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Justice : Drug companies in the U.S. to pay 421 million USD for price scam

Legal

Dec 8, 2010

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Three pharmaceutical companies have agreed to pay 421 million dollars for reporting inflated drug prices to the US government, officials said Tuesday.

The Justice Department said that Abbott Laboratories, Roxane Laboratories, a US-based subsidiary of a German firm, and German drug maker Braun Medical Inc all agreed to pay the fines.

The three companies are accused of artificially inflating the prices of the drugs reimbursed by the federal government under the Medicare and Medicaid health care programs for elderly and low-income Americans.

Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said the companies were guilty of “offering their customers one price and then falsely reporting a greatly inflated price to the lists the government uses when determining how much to pay for the drugs,” he said.

The fraud led to the government overpaying reimbursements by hundreds of millions of dollars, according to officials.

“Pharmaceutical companies created an incentive for the purchase of their drugs, since buyers could obtain government payment at the inflated price and pocket the difference,” said West.

Authorities said, however, that they have recovered the overcharges and more in its settlements with offending companies over the unlawful pricing schemes.

Since January 2009, officials said they have reclaimed more than nine billion dollars in cases alleging false claims — about half of those funds from fraud related to federal health care programs.

West said the price inflation scams are a drain on government coffers and hurt health programs intended for the sick and elderly.

“Taxpayer-funded kickback schemes like this not only cost federal health care programs millions of dollars, they threaten to undermine the integrity of the choices health care providers make for their patients,” he said.

Washington, Dec 7, 2010 (AFP)

Admiral motor insurer to sell AdmiralDirekt

Uncategorized

Dec 7, 2010

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Motor insurance group Admiral is in sale talks over its loss-making German car insurance business.

The Cardiff headquartered FTSE 100 company has entered into exclusive discussions with Itzehoer Versicherung in respect of the sale of AdmiralDirekt.

In a statement Admiral said: “The group remains focused on continuing the profitable growth of UK operations and on building profitable, growing, sustainable businesses in Spain, Italy, USA, and France.”

Admiral said that AdmiralDirekt will continue to operate as normal. Since launching in 2009 Admiral has found the German car insurance market its most challenging.

In the first half of this year AdmiralDirekt made losses of £1.6m, having posted losses of £2.2m in the second half of 2009. In its interim results this year Admiral said that its strategy of increasing car insurance rates in Germany had resulted in a 25% fall in premiums. The number of cars insured also fell 17% to 31,500.

Source : Wales Online

Pensions deficits increase by 50% in four years

Uncategorized

Dec 7, 2010

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The accounting deficit of the 200 largest privately sponsored pension schemes remained relatively stable during November, increasing by £2bn to £71bn at the end of the month according to the latest Aon Hewitt 200 Index. If this pattern continues into December, this year will have seen the most stability in pension scheme funding levels since 2006, says the global human resource consulting and outsourcing business of Aon Corporation.

Although stability in the balance sheet may be welcomed, many employers will be hoping for further improvements in their accounts before conditions stabilise. The typical accounting deficit for defined benefit schemes has increased by around 50%, an average deficit of 55bn in 2006 to an average deficit of 87bn in 2010, a tangible sign of the impact that these arrangements are having on employers.

The impact of the financial crisis caused market conditions to become volatile which has resulted in large swings in pension scheme deficits, according to Aon Hewitt. Material movements in the funding level from one month to the next are unpopular with employers because of the difficulty they cause in predicting what the end of year pensions balance sheet might show.

With Government proposals to link private pension payments to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rather than the Retail Prices Index (RPI) expected to be confirmed in the coming days, many companies will be integrating that change into their accounts for the first time this month. Aon Hewitt believes that this could result in a reduction of £35 billion to the deficit of the Aon Hewitt 200 pension schemes. However, the precise impact of this will only be understood as companies file accounts.

Commenting on the latest figures, Sarah Abraham, consultant and actuary at Aon Hewitt, said: “In the aftermath of the financial crisis, pension deficits crept up to record highs. For example, in mid-June 2010, the deficit reached its highest level of £112bn. In recent months, deficits have started to reduce, although this trend appears to have stalled. Stability is a good thing for any company trying to get a handle on the size of its pension scheme obligations, however, many employers will have been relying on further market recovery to recoup some of the losses incurred in recent years.

“If conditions during 2011 remain relatively stable, then we would expect employers to take the opportunity to better understand the current state of their pension schemes and how they might be best managed in the future. With cashflow constraints also having relaxed for many employers, risk reduction is likely to be a key consideration for many companies next year.

“Depending on regulation and how it is approached by companies and trustees, and as a result of the shift from RPI to CPI, we predict a decrease of up to £35 billion to the Aon Hewitt 200 deficit. This is large enough to make a dent in the deficit of the Aon Hewitt 200, but is nowhere near enough to wipe out the aggregate deficit and send it into surplus.”

Source : Aon Hewitt Press Release

Car insurance : ice and snow brings its toll of collisions

Uncategorized

Dec 7, 2010

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The current icy spell has led to a 23 per cent jump in car insurance claims as cars slip and slide into other vehicles, kerbs, barriers, police cars and even a wild boar.

An analysis of claims taken by the AA’s Cardiff call centre shows that the most common snow and ice-related incidents are collisions within moving traffic. Common among these are tail-end collisions at traffic lights or roundabouts and sliding on bends into oncoming vehicles. The second highest count of claims was for bumps with unattended parked cars.

Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance, says that snow and ice brings a startling variety of collisions. “While hitting other cars is by far the most common, also high on the list of mishaps is striking snow-covered kerbs, which can cause expensive damage to wheels and suspension.

“Trees, lamp posts, telegraph-poles, barriers, bollards, grass embankments, walls, fences and hedges have also all brought unfortunate drivers to an abrupt and chilly halt. An unlucky 13 ended up in ditches.”

Some accidents seem to be just bad luck. One customer left his parked car only to find that it had slid down a steep hill into a fence. Another started to reverse her car out of her drive and skidded into the path of an oncoming snow plough, while two others returned to their cars to find that snow ploughs had wrecked them.

Three customers found that the weight of snow on their garage or car-port roof caused the structure to collapse on top of their cars.

Possibly the most bizarre claim was for a customer who tried to avoid a ‘large animal’ on an icy country road, but skidded and hit it. The animal was a wild boar which picked itself up and ran off, leaving the car very badly damaged.

“When there is widespread snow and ice, the proportion of claims where the icy conditions are a contributory factor increases significantly. Although the number of claims increased by 23 per cent, in all nearly a third of claims during the recent spell of severe weather related to snow or ice,” Mr Douglas points out.

“Fortunately, most people are driving more slowly than usual in such conditions so the majority of claims are at a relatively slow speed and damage tends to be less costly to repair.”

Quote-unquote: some icy insurance claim highlights:

– Slid down drive and hit my own garage, damaging my wife’s car inside

– Had to abandon my car and returned next morning to find the side had been taken out by a snow plough

– Hit a pile of frozen snow cleared off the road. It was as solid as a concrete block and completely wrecked my car

– My car slid down a hill on its own – I think it was nudged by another car. It hit a fence

– ‘I reversed, skidded and hit side of spouse’ (presumably, in her car!)

– Skidded on black ice, hit the kerb, bounced off a tree, hit another car and ended up in the ditch. The accident cause a multiple collisio

– I tried to avoid a large animal standing in a country road – it seemed dazzled by my lights. I braked but skidded on ice and hit it. It turned out to be a wild boar, which ran away but my car was very badly damaged

Slither, slide and bump: a week of AA snow and ice car insurance claims

Type of claim*	Number
Collisions in traffic	210
Collisions with parked, unattended cars	104
Hitting kerbs	43
Hitting walls, fences or hedges	34
Hitting lamp posts, road signs, telegraph poles or bollards	32
Ending up in a ditch (13), tree, (11) field or embankment	31
Collisions or incidents at home**	20
Number of cars that overturned	8
Collisions with buses	5
Collisions with police cars	3
Collisions with snow ploughs	3
Collisions with cyclists	2
Collisions with buildings	2
Collision with a wild boar	1
Other collisions / unspecified	101
Total	609

AA winter driving advice

-Heed police advice and don’t drive unless you must, in badly-affected areas

-Make sure your tyres are properly inflated and have plenty of tread. If worn, replace them (the AA recommends 3mm minimum tread depth during winter – the legal minimum is 1.6mm)

-If you fit winter tyres (not studded tyres), which perform better in snow and ice, there should be no increase in premium and no need to tell your insurer, provided they meet your car manufacturer’s specifications and they are fitted by a competent garage or tyre centre. If you are driving in some European countries, winter tyres are mandatory

-Drive slowly in as high a gear as possible, which provides better traction. Allow plenty of space between your car and the vehicle in front (at least a 10-second gap on icy roads) and avoid sudden braking, acceleration or steering movements

-Don’t be tempted to leave your unattended car warming up on the drive: dozens of cars have already been stolen off drives this year. A claim for theft of an unattended car with the keys in it is unlikely to be successful

Source : The AA Press Release

French delegation in India

Good to know

Dec 7, 2010

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French minister of economy and finance Christine Lagarde has asked India to liberalise its retail and insurance sector further.

“I talked assurance, I talked retail” , she said after her meeting with commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma on Monday. Ms Lagarde shared the experience of the retail sector in France , and said that a regulatory framework was in place so that farmers interest is protected. Mr Sharma said that policy formulation in a democracy is a calibrated procedure and feedback after consultations with the stakeholders has been very useful.

India allows 51% in single brand retail, but no FDI is allowed in multi-brand retail. Ms Lagarde is part of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s delegation. Ms Lagarde said investment from French companies can go beyond 10 billion Euros by 2012 if sectors like insurance and multibrand retail are liberalised by India.

“There could be a lot more than that for sure, if it was possible to develop activities in insurance and retail,” she said. If the Indian authorities consider it sensible to open up the sectors, I know French companies will significantly expand their activities, she said.

Source : The Economic Times

Study : aspirin sharply reduces cancer risk

Good to know

Dec 7, 2010

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A small, daily dose of aspirin significantly diminishes the risk of death from a wide range of cancers, according to a landmark study released Tuesday.

Earlier work by the same team of scientists showed that the century-old remedy for aches and pains, long a staple of family pharmacies, can help ward off colon cancer.

The new study, published in the British medical journal The Lancet, reveals for the first time that aspirin also helps protect against prostate, lung, brain, and throat cancers, among others.

“These findings provide the first proof in man that aspirin reduces deaths due to several common cancers,” said Peter Rothwell, a professor at the University of Oxford and lead author of the study.

Rothwell and colleagues reviewed eight previous clinical trials involving a total of more than 25,500 patients. In each, some subjects took aspirin and others look-alike placebos.

None of the studies were originally designed to measure the impact of the drug on the incidence of cancer.

During the trials, which lasted four-to-eight years, doses of aspirin as low as 75 milligrams — a fraction the normal dose for a headache — cut cancer deaths overall by 21 percent.

Risk was especially reduced after five years of treatment with the drug, by 30 to 40 percent depending on the type of cancer.

Three of the eight trials ran long enough to examine the impact of aspirin over a period of two decades.

The 20-year risk dropped on average by a fifth: 10 percent for prostate cancer, 30 percent for lung cancer, 40 percent for colon cancer, and 60 percent for oesophageal cancer.

For cancer of the lung and throat, the protective effect was confined to adenocarcinomas, the type typically seen in non-smokers.

“Perhaps the most important finding for the longer term is the proof of principle that cancers can be prevented by simple compounds like aspirin, and that ‘chemo-prevention’ is therefore a realistic goal,” Rothwell said.

The length of time before the benefits of taking aspirin kicked in also varied: five years for throat, pancreatic, brain and lung cancer, about 10 years for stomach and colorectal cancer, and 15 years for prostate cancer.

The reductions in stomach and brain cancers, however, were more difficult to quantify because of the smaller number of deaths recorded.

“These promising results build on a large body of evidence suggesting that aspirin could reduce the risk of developing or dying from many different types of cancer,” said Ed Yong of Cancer Research UK in commenting on the study.

“This tells us that even small doses reduce the risk of dying from cancer provided it is taken for at least five years.”

Many doctors recommend regular use of aspirin to lower the risk of heart attack, clot-related strokes and other blood flow problems.

But daily use of the drug, available without prescription, may cause stomach problems, including stomach bleeding. Alcohol use can aggravate these syptoms.

“We encourage anyone interested in taking aspirin on a regular basis to talk to their doctor first,” Yong said.

Aspirin is believed to have a preventive effect because it inhibits an enzyme called COX-2, which promotes cell proliferation in cancer tumours. In rich nations, the lifetime risk of developing cancer is about 40 percent, with rates in the developing world increasing.

Paris, Dec 7, 2010 (AFP)

Appointments : top management changes at PHP

Social

Dec 7, 2010

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The Private Health Partnership (PHP), one of the largest independent private medical insurance intermediaries in the UK and part of the Skipton Building Society group, announces the appointment of Stuart Scullion as Managing Director effective from 1 January 2011.

Scullion is a well known figure in the PMI industry and steps up to Managing Director of PHP having joined as Sales and Marketing Director in August 2007.

Jan Lawson will become Group Managing Director of PHP’s three companies namely RED ARC, Medical Care Direct and PHP itself. Lawson, who has been Managing Director of PHP since she co-founded the company in 1989, will pass over the day to day running of PHP to Scullion, enabling her to work across the group’s three businesses.

Commenting on the forthcoming changes, Jan Lawson said, “Stuart is a natural successor to lead PHP into the future. Since he has been with the company, we have gone from strength to strength and he has been an important contributor to our ongoing success. With a strong industry background, he also has the experience and knowledge to identify the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

“My role as Group Managing Director will include being an adviser and sounding board to the Managing Directors of our three separate businesses, and I will also be seeking out and developing new opportunities for the group.”

Stuart Scullion said, “I am delighted to take up the appointment as Managing Director of PHP which is an excellent brand, and has a great reputation as one of the UK’s top independent intermediaries in the health and wellbeing sector, in the corporate, SME and individual markets. Having spent the past three and a half years working alongside Jan, I have a good understanding of the business. My role will be to build on the company’s growth and success.”

PHP was acquired by Skipton Building Society in 2002 and currently employs 75 staff at its headquarters in Baildon in Yorkshire. It looks after more than 8,000 corporate and company clients, trade associations and individuals with an annual premium income in excess of £40 million.

Source : PHP Press Release

Good to know : insurers snoop online to find information about customers

Good to know

Dec 6, 2010

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Posting pictures of yourself partying on Facebook or bragging about your lazy Sundays could result in a more expensive insurance premium, it has emerged.

Insurers are planning to introduce ‘predictive modelling’ schemes – which monitor online data about people’s social life and spending – in the UK after studying the results of U.S. trials.

While the firms claim the analysis provides valuable information about customer’s health and life expectancy, civil liberties organisations are likely to be concerned about its implication for people’s privacy.

Trials conducted by Deloitte Consulting LLP revealed that the consumer data of 6,000 people was as useful in revealing potential health risks as sending an insurance customer for a blood or urine test.

Richard Verdin, protection director Aviva, said awareness of ‘how much alcohol a customer buys’ or ‘how much they spend a week on petrol’ would be mutually beneficial to firms and applicants.

‘It all comes down to data and what you need to know about the customer to process their claim as quickly and effectively as possible,’ he explained.

‘This allows us to find out what we need to know without asking any questions. It simplifies everything.’

He told the Sunday Times: ‘As well as online data collection we are looking at partnerships with banks, supermarkets, gyms and employers to share data with a view to introducing these methods next year.’

Insurers purchase the data from online market research and data collection companies, who compile huge databases of consumer information from social networking profiles as well as online sales forms, marketing polls and surveys, subscriptions, registrations and public records.

And many consumers could be unwittingly releasing their private date to market research and insurance giants by simply forgetting to click boxes at the bottom of application forms.

While Aviva’s plan to introduce the ‘predictive modelling’ scheme is a new concept, some firms already research applicants’ online behaviour when pricing premiums or investigating claims, according to Craig Beattie, insurance analyst with Celent consulting.

‘In certain high-profile cases where there’s a lot of money at stake, the insurer will look at a person’s online presence,’ he said.

‘Insurance analysts have found common factors within the friendship groups, interests and family backgrounds of people who live beyond 100.

‘If you are selling someone life insurance, it’s very useful to know if they have these indicators and insurers can find it just by looking at the person’s Facebook profile.’
Deloitte, who conducted the trials and have inspired Aviva and Swiss Re to follow similar models, said the online analysis is just a more in-depth take on the type of data already studied by life insurance underwriters.

‘It is easy to establish if a person has gym membership but what’s more important is how often a person actually uses that gym as that can say a lot about their health and lifestyle.’

In response to concerns about the privacy implications of the ‘predictive modelling’ studies, Deloitte, Aviva and Swiss Re all insisted they would not use online third-party data without customer’s permission.

Source : Daily Mail

Insurer Zurich says to cut 500 million dollars in costs

Dec 3, 2010

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Swiss insurer Zurich Financial Services said on Thursday it intended to shave 500 million dollars (380 million euros) or 5.0 percent from its global costs but that this would not translate into job cuts.

About 350 million dollars in savings would be made by its general insurance division, said the group in a statement.

“The economic conditions in developped countries will not improve a lot in the short term,” and therefore, the group “must adjust its strategy,” said chief executive Martin Senn.

Senn pointed out however that the cost cutting exercise will not lead to job reductions.

“It is not about reducing our staff numbers,” he said.

The insurer said that it aimed to pay out an “attractive” dividend to investors, although it did not outline figures. Zurich paid out 16 francs per share in dividends for 2009, and analysts at Bank Vontobel expects at least 17 francs for 2010.

The insurer reported in early November an 18-percent drop in net profit for the first nine months of the year to 2.4 billion dollars.

Zurich, Dec 2, 2010 (AFP)

Aon Hewitt urges trustees to formalise covenant monitoring

Uncategorized

Dec 3, 2010

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The guidance published by the Pensions Regulator confirms the view of Aon Hewitt, the global human resources consulting and outsourcing business of Aon Corporation, that trustees should urgently put in place formal parameters for covenant monitoring.

Aidan O’Mahony, principal consultant at Aon Hewitt, said: “The Regulator has further clarified and sharpened the recommendations it made before the start of the consultation process. As pension funds are reliant on sponsors for any shortfall in funding, the strength of the employer covenant is a critical component in protecting members’ benefits, and monitoring this should become a top priority for trustees.”

“In essence, pension funds are some of the biggest corporate creditors and therefore trustees should put in place a robust, formal process to monitor the covenant on an ongoing basis. Trustees would benefit from setting up a monitoring plan, which includes tracking a select number of key performance indicators, such as business performance and cash flow measures – just as other creditors do.”

Aon Hewitt believes that these measures should include an information protocol whereby trustees are able to access the level of information needed to assess more effectively the sponsoring company’s covenant.

Aidan O’Mahony added: “The Regulator recommends that trustees need to work constructively with employers towards having better access to information – with confidentiality agreements in place if required – and a more detailed dialogue. However, the key issue is quality rather than quantity of information as most trustees do not have the time to sieve through endless documents. Any covenant monitoring process that is implemented should, nevertheless, be proportionate in terms of cost and benefit. ”

Source : Aon Hewitt Press Release

Car insurance : bumper mismatch produce more damage and higher repair costs

Uncategorized

Dec 3, 2010

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Bumpers are the first line of defense against costly damage in everyday low-speed crashes. Bumpers on cars are designed to match up with each other in collisions, but a long-standing gap in federal regulations exempts SUVs from the same rules. New Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash tests demonstrate the results: SUV bumpers that don’t line up with those on cars can lead to huge repair bills in what should be minor collisions in stop-and-go traffic.

“SUVs and cars share the road,” says Joe Nolan, the Institute’s chief administrative officer. “The problem is they don’t share the same bumper rules, and consumers end up paying the price.”

A federal standard requires that all cars have bumpers that protect within a zone of 16 to 20 inches from the ground. This means car bumpers line up reasonably well and are more likely to engage during low-speed collisions to absorb energy and prevent damage. No bumper requirements apply to SUVs, pickups, or minivans, so when these vehicles have bumpers they often are flimsier and higher off the ground than bumpers on cars. Plus, SUVs and pickups may not have bumpers at all.

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Study : Working with pesticides linked to dementia

Uncategorized

Dec 3, 2010

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Long-term exposure to pesticides may increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, according to a study released Thursday.

Workers “directly exposed” to bug and weed killers while toiling in the prestigious vineyards of Bordeaux, France were five times more likely to score less well on a battery of neurological tests than those with minimal or no exposure, the study found.

As revealing, this high-exposure group was twice as likely to register a significantly sharp drop in a key test — frequently used to diagnose dementia — repeated four years after the initial examination.

The drop “is particularly striking in view of the short duration of follow up and the relatively young age of the participants,” mostly in their late 40s or 50s, the authors said.

The findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that chronic use of pesticides in agriculture boosts the risk of neurological disorders.

France has the highest use of insecticides and herbicides in Europe, and the fourth highest worldwide after the United States, Japan and Brazil.

More than 800,000 people in France are exposed in the agriculture sector, as were another 800,000 who are now retired.

Worldwide the number of labourers who work regularly with pesticides is counted in the tens, if not the hundreds, of millions.

In the Bordeaux study, led by Isabelle Baldi of The French Institute for Public Health, Epidemiology and Development, 614 workers were enrolled in 1997 and 1998 and re-evaluated four or five years later.

On both occasions they completed a detailed questionnaire on their work history, along with nine tests designed to measure memory and recall, language retrieval, verbal skills and reaction times.

The subjects were divided into four groups depending on their level of exposure to pesticides over the previous 20 years or longer, ranging from “directly exposed” to “not exposed”.

“The mild impairment we observed raises the question of the potentially higher risks of injury in this [exposed] population, and also of the possible evolution toward neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or other dementias,” the researchers concluded.

The same cohort is undergoing a third evaluation, 12 years after the baseline examination. Results will be published in 2012 or 2013.

“This time lag should enable us to better understand cognitive impairment and its evolution, and observe the first cases of Alzheimer’s disease among a population close to 65 years of age,” the researchers said in a companion briefing paper.

Paris, Dec 2, 2010 (AFP)

Aon : helps trucking carriers to prepare for U.S. DOT’s new CSA Regulations

Uncategorized

Dec 2, 2010

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s 2010 Comprehensive Safety Analysis regulation, which rates and monitors drivers and carriers while aiming to improve commercial motor vehicle safety, goes into effect today. Among additional outcomes, this regulation from the U.S. Department of Transportation division committed to preventing commercial motor vehicle-related fatalities and injuries now makes trucking safety scores publicly available to shippers, insurance underwriters, competitors and claimant attorneys.

As part of the regulation, the FMCSA introduces a safety measurement system for carriers and drivers that uses fleet data from roadside inspections, including all safety-based violations, state-reported crashes and the federal motor carrier census. This data is applied against seven behavior analysis safety improvement categories and is made public.

Aon is assisting trucking carriers to prepare for and comply with the CSA 2010 regulation through its CSA readiness assessment. This proprietary assessment reviews and scores carriers’ current FMCSA compliance programs and highlights problem areas. Aon’s team of trucking risk experts then assists carriers to create informed strategies designed to improve safety and help maintain proper CSA 2010 scores.

“This new regulation is much tougher than previous safety ranking programs. In fact, carriers that have maintained quality scores using the previous system, SafeStat, will find themselves deficient under CSA 2010,” said David Mitchell of Aon Risk Solutions’ Trucking practice. “It is vital that carriers review their current compliance programs so that they understand the impact of this new regulation and can make adjustments that mitigate risk and save money in the long run.”

Poor CSA 2010 scores can lead to:

– Loss of business: Shippers can easily check carriers’ scores and may opt to send their business elsewhere.

– Adverse reactions from insurance underwriters: Underwriters have tracked safety compliance scores for years and will use CSA 2010 scores when determining coverage and pricing. Poor scores can result in less subjective discounts for a fleet as well as higher premiums.

– Rising claims settlement values: Likely affecting larger disputed claims, where a carrier is not ready to concede that its driver made an operating error, these claims may cost millions of dollars to settle.

– Difficulty recruiting drivers: Drivers are expected to use CSA 2010 scores as a deciding factor in their fleet selection.

– FMCSA intervention: The FMCSA will apply an intervention process that includes phone or written reprimands demanding action plans. More intervention is possible when a fleet has a deficient score.

“Now is the time to make certain that your company’s scores are at least 10 points better than the intervention levels for deficient performance,” said Nancy Bendickson, Aon Risk Solutions’ Global Risk Consulting practice. “Aon specialists can assist carriers to develop effective fleet safety management systems that demonstrate financial and operational value.”

Source : Aon Press Release

AEGON will reduce its U.S. work force by 5%

Social

Dec 2, 2010

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Dutch insurer AEGON N.V. on Wednesday said it plans to reduce the number of employees in its United States operations by 400 to 500 positions, or about 5 percent of its U.S. work force, over the next two years.

AEGON said it will discontinue new sales of executive non-qualified benefit plans and related bank-owned and corporate-owned life insurance business in the U.S. The majority of the operations of those lines of business are located in Dallas, Texas.
Cindy Nodorft, AEGON manager of corporate communications, said the Dallas operations will account for a majority of the 400 to 500 jobs that will be eliminated.
AEGON also notified 50 employees of its print shop in Cedar Rapids that their jobs will be eliminated by mid-2011 as the insurer consolidates its printing operations in Exton, Pa. Nodorft said the affected employees will receive separation pay and outplacement assistance.
AEGON said it will continue to gain additional efficiencies in Cedar Rapids through consolidation and outsourcing of certain back office activities. Earlier this month, the company said it will eliminate between 60 and 80 annuity processing positions over the next 14 months as it outsources some non-customer contact work to India.
AEGON also plans to pursue further operational and cost efficiencies by consolidating its operations based in Louisville, Ky., with other existing U.S. locations. Nodorft said AEGON’s Cedar Rapids operations may gain some jobs as a result of that consolidation.
AEGON said it will take a one-time restructuring charge of approximately $80 million, of which $60 million will be charged in the fourth quarter this year and the remainder be charged in 2011. AEGON expects to save $70 million annual after it completes the consolidations and U.S. work force reduction.
AEGON employs more than 3,500 in Cedar Rapids.

Source : KCRG

AXA signs acquisition agreement

Uncategorized

Nov 30, 2010

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French insurance company AXA, Australian wealth manager AMP Ltd. and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd. or AXA APH, signed an agreement that will allow AXA to buy 100% of the AXA APH’s Asian activities, AXA said Monday.

Earlier this month, AXA teamed up with Australian wealth manager AMP Ltd to launch a fresh $13.1 billion bid for AXA APH. AMP would keep the AXA APH’s assets in Australia and New Zealand, while AXA would take the assets in Asia.

AXA APH’s minority shareholders are likely to vote on the deal by the end of the first quarter of 2011. The planned takeover also needs the approval of Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan, and it remains subject to satisfactory completion of due diligence.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has already given its blessing to AMP’s bid, having blocked an earlier offer for the company from National Australia Bank Ltd..

Source : Wall Street Journal Online

Good to know : Global health funding boosted by AIDS awareness

Good to know

Nov 30, 2010

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Wealthy nations boosted funding for health programs in poor countries more than fourfold between 1990 and 2010, thanks largely to greater awareness of the need to fight HIV/AIDS, a report released Tuesday said.

Research by the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) found that development assistance for health programs jumped from 5.66 billion dollars in 1990 to a projected 26.87 billion dollars this year.

Spending on HIV/AIDS programs was 6.16 billion dollars, or nearly a quarter of the total funding, said the report released on the eve of World AIDS Day.

The AIDS pandemic, which has claimed some 25 million lives since the immune deficiency disease was first reported in 1981, is one of the reasons that funding from wealthy nations for global health programs has gone up sharply, Chris Murray, the lead author of the report, told AFP.

“Until the HIV epidemic came along, we didn’t have this sudden explosion of funding for global health,” Murray said.

The surge in funding for health in developing countries was fueled in part by a sense of “moral outrage felt by many people in the West at the fact that if you had money, you could get this miraculous triple-drug treatment for HIV,” but the same treatment was not available in poor countries.

“That and the presence of highly effective AIDS activism and advocacy groups has been a big driver in the expansion of global health funding in high-income countries,” he said.

Countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the part of the world hardest hit by AIDS, received the largest chunk of health aid in 2008 — 6.92 billion dollars, or 29 percent of the total. Most of the money went to HIV/AIDS programs.

In 1990, sub-Saharan Africa got around 10 percent of global health aid.

Malaria and tuberculosis got just a third of the funding that HIV/AIDS got in 2008, and funding for maternal and child health was around half as much as for HIV/AIDS.

Malaria claimed nearly one million lives, mostly among African children, in 2008, and tuberculosis killed 1.7 million people last year, with the highest toll in Africa, according to the World Health Organization.

Some 300,000 mothers still die each year and more than seven million children die before the age of five, Murray said.

AIDS-related deaths are estimated at about 1.8 million globally last year by the UN agency for the disease. Many of the deaths were from tuberculosis and 1.3 million victims were in Africa.

But expanded access to HIV/AIDS treatment in sub-Saharan Africa has dramatically cut deaths from the disease, according to a UN report released last week.

An estimated 320,000 fewer people die of HIV-related causes in 2009 in sub-Saharan Africa than in 2004, when the region began to dramatically scale up access to anti-AIDS drugs, according to the United Nations AIDS agency’s 2010 global report on the epidemic.

Murray said the IHME report, which analyzed data from 1990-2007 and used government budgets, spending patterns and other data to project levels of global health funding through 2010, which were not available, was intended to spur debate about how to allocate development aid for health programs.

“Our view is that good information, both on where the money goes and what are people’s health problems will trigger all sorts of debate and discussion in developed and developing countries, and this will lead to better decision-making — without us having to write a prescription for it,” he said.

Washington, Nov 30, 2010 (AFP)

Disasters cause world losses of 222 billion dollars in 2010

Nov 30, 2010

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Man-made and natural disasters generated worldwide economic losses of 222 billion dollars in 2010, more than three times last year’s figure, the world’s biggest reinsurer Swiss Re estimated on Tuesday.

This year’s major catastrophes claimed 260,000 lives, most of them in the deadly Haiti earthquake during which over 222,000 people were killed. Other disasters with high casualty rate included Russia’s heatwave which left about 15,000 dead and summer floods in China and Pakistan which killed 6,225, said Swiss Re.

Yet, despite the three-fold jump in economic losses, the impact to insurers rose only 34 percent from a year ago to 36 billion dollars, as the most devastating disasters occurred in regions which had little insurance coverage.

“While most of the costliest events caused by the earthquakes in Chile and New Zealand and the winter storm in western Europe were covered by insurance, events like the earthquake in Haiti and floods in Asia were barely insured,” noted Thomas Hee, chief economist of Swiss Re.

It was the earthquake in Chile alone which left the insurance industry with the biggest bill, costing 8 billion dollars.

February’s western European winter storm cost the industry 2.85 billion dollars while New Zealand’s earthquake cost 2.7 billion dollars.

The reinsurer also included losses from BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill, saying that the explosion cost insurers property claims of about 1 billion dollars, although this figure could still rise.

Zurich, Nov 30, 2010 (AFP)

Canadian health-care costs should rise

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Nov 30, 2010

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If Canadians truly want a public health care system that’s sustainable, they’re going to have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay for it, according to a report published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Among the recommendations outlined in the analysis: eliminate the private health insurance subsidy and consider sin taxes as those are among the most equitable ways governments could increase revenue to “keep pace” with rising health-care costs.

“Health care spending has gone up for a long time and will probably continue to go up over the coming decades,” said Dr. Irfan Dhalla of the University of Toronto’s department of medicine, the co-author of the report.

“Almost all Canadians want a high-quality public health care system that’s there for them when they need it. If we agree that that’s what we want, then we need to think about where we find the money to pay for that.”

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Hannover Re insures energy savings guarantees in the United States

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Nov 29, 2010

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In cooperation with the US company Energi, Hannover Re has developed an insurance product for businesses, municipalities and homeowners. The financing of energy efficiency concepts can now be secured through the so-called “Energy Savings Warranty Program”.

“It is our hope that this new insurance product will create incentives to invest more heavily in energy-saving technologies. In this way it can help to reduce energy consumption – and hence ultimately promote climate protection”, Ulrich Wallin, Chief Executive Officer of Hannover Re, emphasised.

The “Energy Savings Warranty Program” provides an insurance backstop for energy saving guarantees in the United States. Such guarantees are given by Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) that make energy-improving upgrades to buildings by, inter alia, enhancing insulation or optimising heating technology or air-conditioning systems. If the remediation fails to deliver the promised energy savings, the ESCOs undertake to make deficiency payments. In future, these can be covered under Energi’s “Energy Savings Warranty Program”. International Insurance Company of Hannover Ltd., a UK-based subsidiary of Hannover Re, is the insurer of the policies.

Given that ESCOs in the United States now also have the option to cover the promises they make through insurance and thereby avoid possible liabilities in their balance sheets, Hannover Re anticipates stronger demand for energy-saving measures going forward.

Source : Hannover Re Press Release

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