News in brief
Roll out the welcome wagon
Hiscox is pleased to introduce two new regional managers. The new Colchester Regional Manager is Derrick Potten, who has ten years’ experience and was formerly Specialty Lines Manager for Chubb in the southeast. Looking after Glasgow is Gaelic-speaker Alasdair MacMillan, who joined us in July from Royal & Sun Alliance, where he was most recently UK Risk Control Leader. A warm welcome to both.
Hiscox draws praise in broker survey
Respondents to a recent Insurance Age survey on the state of the broking industry have recognised Hiscox for its service levels. One broker said: "Hiscox is knowledgeable, with flexibility and authority, and is backed up by efficient systems." When asked to comment on what they needed to survive, small brokers answered: "More equal treatment with the large consolidators", "A higher level of renewal commissions to help offset the large additional costs of compliance" and "A level playing field in terms of product availability and price".
New maternity rules bad for business, says FSB
The Federation of Small Businesses has blasted the maternity laws that came into force in April. The length of maternity leave and the level of statutory maternity pay have increased, and mothers can transfer some of their rights to the father, who can now take up to 13 weeks’ unpaid leave. The FSB believes the rules could have a significant financial impact on small businesses and strain working relationships with employees. A checklist for SMEs detailing how to comply with the new rules is available from the Equal Opportunities Commission here.
Smaller brokers must work harder to meet TCF deadlines
A recent report found that just 41 per cent of small firms met the March deadline for Treating Customers Fairly, by which time they should have implemented TCF policies in a substantial part of their business. To help SMEs get ready for the final December 2008 deadline, the FSA will expand their range of TCF online tools and hold a number of regional workshops.