08.01.05
Posted in Insurance Companies, General at 11:52 pm by Administrator
UK: Norwich Union increases cash release terms on home reversion plan
Norwich Union is improving the cash release terms on its Home Reversion Plan with immediate effect.
This review of the terms will benefit the majority of people taking out the Home Reversion Plan and could mean up to £2,000 more compared against old rates.
Examples:
A 75 year old male selling all of his £200,000 property would now receive £105,798 against £104,320 before the review.
A couple both aged 65 selling 81.7% of their £100,000 property would now receive £26,806 against £25,000 before the review.
Nigel Spencer, head of marketing for Norwich Union Personal Finance, said: “Following on from the successful launch of the Norwich Union Home Reversion Plan in April this review of terms means the competitive position of our offering is very strong. We now offer higher cash payments than the leading competitors in the majority of cases. On price we are particularly strong above age 70 and for joint cases. Our in-built guarantees also provide customers with a high level of protection and benefit.”
The Norwich Union Home Reversion Plan incorporates two extra guarantees as standard, the Inheritance Protection Guarantee and the House Price Inflation Guarantee.*
Intermediaries can find out more about these changes and equity release from Norwich Union by visiting its dedicated website, www.ifaresourcecentre.co.uk.
Permalink
Posted in Insurance Companies, General at 11:51 pm by Administrator
UK: ‘Wossy’s home is where the happiness is’
The ‘Quote Me Happy’ insurance people Norwich Union have come up with some amazing facts regarding the way we feel about the home lives of the rich and famous. Asked which celebrities we thought had the happiest homes, two TV presenters were clear winners: Jamie Oliver with over one-fifth of votes and chat-show host Jonathan Ross was way ahead with nearly one-third. The multi-millionaire Beckhams’ home however was judged as being unhappy with a tragic 1% rating.
In the survey of 2000 men and women, cartoon favourites Homer and Marge Simpson beat the likes of Richard and Judy in the happy home stakes. Madonna and Guy Ritchie were also overtaken in the poll by our yellow friends.
If you think your home has what it takes to outdo Wossy et al, log on to www.norwichunion.com/happyhomes between 7 July and 31 October 2005 to enter the ‘Happy Homes’ competition. The winner will receive an £8000 prize (monetary or vouchers) to help make their happy home a dream home, with 20 runners-up obtaining £100 prizes.
The survey also revealed which celebrities aren’t considered to be so happy at home. Predictably the miserable fictitious Slater family from BBC TV’s EastEnders scored the lowest figure.
Off on holiday? Who would you be most happy looking after your home while you’re away? Maybe high-scoring Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen would get busy around the place while another favourite Prince William would certainly add a touch of class. Meanwhile child “Home Alone” star McCauley Culkin was considered a pretty poor bet, after his character trashed his family’s home in the movie.
But way ahead of these was Big Brother presenter Davina McCall with over one-quarter of the votes. Is everyone mad? Wouldn’t she immediately invite a dozen total strangers over and start filming them asleep in your bed?
Permalink
Posted in Insurance Companies, General at 11:50 pm by Administrator
Morley boosts European property team with two new fund managers
27 July 2005
Morley Fund Management, Europe’s largest property fund manager*, has made two appointments to its continental European property team. Gilles Chow and Gil Bar both join as fund managers, reporting to Ben Stirling.
Gilles Chow joins from Macquarie Global Property Advisers. He has been focused on the acquisition and asset management of real estate across -Europe since 2000. Prior to joining Macquarie, Gilles worked for Lend Lease in Australia, Singapore and London.
Gilles joined Morley this month and will be working on the Global Switch Fund and the Pillar European Retail Park Fund (PREF).
Gil Bar joins Morley from Standard Life where he worked for three years as a portfolio manager in the European Property Group. He was part of a small team managing around €2 billion of continental European property assets.
Gil will join Morley in August and will be involved in new fund initiatives.
Commenting on these appointments Ben Stirling, European Property Fund manager, said: “Gilles and Gil bring with them first rate experience in pan-European property fund management which will benefit our European property business. We have made great strides in this area in the last year and already have three continental European property funds under management and are looking to expand our range of funds in this area in the coming months.”
The appointments of Gilles Chow and Gil Bar brings the number of European Property Fund Managers at Morley to four. Since announcing its intention to invest in Continental European Property a year ago, Morley has launched the Aviva Central European Property Fund, the €200m Parkridge European Distribution Fund (with Parkridge) and has become investment manager of the Tri Investment European Residential Property Fund as well as providing strategic management services to the Pillar European Retail Park Fund.
*Source: OPC April 2005
Permalink
07.31.05
Posted in Resources at 11:00 pm by Administrator
Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk
Author: Peter L. Bernstein (Usually dispatched within 24 hours)
Outstanding Book of Clarity and Depth.There are books which the subject at hand could easily bore the lay person after the first chapter, however this is definetly not one of them. Shamefully, knowing little arithmetic(never mind maths), I was pleasantly ensnared in this feast of probability. It is written clearly and coherently and introduces the reader to a whole universe of number subjects which fascinated me from start to finish. From Pascals triangle to John Nash’s work on game theory, I understood broadly, every concept the author introduced.
Whether you are a student of Maths or Philosophy,History or Science, a bookworm or an occassionite, this book is for you.
I highly recommend this masterpiece.
Everything is a risk
Are you a private investor looking for handy tips on hot stocks? Good luck, but this might not be for you. You won’t find get-rick-quick advice in this scholarly work, but you might learn why you’re drawn to actively managed funds despite their history of market underperformance. You’ll also be enriched by the stories and depth of research here. Another reviewer objects that Bernstein credits the Greek mathematicians with less understanding of probability than a school child. It seemed to me that Bernstein is saying something different: Even if Socrates had a private opinion about the frequency of VI on an astragali roll it wasn’t a respectable part of his intellectual framework. He might of known it, but he refused to study it.
The author clearly considers his subject the most important in history, and in 330 pages identifies every significant step in the development of *thinking about* risk. In some ways though, the focus is too narrow. It becomes clear towards the end of the book that he has been building up the strands of probability theory as precursors to the ‘taming of risk’ in modern financial theory. I was hoping that an ambitious work on the history of probability would include the discovery that all of reality is based on chance, but you can search the index for ‘Quantum Mechanics’ in vain. (However ‘Quant’ is there - Bernstein himself was once a financial mathematician.)
In a subject as huge as risk there will always be more to say, and what is included here makes a cohesive whole whilst being important or interesting in it parts. Ok, maybe you don’t love chance as much as me - what you need to know about portfolio theory is in Chapter 12 onwards - you’ll still have 140 pages of important results. It’s even topical, Kahneman’s Prospect Theory is covered in detail (and he won the Nobel last year).
A superb popularisation of a complex subject
Bernstein has managed to take a subject which at first sight seems intensely boring, and has made it fascinating.
Whether or not you have any interest in Risk, Statistics or Econimics, you owe it to yourself to read this book. It is quite simply a “Ripping Yarn”. Its greatness lies in Bernstein’s ability to tell the story in an accessible manner, without dumbing down the essential facts.
Let me say it again: Read this book because it is a fascinating and well written story. The fact you will know a lot more about Risk at the end of it is an incidental, but very welcome, extra.
Permalink
Posted in Resources at 11:00 pm by Administrator
Dictionary of Insurance (FT)
Author: Carol Bennett (Usually dispatched within 24 hours)
Book Description
This book provides broad coverage of the terminology employed in insurance, including legal and financial terms likely to be used in everyday insurance activities. It is an indispensable guide to practitioners in insurance seeking a quick introduction to, or revision of a topic. Business advisers and other non-specialists will also find it helpful as a starting point on insurance problems.
It contains in-excess of 3500 fully cross-referenced insurance and insurance related terms, abbreviations, special terms and useful addresses, there will also be a detailed section on regulatory issues, containing several specimen policy forms illustrating terms in context of the respective policy.The new edition contains new risk management terms, and up to date regulatory and compliance matters, legal cases, and polices.
Synopsis
A one-stop, first point of reference to help insurance practitioners and commercial insurance buyers through the modern maze of financial and risk management terms and to provide the ordinary consumer with a better understanding of the insurance products they may buy.
From the Back Cover
The Dictionary of Insurance
2nd Edition
Including over 3500 insurance and insurance related terms, this accessible and indispensable companion gives you a wealth of insightful and time-saving information at your fingertips!
The Dictionary of Insurance provides a quick and comprehensive reference to help insurance practitioners and commercial insurance buyers through the modern maze of financial and risk management terms. It will also provide consumers with a better understanding of the insurance products they may buy.
The Dictionary provides clear, accessible coverage of the terminology employed in insurance, including legal and financial terms used in everyday insurance activities.
New terms and topics have arisen over the last decade as a result of significant changes in the insurance industry. Cutting through the jargon to provide a clear, time-saving resource, the Dictionary also contains new definitions that have resulted from all the major changes including-
The Single European market and the Insurance Directives
The creation of the Financial Services Authority as a sole regulator for financial services
The convergence of banking and insurance
The development of alternative risk transfer
The continuing development of risk management
and market developments affecting both commercial and personal business.
This wealth of time saving information will ensure that both insurance professionals and non-specialists alike keep up to date with the latest insurance terms and topics.
About the Author
Carol Bennett is an insurance industry know-it-all. He has years of experience lecturing, writing about and working within the insurance industry and has worked as an Insurance trainer with brokers UK wide.
Permalink
Comments off
Posted in Resources at 11:00 pm by Administrator
The New Financial Order: Risk in the 21st Century
Author: Robert J. Shiller (Usually dispatched within 24 hours)
A Must-Read!Economist Robert Shiller became a household name when he published his previous bestseller Irrational Exuberance just as the dot.com boom was peaking. In The New Financial Order, he capitalizes on his celebrity to put forward a thoughtful, detailed proposal for managing economic risks. This highly readable book portrays a future in which many serious individual financial risks are dispersed to savvy global investors, thanks to technology. Imagine violinists being able to insure their careers in addition to their Stradivarius instruments, developing countries securing generous loans from the first world by tying the repayment schedules to their future GDPs and a revamped tax system preventing the gap between rich and poor from widening. We ….suggest this book to risk-management professionals who want to step back and look at the big picture, as well as to anyone who has a stake in creating new financial products to meet twenty-first century needs.
Permalink
Posted in Resources at 11:00 pm by Administrator
Success in Insurance (Success Studybooks)
Author: S.R. Diacon (Usually dispatched within 24 hours)
This is a clear and helpful book for students of insurance.Success in Insurance is surprisingly easy to read given the subject matter. It covers all the basics of insurance practice from what it is and why we need it, to more complex topics: ideal for the novice beginning their academic insurance studies. Indeed, this is why I bought it.
The layout is clear and concise, and it follows a logical, helpful structure. At the end of each chapter revision questions give you the opportunity to test what you have learnt, and sample exam questions provide more in depth testing.
The index is comprehensive, the style almost conversational and I certainly believe it will help me achieve exam success; it’s an excellent revision tool. It is much easier to carry around than the CII textbooks too!
Permalink
Posted in Resources at 11:00 pm by Administrator
Risk Management for Computer Security: Protecting Your Network and Information Assets
Author: Andy Jones (Usually dispatched within 24 hours)
Best Risk Management book on the market today!There are many books on the market dealing with risk management as part of InfoSec. So, I wasn’t sure that this one would be better, or provide any new information. I was first surprised to find it written in a non-techie way. That means the information is easy to read and more importantly, easy to understand. Also, because it is written by two authors from the UK, it offers a slightly different look than what has been written on the topic by numerous U.S. authors.
What I especially liked about this book is that it not only dealt with all of today’s relative risk management issues but the section on “The Threat Assessment Process” was really well done. Often this is not given the importance it deserves as other authors concentrated on the risks. However, one must know the enemies to defend again them. This part was a nice surprise.
So for today’s professional whose experience is vast or limited, this book offers all you need to know about risk management as it relates to InfoSec - or “Computer Security” as the authors call it.
Permalink
Posted in Resources at 11:00 pm by Administrator
Dictionary of Insurance Terms (Business Dictionaries)
Author: Robin Harvey (Usually dispatched within 24 hours)
Not for insurance practionersI was looking for an introductory guide to the London Insurance Market and this wasn’t it. If you are a member of the public that requires explanation of your insurance policy then this may be for you, but be mindful that it is written from an American perspective. As a new recruit to a Lloyds syndicate I needed to become acquainted with all the terminology used within the market in order to understand slips and conmmunicate with underwriters. I have now bought the FT insurance dictionary instead because it covers what I need.
Permalink
Posted in Resources at 11:00 pm by Administrator
Understand Financial Risk and Analysis in a Day (Understand in a Day)
Author: Alex Kiam (Usually dispatched within 11 to 12 days)
A quick guild to manage riskA great book with many tips on risk management to get you started. However, some areas on managing risk may be a little daunting to the non-mathematician but this should not put you off as it is well written and is easy to read with a summary after each chapter.
Permalink
« Previous entries ·