countries like Greece and Spain, fuelling concern about stability in the 16-nation eurozone. “We need clear rules for ratings agencies,” Noyer said, such as a ban on using the same scale for both complex financial instruments and classic investments such as sovereign bonds.

    He also warned about allowing agencies to offer advisory services to the same companies they are rating. Further, the timing of agency decisions and their communication to the public should come under closer control, Noyer said.

    FRANKFURT, June 2, 2010 (AFP)

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      British insurer Prudential said Wednesday it was withdrawing from a bid to buy AIA, the Asian arm of AIG, after the US group refused to lower its Prudential said in a statement it was “in negotiations with American International Group, Inc. (AIG) for the termination of the agreement (the SPA) for the combination of Prudential with AIA Group Limited.”

      The deal had foundered after AIG turned down Prudential’s request to cut the price tag of 35.5 billion dollars (29 billion euros) to nearer 30 billion dollars, following a revolt by the British company’s shareholders. Prudential chairman Harvey McGrath said: “Unfortunately, it has not been possible to reach agreement so we feel it is in the best interest of our shareholders not to pursue this opportunity.

      “We are therefore withdrawing from the transaction.” The takeover would have been the biggest ever in the insurance sector, transforming Prudential into the world’s top non-Chinese insurer by market capitalisation, ahead of major competitors Allianz and AXA. In its statement, Prudential said it would pay AIG a break fee of more than 152 million pounds (224 million dollars, 183 million euros), plus legal fees of 81 million pounds.

      The collapse of the deal will place enormous pressure on Prudential’s chief executive Tidjane Thiam, who aimed to transform the 162-year-old British company into an international insurance powerhouse. Thiam, born in the Ivory Coast, but with French nationality, took a huge gamble by making the ambitious bid for AIA only six months into his job at the helm of Prudential.

      In the statement, Thiam said Prudential would maintain a strong focus on growing its business in Asia. The firm had entered into the potential deal “from a position of strength in Asia and we view the region as offering excellent growth opportunities for Prudential,” he said. But the Financial Times said on Wednesday that some investors were calling for Thiam’s head after his failure to renegotiate the deal. “It will be an early agenda item — who will be the new CEO,” one major unnamed investor told the paper.

      The Daily Telegraph reported that AIG had turned its back on Prudential and was instead pursuing other options. Quoting sources, the paper said AIG was exploring talks with sovereign wealth funds, including Singapore-controlled GIC and Temasek, and Qatar Holdings, which could become “cornerstone investors” in AIA ahead of reviving plans for an initial public offering in Hong Kong.

      The Telegraph said the implosion of the deal had made Prudential a bid target itself. AIG said on Tuesday it would not agree to Prudential’s request to reduce the asking price. In a terse statement, it said that “after careful consideration, the company will adhere to the original terms of its previously announced agreement.

      “The company will not consider revisions to those terms,” it added. Prudential had agreed in March to the original 35.5-billion-dollar takeover price for AIA but then scrambled to get a reduction as some shareholders, such as asset manager F&C, baulked at the cost.

      London, June 2, 2010 (AFP)

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        A violent storm that walloped Central America over the weekend killed more than 100 people and left a swath of destruction, officials said Monday.

        Tropical Storm Agatha, the first in a season of tempests that annually strikes the region, was especially brutal in Guatemala, where 92 deaths were recorded, mostly from mudslides. Another 54 people were missing.

        Among the dead were four children in a house that was swept away in a landslide, officials said. According to authorities, the toll across the region Monday stood at 115, counting the 92 in Guatemala, 14 in Honduras and nine in El Salvador.

        Tens of thousands of people were in shelters, either because their ramshackle homes had been destroyed or they were evacuated from the path of possible flooding. International aid was beginning to step up. Some aid organizers were turning to Facebook, Twitter and other Internet social networking sites to appeal for necessities to send to populations or authorities.

        France said Monday it was sending humanitarian supplies, and issued a statement expressing its condolences to the affected countries. Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom said six US military aircraft had been deployed from a base in Honduras.

        Mexican President Felipe Calderon, at Colom’s behest, offered the airport in the border city of Tapachula for emergency flights in and out of Guatemala, Calderon’s office said. His government also expressed solidarity with Honduras, issuing a statement saying: “Mexico’s government deeply laments the damage and loss, especially of human life, caused in Honduras by Agatha.”

        In Guatemala, which has been under a state of emergency since Saturday, 112,000 people were forced to flee their homes at peril of floods and mudslides. The worst storm-related disaster in Guatemala occurred in a village in Solola department where a landslide swept away 25 homes killing 15 people, with another 10 missing, according to San Antonio Palopo Mayor Andres Cumes.

        To prevent an outbreak of disease, the bodies will be buried at once, Cumes told reporters. Honduras and El Salvador both declared nationwide states of emergency. More than 8,000 people were forced to leave their homes in El Salvador, and more than 3,000 in Honduras.

        By Monday, the worst of the storm itself appeared to have passed, with forecasts that “it would gradually keep losing force,” according to Guatemala’s National Disaster Coordination office. But rivers swollen to bursting point showed the danger was not over.

        Many towns and villages had communication cut off, while bridges and roads were either destroyed or obstructed. Guatemala City’s response was hampered by a separate emergency: the eruption of a nearby volcano whose ash forced the closure of the capital’s international airport since last week, when two people were also killed and three went missing. Officials said the airport should open late Thursday.

        But the director of Guatemala’s national seismological institute, Freddy Sanchez, said “it’s very possible there could be more violent explosions in the coming days” from the volcano. “First there was a rain of ash, and now it’s water. It’s one disaster after another,” said one resident in the southern town of Palin, Julio Figueroa.

        Guatemala said it was asking for 85 million dollars from the World Bank to help cope with the two disasters. Agatha’s effects were also felt in Mexico’s southern Chiapas region, though no casualties nor damage were immediately reported.

        The storm made landfall late Saturday with winds of 65 kilometers (40 miles) per hour. Although it was soon downgraded to a tropical depression, its heavy rains caused much of the damage, freeing rivers from their beds and unleashing sliding tracts of mud that carried away homes and roads.

        Guatemala City, 2010 June 1 (AFP)

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        A new insurance product for horse owners in the South West has been launched by regional firm Cornish Mutual for the first time.

        The company, which has thousands of Members across Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset, now offers a wide and flexible range of bespoke equestrian insurances to help protect against the unexpected consequences of owning a horse.

        With cover available for horses and ponies of all ages, the insurances offered by Cornish Mutual can be tailored to individual requirements. Varying levels of cover can be provided by the insurer, which is based in Truro with offices in Exeter, including vets fees, liability to third parties, theft, loss of tack, and disposal and loss of foal.

        Alan Goddard, Managing Director of Cornish Mutual, said: “We understand that horses and all aspects of the equine sector are synonymous with the countryside and the rural community in the South West. We listen to our Members, hear what they have to say about our products and services and we’re delighted to be able to offer insurance for horses as a result. We recognise the importance of broadening our product range and we will continue to service the changing needs of our Members.”

        As many riders in the South West are aware, injury due to horse riding accidents is not uncommon and Cornish Mutual arranges cover for personal accident, death or serious injury caused by the horse or while out riding. With the average vets bill costing around £1,500 and advancements in veterinary diagnostics and treatment costs for horses escalating, the insurance allows Members to select the level of cover required for up to £5,000 per incident for horses aged under 17 years (subject to an excess).

        Should a horse suffer injury or illness, loss of use can be covered to up to 100 per cent of the value of the animal (depending on the policy). The company also provides access to a free 24-hour helpline for Members to get advice in an emergency, as well as a round-the-clock vet helpline and legal protection cover in the event that the owner is unable to contact their own vet.

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        Italy’s unemployment rate in April rose to 8.9 percent from 8.8 percent in March, reaching the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2001, Italy’s statistical agency ISTAT said on Tuesday.

        About 21,000 people joined the ranks of the unemployed in April, according to provisional data released by ISTAT, which began compiling monthly unemployment figures in 2004.

        The total stood at 2.22 million in April, for a one percent increase over the March figure and 20.1 percent over April 2009. Unemployment in the 15-24 age group grew to 29.5 percent in April from 28.1 percent in March.

        Mario Draghi, the head of the Bank of Italy, said on Monday that youth unemployment was of great concern, adding that sluggish recovery would increase the likelihood of persistent unemployment.

        Over the past months the number of job-seekers in Italy has grown steadily, rising to more than two million last October for the first time since 2004. Until mid-2009, Italy was able to keep unemployment under control thanks to a temporary layoff scheme allowing companies to halt operations for months at a time if business was slow, with workers covered by public unemployment insurance.

        Milan, June 1, 2010 (AFP)

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        Aon Corporation (NYSE: AON), the world’s leading risk advisor and human capital consultant, today kicked off its four-year shirt sponsorship of Manchester United with a programme of global charity initiatives designed to promote youth development and healthier communities. The sponsorship was announced on June 3, 2009.

        The sponsorship and charity campaign were launched at Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium this morning by executives of Aon and Manchester United, along with Manchester United team legends Sir Bobby Charlton and Bryan Robson.

        “Based on our shared values of leadership, teamwork, and a passion for excellence, it is difficult to imagine a stronger fit for Aon than Manchester United,” said Greg Case, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aon Corporation. “Through the global charitable initiatives of Aon’s 36,000 colleagues, we will work with our partners at Manchester United and the Manchester United Foundation to promote these values and create positive opportunities for young people, to enable them to thrive and to help improve their communities.”

        David Gill, Chief Executive Officer of Manchester United, said, “This event is an indication of how Aon is committed to developing the partnership way beyond a simple commercial arrangement. In the coming years, I hope we will be able to build a tangible legacy for the Manchester United community both here in the north west and further afield. I am delighted that Aon wants to get its whole worldwide workforce involved. I’m sure it will really bring the sponsorship to life for many of them.”

        To mark the start of the sponsorship, the first charity event involved more than 150 of Aon’s Manchester-based colleagues and their families, who participated in a Penalty Kick Challenge at Old Trafford for the Manchester-based The Christie charity – one of England’s leading cancer centres which treats more than 40,000 patients a year.

        The Aon Foundation donated 25,000 pounds, of which 3,500 pounds came from the Penalty Kick Challenge, to The Survivorship Programme of The Christie, which helps young people progress in their educational and career goals and receive life skills support following cancer treatment.
        Caroline Shaw, Chief Executive of The Christie, said, “Having cancer at any age is traumatic, but it is especially difficult for young people when they still have their whole lives ahead of them. This generous support will help them have the successful and fulfilling life that they deserve after cancer.”

        Case added, “Throughout our more than 500 offices around the world, Aon colleagues are joining today’s fundraising through an “Aon United REDy Day” campaign, including raising money for local charities by wearing Manchester United shirts or red clothes for the day. Aon is an organization that is truly committed to strengthening communities by sharing our human, intellectual and financial resources. We believe that through this ongoing programme of charitable initiatives we can make a positive difference in people’s lives.”

        Forthcoming Aon charity initiatives include “Aon United Day” on July 15, 2010, which will involve Aon’s global colleagues in over 120 countries participating in fundraising and volunteer activities, including supporting hundreds of schools, children’s hospitals, orphanages and community centres as well as more well-known organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters Clubs, Junior Achievement, Ronald McDonald House, Special Olympics, UNICEF, United Way and the YMCA.

        For example, in Botswana, Aon colleagues will partner with the House of Hope orphanage by providing furniture donations and helping to clean and improve the facility. In Singapore, Aon volunteers will host an indoor football match for the young people served by Boys’ Town and will support the organization’s new building fund. Aon Bangalore has “adopted” a local elementary school that it will support throughout the coming year with both charitable donations and volunteer service.

        In Bolivia, Aon colleagues will donate to Hogar de Ninos Alalay, helping to plant trees on the orphanage grounds and creating art projects with the children who live there. In Sacramento, California, Aon colleagues are partnering with Project 680 by collecting hygiene supplies to distribute to homeless youth. In the Netherlands, Aon colleagues will participate in a charity bike ride and sell Right to Play merchandise to help raise funds for youth sports programmes in disadvantaged areas.

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          US insurer AIG said Tuesday it had refused to modify the conditions for the sale of its AIA Asian unit to British rival Prudential, which had asked for the price to be cut.

          “After careful consideration, the company will adhere to the original terms of its previously announced agreement,” American International Group said in a statement.

          “The company will not consider revisions to those terms,” it added. Prudential said Tuesday it had asked AIG to cut its price for AIA from 35.5 billion dollars (28.9 billion euros) to 30.375 billion dollars.

          The takeover would be the biggest-ever in the insurance sector, transforming Prudential into the world’s top non-Chinese insurer by market capitalisation, ahead of major competitors Allianz and AXA.

          London, June 1, 2010 (AFP)

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          Tropical Storm Risk (TSR), which provides real-time mapping and prediction of tropical cyclone windfields worldwide and is co-sponsored by Aon Benfield, today releases its pre-season outlook report* to coincide with the start of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. The report anticipates Atlantic basin and U.S. landfalling hurricane activity being 55% above the long-term (1950-2009) norm.

          TSR, part of Aon Benfield Research’s new academic and industry collaboration, maintains its April and December forecasts for an active hurricane season. The pre-season outlook includes:

          • A 77% probability of an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season; an 18% probability of a near-normal season, and only a 5% chance of a below-normal season.
          • 16 tropical storms including eight hurricanes and four intense hurricanes. This compares to long-term norms of 10, six and three respectively.
          For U.S. landfalling activity, TSR forecasts:

          • A 74% probability of above-normal U.S. landfalling hurricane activity; a 19% likelihood of a near-normal season, and only a 7% chance of a below-normal season.
          • Five tropical storm strikes on the U.S., including two hurricanes. This compares to long-term norms of three and 1.5 respectively.

          Three main climate factors will determine the level of hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin. Occurring in August and September, these are the speed of trade winds over the tropical North Atlantic, sea temperatures in the tropical North Atlantic, and the sign and strength of El Niño Southern Oscillation. U.S. landfalling hurricane activity is influenced by the level of hurricane activity occurring at sea, the pre-season North Atlantic Oscillation, and by July tropospheric wind patterns over the North Atlantic and U.S.

          Professor Mark Saunders at Tropical Storm Risk, said: “Every main climate indicator points to the 2010 hurricane season being active. If La Niña develops during the second half of 2010 the above-norm hurricane levels will be even higher.”

          John Moore, Head of International Analytics at Aon Benfield, added: “Although uncertainty remains within hurricane forecasts, the insurance industry is increasingly informed by this data source when considering how best to manage its exposure to this risk.”

          According to Steve Drews, associate director and lead meteorologist at Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model development center of excellence within Aon Benfield, “TSR’s pre-season outlooks correctly anticipated the active 2004, 2005 and 2008 hurricane seasons and the quiet 2009 season. 2004’s hurricanes barraged Florida, 2005’s hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma slammed the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida coastlines, and 2008’s hurricane Ike affected the major Texas coastal cities of Galveston and Houston.”

          TSR’s next hurricane forecast will be issued on 4 June. Professor Mark Saunders will also be updating the forecast for the 2010 hurricane season and revealing new technology to help (re)insurers manage tropical storm-related risks at Aon Benfield Research’s event: The science behind hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural perils in London on 15 June. Please register here if you would like to attend.

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            Wildfires scorched more than 38,000 hectares (94,000 acres) of forests in Canada’s Quebec province and firefighters are still trying to douse 13 blazes, officials said Friday.

            Fires swept through the Haute-Mauricie, Abitibi-Temiscamingue and Nord-du-Quebec regions of the province over the past few days, blackening the landscape, the Quebec forest fire protection service (SOPFEU) told AFP. More than 300 people from the Obedjiwan native reservation were also evacuated, said SOPFEU spokesman Robert Lemay. On Wednesday, 1,300 were forced to flee the Wemotaci reservation.

            Lemay said 940 firefighters, including some from the United States and Manitoba province in Western Canada, had managed to put out most of the 59 fires in the province. But several more days would be needed to douse them all, he said. “The problem has been a very dry spring, with very little rain,” Lemay explained. And there is no precipitation forecast for the region for the coming days. “Most of the fires were sparked by lightning strikes,” he noted.

            Montreal, May 29 (AFP)

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            Spanish financial institutions are having increasing problems in borrowing from foreign banks because of concerns about Spanish sovereign debt, the Expansion daily reported on Thursday.

            The newspaper based its report on unnamed sources in several Spanish financial institutions to the effect that foreign banks were increasingly reluctant to lend to Spanish banks. Local press also followed up a report in The Wall Street Journal that one of the leading Spanish banks, BBVA, had been trying unsuccessfully for a month to refinance one billion dollars (815 million euros).

            Expansion said foreign banks were reducing the amount they lent to banks based in those eurozone countries worst affected by heavy public deficits and debt. Meanwhile in Belgium, insurance group Ageas, formerly part of Fortis, said it had reduced its exposure to government bonds issued by countries in southern Europe by 4.8 billion euros between May 12 and 21, and that its holdings now stood at 9.1 billion euros.

            The head of the company Bart De Smet said that this was because of “the increased uncertainty which reigns on markets.” In total, since January 1, Ageas has sold bonds issued by southern European countries worth 8.8 billion euros, with Greece accounting for 2.1 billion euros, Italy 4.8 billion euros, Portugal 1.7 billion euros and Spain 0.2 billion euros.

            On May 21, of its remaining holdings of such debt worth of 9.1 billion euros, Greece accounted for 2.2 billion euros, Italy 3.8 billion euros, Portugal 1.3 billion euros and Spain 1.8 billion euros. The money from the sales had been invested mainly in bonds issued by Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands and France.

            De Smet said “we are convinced that investors and clients will be reassured by these initiatives and by our solvency.” In Spain, the annual deficit on the public accounts, comprising central government, welfare and local government budgets, shot up last year to 11.2 percent of gross domestic product, far exceeding an EU ceiling of 3.0 percent.

            The Socialist government, under pressure from the financial markets and the European Union, has adopted strong and highly unpopular austerity measures to try to reduce the deficit to 6.0 percent of output from 2011. Greece, which has been rescued from debt default with funds from the rest of the EU, including Spain, and the International Monetary Fund, and Portugal, are also the subject of particular concern over the state of their public finances.

            However, banks in eurozone countries are able to obtain unlimited refinancing funds at a fixed rate from the European Central Bank since October 2008 following the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers which severely curtailed activity on the interbank market. The ECB recently re-opened swap arrangements with the US central Federal Reserve bank to facilitate access for eurozone banks to funds in dollars.

            Madrid, May 27, 2010 (AFP)

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