| Monitor recommends raising compulsory car insurance
The Insurance Services Office of Israel (ISO) recommends raising the price of compulsory vehicle insurance by 7.8%. The ISO operates a database of compulsory vehicle insurance, and advises on rates. The recommendation reverses years of recommending lower rates, because of the rising cost of lost years of earnings of victims of traffic accidents. The ISO notes, that were it not for the effect of risks and external developments on the Israeli insurance market in recent years, compulsory vehicle insurance should fall by a further 7.6%. However, the Supreme Court ruled that insurance companies must cover the lost years of earnings of victims of traffic accidents. Article continues after advertisements Other factors that are driving a rise in compulsory vehicle insurance are the effects of WHAT claims by the National Insurance Institute against the perpetrators of traffic accidents or third parties, which raise compulsory vehicle insurance rates by an estimated 3%; changes in the retirement age, which raise rates by 1.6%; amendments to the law for claims restitution, which raise rates by 1.5%; and rising hospitalization costs, which raise rates by 1%.
Cowdery in talks with UKFI over Lloyds insurance assets
Clive Cowdery, the insurance entrepreneur who bought Friends Provident last week, has met with Treasury officials who assured him that the offshore structure of his company, the Guernsey-based Resolution, won't hamper his attempts to buy insurance assets up for sale by Lloyds Banking Group. Resolution is believed to have had talks with UKFI, the body that manages the Government's stake in Lloyds and RBS, in an effort to secure assurances that any bid for Scottish Widows or Clerical Medical won't be hampered. A source said: "Reassurances have been made to Resolution. It will be treated as any other foreign buyer would be. This is a commercial decision." Concerns remain among MPs over the likelihood that Resolution, which operates a private equity-style compensation structure giving the company's management 10 per cent of any profits made when a company is sold, could buy Lloyds' assets.
UMB Insurance Deal Looks Like First in a Series
The Kansas City, Mo., company said last week that UMB Scout Insurance Services Inc. signed a definitive agreement to buy the assets of Chapman-Sander, an independently owned insurance agency in St. Louis. The price of the deal was not disclosed.Roger Forystek, the president of UMB Scout Insurance, said the acquisition would be the unit's first foray into offering property/casualty insurance. UMB Scout Insurance has offered annuities to retail customers and advanced insurance services to high-net-worth individuals for 20 years, but hired Forystek in the last year to expand the business.Forystek, who worked for Hub International Ltd., before joining UMB, said he plans to acquire this year or next, but would not specify how many. "We don't have any set goals in terms of numbers," Forystek said in an interview.
MY TAKE - Health care reform: A European perspective
I grew up in an Eastern European country with the "single payer" health insurance system. I lived for five years in a Western European country with the same system and I have lived and worked in the United States for the past 10 years. The health care debate in this country is very welcome, interesting and lively. It struggles with many moral, economic and political issues. I will try to provide a brief comparative perspective on European vs. American health care systems. The European system is not really all paid for by the government. The financial insolvency of the welfare state forced European countries to seek financial participation of patients. For example, in France (the best health care system in Europe), the government normally pays 80 percent of the health care costs, while the patient covers the rest.
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