High Court rejects Greek bank’s claim against Lloyds insurer over ship detained in Venezuela May 18, 2022 A UK High Court has rejected a Greek bank’s $71m claim against Lloyd’s insurer Antares seeking a multi-million-dollar payout over a ship detained by Venezuelan authorities. The ruling is set to come as a relief to insurers in setting out that such situations are not covered by war risk policies. The case comes after Venezuelan [...]
Insurers suffer impacts of climate change as costs of natural catastrophes triple May 18, 2022 Insurers are now suffering 3.6 times more losses from natural catastrophes than they were three decades ago, according to new research, which suggests insurance companies are being hit by the impacts of climate change. Natural catastrophe events are costing insurers around the world 250 per cent more than they were 30 years ago, due to [...]
Fund manager faces 40 years in prison after using Allianz’ good name to defraud investors May 18, 2022 The star portfolio manager behind Allianz’ Structured Alpha funds faces decades in prison after he traded off Allianz’ good reputation to defraud investors of billions, US prosecutors have said. French-American citizen Gregoire Tournant earned $60m from his role as Chief Investment Officer at Allianz, as he lied to investors and misled them as to the [...]
KPMG drops embattled property firm Adler as client following allegations of wrongdoing May 18, 2022 KPMG has dropped German property firm Adler as an audit client after refusing to sign off on its accounts last month. In a letter to investors, Adler chairman Stefan Kirsten said KPMG’s decision had come as a “great surprise” to the firm, as he said the firm is now searching for a new auditor. Kirsten [...]
Aviva on track to meet financial targets after sales jump five per cent May 18, 2022 British insurance giant Aviva today said it is on track to meet its financial targets after its sales increased by 5 per cent to £2bn, on the back of strong trading in the UK and Canada. The London insurer said it had brought in an extra 100,000 UK customers over the previous year brining its [...]
Coalition of football clubs file lawsuit against insurers in wake of landmark Axa ruling May 17, 2022 A coalition of football clubs have filed a multi-party lawsuit against six major insurers seeking a larger payout for money lost during Covid-19, after the UK’s Supreme Court said businesses are allowed to reclaim losses suffered due to the impacts of the pandemic. A consortium of 20 separate claimants – including Arsenal, Liverpool, and Aston [...]
Allianz told to pay $6bn after SEC charges three execs with fraud over Structured Alpha funds scandal May 17, 2022 The US financial watchdog has told German financial services behemoth Allianz to pay $6bn (£4.8bn) after charging three of its senior executives with fraud in relation to the $11bn collapse of the firm’s Structured Alpha funds. Allianz agreed to pay $1bn to the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) and a further $5bn to investors, [...]
Binance bulks up legal team as crypto firm faces mounting regulatory scrutiny May 17, 2022 The world’s biggest crypto exchange, Binance, is seeking to bulk up its legal team by hiring more than 30 lawyers across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The Cayman Islands headquartered firm posted more than 30 openings for legal professionals, including for six positions in London. The job ads come as the crypto industry faces mounting [...]
UK’s biggest phone companies colluded to bankrupt Phones 4U, High Court hears May 17, 2022 The UK’s major telecoms companies took part in a conspiracy to put Phones 4U’s out of business, lawyers acting on behalf of the bankrupt retailer told a High Court. Executives at five major phone companies – EE, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone, and Telefonica – unlawfully “colluded” to drive Phones4U into administration in a bid to [...]
KPMG hires CryptoUK exec to boost digital assets and Web3 offerings May 17, 2022 KPMG has hired CryptoUK exec Ian Taylor to lead the Big Four accountancy firm’s crypto and digital assets team, in line with plans to strengthen its crypto offering. The firm said the former executive director of the UK’s crypto industry trade body will continue to have an advisory role at CryptoUK alongside his new position [...]