Post magazine – 6 March 2014

In this week's edition insurers and brokers have joined forces in supporting calls for the Competition Commission to facilitate an outright ban on contentious ‘most favoured nation' clauses, following high-level talks.

Post understands last week's multi-lateral CC hearings saw insurers and brokers pushing for a ban to include the use of ‘narrow' MFN clauses. The CC had previously only mooted a bar on ‘wide' MFN clauses after finding the majority of car insurance policies sold through price comparison websites are covered by some form of MFN clause.

In other news the positive initial response to a strategic action plan unveiled by RSA group chief executive Stephen Hester should not gloss over concerns about the insurer's longer-term financial performance, analysts have claimed; insurers' full‑year results were bolstered by largely benign weather conditions last year as many firms sacrificed market share in motor and home segments to retain profitability; and incoming Chartered Insurance Institute president Ashwin Mistry has threatened to "name and shame" insurance companies unwilling to embrace an industry-wide drive to double the number of insurance apprentices by 2017.

With extreme weather set to become the norm, Aviva's personal motor, home and specialist lines managing director Ian Foy, is in the C-Suite to explain why the industry must adopt long-term measures to reduce property damage.

The recently launched Graduate Insurance Network aims to provide new entrants to the insurance market with support and networking. Post's Mark Sands caught up with Jake Hickinbottom, Gin chairman and Allianz graduate trainee, to talk about his ambitious plans for the group in this week's interview.

As its countdown to the 20th anniversary of the British Insurance Awards in July continues, Post spoke to two past winners of the Young Achiever accolade. Equity's Victoria Cuggy won the award in 2006 for her work in managing the company's compliance matters, as well as its Lloyd's managing agency company, Equity Syndicate Management; while Claire White scooped the prize last year for delivering the best results to date during her time at Allianz Commercial's national SME unit.

An In Series on data focuses on how the industry can use increasingly sophisticated data to assess flood risk more accurately.

With a rise in the number of mergers and acquisition deals in the general insurance sector in 2013, Post asks if this trend likely to continue, and where firms will look to grow their businesses; and after facing strong criticism in recent months, key figures in the home emergency insurance market are keen to extol the cover's virtues, but following this, Post investigates what the future holds for the under-fire sector?

Enjoy the read!