Recent figures have shown that insurers paid out £650 million from 335,000 claims, with most of them were caused by the wintry weather in the UK this year. According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the biggest chunk of the payout was to motorists whose vehicles were damaged vehicles on the slippery roads during January, which was the eighth coldest month on record and the UK’s worst since 1987. The ABI went on to confirm most of the £650 million claims were from 18 December to 13 January when the number of homes, vehicles and businesses all experience damages as a result of the winter weather. Specifically, £395 million was paid out to motorists from 268,400 motor insurance claims.

A new round of tougher stress tests have been ordered by regulators for the UK banks to make sure that if a forecasted "double dip" in the UK economy should occur , they will be able to withstand it in better shape than they did in the " first dip." The banks will be required to prove that their "tier core one capital ratio" would be capable of remaining above the minimum four percent level even if the economy contracted an additional 2.3 percent. These figures were part of a projection provided by the Financial Services Authority said in their annual Financial Risk Outlook.

Official statistics revealed on Thursday that UK industrial output fell 0.9% in January, making for the first drop in five months. The news out a damper on speculation of continued expansion of industrial output, and put further strain on the pound which is still hovering around the $1.50 mark.

The British Property Federation (BPF) has warned against possible abuse of insolvency practices in Britain’s frail real estate market as profitable tenants seek to renegotiate leases signed in better economic times.

The industry body, representing blue chip landlords such as Land Securities and British Land, has condemned the trend. A spokesperson for the BPF explained their standpoint as follows. "Landlords are caught between rock and a hard place when it comes to bailing out occupiers at the expense of their shareholders or facing the prospect of empty space and the costs that come with it,"

BPF has called for tightening of insolvency rules that she said unfairly penalised property company shareholders, among them under fire pension funds, for badly negotiating leases.

Sterling continued to be in the doldrums, with the pound closing yesterday up slightly on $1.5123 while falling against the Euro to €1.1011.

On the FTSE, the star of the show was undoubtedly the Tullett Prebon Company. Tullett Prebon are an interdealer broker, whose shares rose by 25.7% as speculation mounted that the company was in the throes of talks regarding a possible sale of the company to with the Bank of China being marked as potential bidders.

UK equities continued to rally in midweek, despite the weaker-than-forecast manufacturing data. Investors appeared to be focusing their efforts on the financial and mining sectors.

The FTSE 100 index took on 23.0 points to close on 5617. 26 it’s highest level since June 2008, closing at 5,617.26.

The US government announced that they had recorded a budget deficit of $221 billion (£147.6 billion) in February, making for their largest monthly deficit in s history.

Figures from the US treasury now show that the United States total deficit since the beginning of the fiscal year which began in October 2009 now stands at $651.6 billion, putting it well on track to beat last year’s record annual budget deficit of $1.4 trillion, with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner calling the deficit "unsustainable".

On the Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped back a little, down 21 points to close on 10,566.95. The NASDAQ Composite was still climbing, rising just 9 points to close on 2,356.27

China’s exports jumped by 46% in February compared with a year ago, raising hopes of a strong recovery in global trade.

The increase was higher than analysts’ expectations of a rise of between 35% and 40%.

It is likely to increase pressure on the Chinese government to raise the value of the yuan, which the US in particular complains is undervalued.

China’s imports also rose strongly, increasing by 44.7% last month

Microsoft founder Bill Gates must have been feeling a little dizzy yesterday after it was announced that he had been knocked down from one of his many pedestals, This one was to second place in Forbes magazine’s billionaire’s list, and not by his close friend US investor Warren Buffet who was in third, but by Mexican telecom giant Carlos Slim, which made for the first time since 1994 that an American has not led the who has got the most cash rankings. Mr Slam’s fortune rose by $18.5 billion (£12.4 billion) from last year to $53.5 billion. The Gates fortune now totals $53 billion, while investment guru Buffet has fallen on hard times, now worth only $43 billion.

2009 was all in all a tough year for billionaires with 332 of them being reduced to being mere multi-millionaires, while around two hundred news ones being accepted to the club, according to the Forbes list.

In the UK, the sixth Duke of Westminster Gerald Grosvenor remained the wealthiest Briton with a net worth of $12 billion as he improved his finances by $1 billion despite the UK property slump. The improving health of the global economy meant that 55 countries were represented in the Forbes, among them China. In fact if you take in Hong Kong, the Chinese now account for 89 of the world’s billionaires, second only to the United States with 403 billionaires.

One or two of them must come from the Chinese automotive industry, which increase capacity at an alarming rate in order to meet demand. Changan Automobile, the 4th largest domestic producer by sales (and a strategic partner of Ford) announced 2009 total revenues up by 88.4%, with an almost two-thirds increase in total units sold. Announcing the figures, the company also said that they expect liberal government policies will continue to support industry growth at the present pace for the foreseeable and that facility expansion will likely continue. Changan is not alone in ramping up capacity, with the Chery Company announcing the launch of a new factory in Mongolia despite the fact that their new facilities in Wuhu and Dalian have not yet been completed. Chery are best known for their range of compact cars.

Signals from Beijing do seem to indicate that the automotive industry will continue to receive special support even as tightening measures are implemented broadly. In a newspaper interview yesterday, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry reaffirmed the Chinese government’s commitment to provide subsidies for green automotive technology to help achieved the official target of half a million green cars before 2013.

financial

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Tags: Association of British Insurers, Bank, Bank of China, Banking, Bill Gates, British Economy, British Land, British Property Federation, Carlos Slim, Credit Crunch, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Financial News, FTSE, Insurance, Land Securities, Microsoft, Money, NASDAQ, Recession, Retail, Tullett Prebon Company, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK Recession, US Government, US Treasury, Wall Street, Warren Buffet

In spite of various and long ranging attempts to steer clear of it, Lloyds Banking Group now appear likely to participate in the government sponsored insurance scheme to freeze their toxic assets

Despite the fact that Lloyds signed up for the insurance scheme way back in March, giving itself the option of freezing £260 billion of toxic assets, mostly taken on when it acquired mortgage lender HBOS, the bank has made no serious attempts to participate in the scheme. It would mean that up to £20 billion would be freed for fresh lending but in turn would allowed the UK taxpayer to own close to thirds of the bank. When the deal was first signed in March, shares in stood at 36 pence per share, and yesterday they were almost three times that amount.

At their meeting on Thursday, European Union leaders are expected to urge sanctions for banks that pay excessive bonuses. Ahead of the meeting, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has insisted that there was broad backing for bonus restrictions. The EU leaders are likely to urge the Group of 20 (G20) richest nations to maintain their stimulus spending as signs of global recovery grow stronger. Many EU countries blamed excessive bonus taking as a principal cause of the crisis and are seeking to regulate how bonuses are paid at banks in the future.

Vodafone are seeking to assure their investors that they stand to benefit from the recent plans of UK mobile phone businesses of France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom to merge. If the merger does take place, Vodafone once the market leader in the UK, faces falling down the ladder to become the third largest British mobile operator. Currently Vodafone is the second largest UK network operator, behind Telefonica’s O2 subsidiary. Orange UK and T-Mobile UK are respectively the third and fourth largest UK mobile phone operators, but would become the market leader after the proposed merger. On the announcement, stock in Vodafone rose 0.2 percent, to 139.5 pence.

On the FTSE yesterday HSBC provided the foundation for the climb for a fifth straight day of gains. Shares in the bank’s shares gained 2.5 per cent to 717 pence amid growing optimism about its household consumer credit division, now renamed HSBC Finance.

Europe’s largest home-improvement retailer Kingfisher Plc are due to report their interim trading results. In anticipation, their stock rose 1.9 percent to 205.5 pence.

Stuart Rose, chairman and chief executive officer of the Marks & Spencer Group has dismissed the suggestion that his plan to remain as chairman of the company after the hiring of a new CEO was deterring candidates for the job. After that matter was put to rest, stock in M&S climbed 1.7 percent, to 373.8 pence.

Meanwhile Britain’s second-largest clothing retailer Next Plc announced pre-tax profits for the six months through the end of July profit had increased by 6.9 percent to reach £185.5 million pounds. Despite the fact, their stocks fell 1.2 percent, to 1,699 pence.

The UK’s FTSE 100 index continued to climb, rising 39.82 points to close at 5163.95 while the FTSE 250 rose on Thursday by a further 58.84 points to finish the day on 9364.08.

The pound, after making a minor recovery yesterday, fell back against the main currencies yesterday.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6443
• Pound/Euro 1.1155
• Pound/Japanese Yen 149.8274
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6914

The Dow Jones Industrial Average adjusted downwards but only slightly on Thursday trading, downing 7.79 points at 9,783.02. The NASDAQ also fell, but just a little, 6.4 points to 2126.75.

The European plane maker Airbus has raised its forecast for new aircraft demand over the next 20 years.

It predicted global demand for 25,000 new aircraft across the industry between 2009 and 2029, up from the 24,262 it forecast for 2007 to 2027.

Airbus have also said that passenger numbers would fall by 2% this year but rise 4.6% next year going on to add that that demand for aircraft would be susceptible to economic upturns and downturns.

Their principal rival the Boeing Company predicted in June that 29,000 new planes would be ordered between 2009 and 2029.

financial

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Tags: Airbus, Bank, Banking, Boeing, British Economy, British Pound, Credit Crunch, Currency, Dow Jones, Economy, Employment, Financial News, FTSE, Gordon Brown, HBos, HSBC, Insurance, Kingfisher Plc, Lloyds, Lloyds Banking Group, Marks & Spencer, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Next Plc, O2, Orange UK, Recession, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, T-Mobile UK, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Vodafone

Insurance companies in the UK are fearful that they risk under-capitalisation and will be forced to raise at least a further £50 billion in equity if legislation being debated by the European council is passed: rules that will lead to a dramatic increase in premium rates.

Leading figures in the UK industry, as well as representatives of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) trade body, have written a strong letter to UK Chancellor of the Exchequer warning that the extreme measures proposed could destabilise the industry, not only in the UK, but across all of Europe.

The letter urged Mr. Darling to intervene and to approach his colleagues at the European Commission over the threat, explaining that their new and unwelcome legislation might cause irreparable damage to the industry and its customers.

ABI director-general Stephen Haddrill explained in his letter to Alastair Darling that the new proposals require that insurance companies in the UK alone would need to increase their working capital and their reserves by £30 billion in order to reach a £70 billion minimum figure. Insurance companies and associations throughout Europe who are legislated by the European Commission would be required to raise similar amounts.

Haddrill went on to explain in his letter that in the UK, the impact of abiding by such legislation is like the equivalent of raising fresh equity capital that equals the industry’s total current market capitalization that is now more than £50 billion. If the legislation is passed, fears are that the insurance industry will be unable to raise the additional equity and this ultimately could lead to the collapse of the insurance industry, a situation that is untenable.

The new rules, laid out in the Commission’s “Solvency II” directive, are scheduled to come into force in 2012, with implementation standards due to be set by the end of 2010. The directive’s intention is to improve transparency in the insurance industry, as well as establishing standardised capital requirements for the insurance industry across the European Union.

However insurers in the UK and across mainland Europe are convinced that the regulators are inclined to place insurance companies in the same category as banks, even though the insurance industry has weathered the financial downturn fairly well.

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Tags: Alastair Darling, Association of British Insurers, British Economy, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Economics, Economy, European Commission, Financial News, Insurance, Insurance companies, Insurance premiums, Money, Stephen Haddrill, UK Economy, UK government

To fire off one of the greatest clichés of all time, desperate times call for desperate measures, or at least innovative ones. And the latest insurance scheme to be offered from next month to UK employees certainly falls into that category. The new scheme will allow workers to insure themselves against the possibility of having their salary cut and, in the event that the insurer meets all the terms of the policy, should the unthinkable happen, the insurance policy will make up the shortfall for a pre-agreed period. The policy also covers a holder who has been made redundant and succeeds in finding a job, but at a lower salary.

Unlike redundancy insurance, the policy only swings into action once the holder has found new employment, when it will pay out the difference between what the holder was being paid at his previous job and what he is being paid now. A spokesman for the insurance company behind the scheme pointed out that primarily among the principal benefits of the policy was that it allowed employees who had been made redundant to take a job on a lower salary that might offer retraining and a key to a second profession.

Employees who decide to take up the option, pay a premium that is calculated to cover what can be just a minor percentage of the salary gap up to the full amount. Under the terms of the policy, the holder can only be paid out if he was dismissed from his job.

The Association of British Insurers praised the new insurance scheme, stating that its launch demonstrated that the UK insurance industry continued its efforts to meet the demands of consumers, in spite of the ongoing market conditions.

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Tags: Association of British Insurers, British Economy, Credit Crunch, Economy, Employment, Insurance, Money, Recession, redundancy, redundancy insurance, UK Recession

According to recent reports UK Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has "strongly advised" the Indian conglomerate Tatas to accept a revised proposal that will guarantee them hundreds of millions of pounds in short-term funding for luxury brands Jaguar Land Rover.

Apparently the UK government has issued a subtle hint to the Tatas management that they should not take too much time to accept their revised proposal to guarantee hundreds of millions of pounds in short-term funding s they run the risk that the offer will be withdrawn. Mandelson’s team are reportedly surprised that Tatas are stalling on the offer, obviously on the look out for better terms, which according to reports coming out of the UK treasury will not be forthcoming. What is currently on offer are government guarantees for 290 million pounds (340 million Euros) of European Investment Bank loans.

Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco, seem very determined to establish a financial services division and at a considerable scale. Recent reports suggest that the company is even considering seeking a separate credit rating for their banking wing that will provide them with considerably more clout to take on the UK existing high street banks.

The new division to be known as Tesco Personal Finance, planning to launch a current account section within the next 18 months, and a mortgage section, within the next two years.

On the stock markets, fears of the severity of a second wave of swine flu hitting the West has played a part in forcing share values down, with British Airways, down on Monday 2.4 per cent to 134¾p.

The insurance sector had an erratic day, with speculation that Resolution was preparing to offer about 80p a share for Friends Provident, valuing the company at £1.9bn.

After the market closed, Friends announced that they had rejected Resolution’s merger proposals. On the day shares in the insurance company, added 2.4 percent to 73¼ pence, while Resolution’s shares fell by 2.2 percent to 90¼p.

Shares in Legal & General closed up 7.6 per cent to 61¼p, as rumours began to mount that the company might be interested in selling off or at least splitting up their investment management business.

Sector leader Prudential also gained 5.5 per cent to 409½p, while Aviva added 2.9 per cent to 237¾p and Old Mutual who were 2.3 per cent higher on 88¾p.

In the banking sector, Barclays stood firm 313p, despite the fact that there were rumours abounding was that the bank were courting offers for their wealth management unit…

Shares in Lloyds Banking Group rose by 6.7 per cent to 72p, in anticipation of the announcement that they had made a trading profit for the first half of 2009.

Anticipating profits from the swine flu epidemic are drug makers, GlaxoSmithKline Plc whose shares added 2.6 percent to finish on 1,141 pence. Sales of GlaxoSmithKline’s swine flu vaccine could reach as high 1.3 billion pounds in 2010 if fears of the extent of the diseases prove to be true.

In the commodities sector, things were fairly rampant. Shares in BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, added 3.4 percent as copper prices continued to rise. Europe’s second largest producer of zinc Boliden AB rallied 14 percent they announced higher than projected profits.

U.K. stocks continued their rally with the FTSE 100, which has climbed 7.7 per cent in six sessions, up a further 54.87 points to 4,443.62. The FTSE 250 climbed 85.97 points to close on 7,666.63. The FTSE 100 closed 1.3 per cent higher to reach its best level since early June.

The pound had a solid day, rising against all the main currencies.

Pound/US dollar 1.6524

Pound/Euro 1.162

Pound/Japanese Yen 155.837

Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7622

Stateside, there were sighs of relief all round as CIT Group, the struggling commercial lender, announced that they were on the brink of closing a deal that could save it from bankruptcy. As investors waited an official announcement from CIT Group, unofficial reports had it that bondholders would supply them with $3 billion in emergency funding over two years.

Inspired by the news, US stocks climbed towards their highest levels for the year.

On Monday’s trading , the Dow Jones continued its steady rise, on the day by 194,21 points to 8848.15 while the NASDAQ also climbed, breaching the 1900 point mark by closing up 22.68 points to 1909.29..

There was also some good news coming out of Iceland, for the first time in a while. The Icelandic Government announced their long overdue £1.3billion ( 270billion-crown) plan that it will enable the country’s s banking system to get back on its feet after their three main banks were subject to a last minute rescue bid in 2008..

The Iceland treasury intends to inject capital into three new banks to be formed to replace those that failed. The failed banks, Glitnir, Landsbanki and Kaupthing, all collapsed within a week last October, with debts of $60 billion.

Under the plan, the government will also offer controlling stakes in Islandsbanki (formerly Glitnir) and New Kaupthing to the old banks’ existing shareholders.

The dollar’s continued weakness helped commodity markets make a positive start to trading on Monday. Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel on Monday while gold jumped above the $950 level.

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Tags: British airways, British Economy, Credit Crunch, Financial News, Insurance, Jaguar Land Rover, Lord Mandelson, Money, Recession, stock market, Tesco, UK Banks, UK Recession

The list of ways that the internet makes our lives easier and better may be so long that it could stretch from London to Glasgow, but if the list was examined in a bit more depth, a few of the items might not stand the scrutiny.

One of the items with a question mark around it may well be these comparison websites that appear online, allowing potential purchasers to compare prices of the same product on several competing online stores. Tougher rules regarding this ostensibly innocent practice is expected to be introduces with a view to preventing advertising prices and comparisons which are fictional and often in the extreme.

Particularly sensitive are comparison sites providing quotes for loans and credit cards. Under a new voluntary code of conduct to be introduced, these sites will be obliged to provide up-to-date pricing information and not rough estimates as has been the case till now. The code of conduct, to be unveiled this week, will have the power to disallow web sites from participating in comparison schemes, if they provide a quote that can be regarded as misleading the consumer through being based on information that the adjudicators could construes as being misleading to the consumer

Another role that the comparison website adjudicators will be taking care of is the prevention of conflicts of interest. Most of these comparison web sites earn their income from recommendation fees, a practice that could tempt unscrupulous site operators to steer a client in the direction of a service supplier where they will be earning a larger fee rather than one whose prices or service is better.

Companies who agree to participate in the code of conduct must undertake to agree to set code of practice as far as handling consumer personal details before they are passed on.

Comparison websites are a serious business in the UK, with estimates that more than ten million people in the market for personal loans, mortgages, car and home insurance visiting them in order to get what they assumed was an objective picture of pricing.

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Tags: comparison schemes, Insurance, Mortgage, Mortgages, Price comparison

For the average UK family times are still tough and they best that they can hope for is that they can retain the status quo until better times come around.
Surveys are beginning to show that there is more optimism around, the worst is over and most families are digging in for the long haul.

This means that when the family sits down to discuss their budget (which we all know that they should) then the principal factors that should be taken into account are:

1) How much do we earn?
2) How much do we spend?
3) How much can we afford to spend?

Hopefully all three questions should have roughly the same answer, but if they don’t adjustments have to be made. If cuts have to be made they should be, and families that have attempted to borrow their way out of income shortfalls have learned that in the long term this is a recipe for disaster.

The next stage for many families the next decision is where do we cut? Many families make the wrong decisions at this stage, usually under peer pressure, a modern epidemic of the Western World. Why do with a model 2000 car when the next door neighbor has a 2002, and so on. Why should your little Arthur have a 17″ computer screen, when Damien his best friend has a 22″ with quadraphonic speakers? The list is endless.

And does your next door neighbor or spoiled little Damien know or even care that you are under-insured and even under-pensioned?

The sad facts are that too many families in the UK fail to take their responsibilities seriously as far as insuring their properties, their possessions and even worse, their health or their lives. The theory that “it can’t happen to me” or” let me get through the next six months, and I will see to it” is as dangerous as it is irresponsible. Too many families or individuals don’t get that six months and when calamity strikes they are left totally or at best partially exposed and the ramifications can be much more traumatic than the event itself.

So when it comes down to look at what to cut, do yourself a favour; add insurance and pensions to your list of “untouchables”

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Tags: Banking and Insurance, Budget, Economy, Financial News, Insurance, Tesco

U.K. insurer Aviva PLC expects acquisition opportunities to start arising within the next six months as it becomes simpler to value company assets. A spokesman for the company said that Aviva will be gathering cash reserves not only to protect themselves from continued financial market volatility, but also to be capable of taking advantage of acquisition opportunities till the end of the finical year.

The comments again show the optimism that is creeping back into all aspects of the UK business world, as Aviva, along with the other major British insurers continues their struggle to contend with the ongoing financial downturn. During the past 12 months Aviva has focused the on strengthening its balance sheet through trimming costs and avoiding major expenditures Soft drinks manufacturer and distributor Britvic succeeded to not only outdo market expectations with their first-half performance, but were also happy to announce that forecasts for the second half are just as fizzy. On the news, Britvic’s shares rose13.3% (35.75p to 304.5). Britvic produce the Robinson’s range of soft drink as well as being holders of Pepsi franchises both in the UK and Ireland. The company announced £20 million of pretax profits for the first half of the year, representing an annual increase of 16.3%, as well as increasing revenues by 6.3% increase to £438.2 million. All of these positives had to go somewhere, and they were represented by a dividend increase of 8%.

Commodities were on the move on the FTSE yesterday, with platinum and oil prices jumping forward,

Lonmin, the world’s third-largest platinum producer, jumped 5.6 percent (60 pence to 1,237) as prices for the metal advanced for the third consecutive day

West African gold mine owners, Randgold Resources Ltd., gained 1.7 percent (84 pence to 4,120) as gold prices also continued to rise. The rise in crude oil prices drove Shell forward. Shares in Europe’s leading oil company, climbed 1.9 percent on the day (33 pence to 1,667)

The world’s third-largest mining company, Rio Tinto had their share value rise by 1.5 percent (41 pence to 2,786) on reports that the Aluminum Corp. of China said it was “sticking” to its proposed $19.5 billion investment plan in Rio

In the air, British Airways, Europe’s third largest airline, scheduled to report earnings on May 22 saw their shares take off, jumping 4.4 percent (7 pence to 173 pence). Air France-KLM reported a smaller full-year net loss than analysts had estimated, while pledging to cut about 3,000 jobs
EasyJet Plc, the discount airline, had a good day, with their shares gaining 4.5 percent (15 pence to 317).

U.K. stocks experienced a minor hiccup with the FTSE 100 up only 7.11 points to 4,489.36, the highest since Jan. 8 4,482.45, while the FTSE 250 index continued to rise but slowly up 35.69 to close on 7,734.0.
Sterling continued its steady rise against the dollar while falling back against the Euro.

· Pound/US dollar 1.575
· Pound/Euro 1.1434
· Pound/Japanese Yen 149.0298
· Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7343

Things are looking steadily better stateside, with US financial institutions announcing that they are set to repay around £16billion of bail-out funds over the next year, according to a US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Geithner reported to the US Congress that the money will be used to further assist institutions in need of financial help.
Despite the optimism, came the news that the Federal Reserve still expects the US economy to shrink by up to 2% this year.

Share prices took a minor fall yesterday on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones index dropping 52.57 points to 8422.28 while the NASDAQ fell by 6.7 points to close on 1727.84.

General Motors’ Opel car unit remains up for grabs, with three bidders apparently in the ring. No names have been released, but known to be particularly interested are Italian carmaker Fiat and Canadian parts maker Magna as well as the US investment firm RHJ International.

The German government will be playing a major part in deciding who actually takes over the company, as the will be providing considerable financial help. However GM will have the final say on Opel, with the preferred bidder being named early next week. What may swing the bid in favour of Fiat is that their offer also includes taking over Vauxhall/

The export dependant Japanese economy reportedly shrank at its quickest pace since records began during the first three months of 2009, Figures released show that industrial output contracted by 4% during the period, or by 15.2% on an annual basis.

Oil prices are climbing, hovering around $61 a barrel. This may be temporary and no cause for panic. The price hike as prompted after two key US refineries were hit by fires and continued unrest in Nigeria, a key oil producer
US light crude increased $1.24 to $61.34 a barrel, while Brent oil climbed $1.04 to $59.96.
Figures released yesterday showed stocks of crude oil in the US have dropped by more than initially forecasted.

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Tags: Aviva PLC, Economics, Economy, Financial News, Insurance, Stock Markets

Since, last few years there has been a tremendous increase in cases of identity thefts in the United Kingdom. However, with identity theft insurance, it is now possible to protect yourself from such type of intrusion. Identity theft insurance will help you to resolve any doubtful activities, thereby giving you a mental harmony.

In case you become a victim of identity theft, your insurance company will help with the potential problems that may arise and assist you in bringing the financial life again on the track

What Does It Include?

Identity theft insurance covers all the expenses, which you will have to incur, if some one steals your identity. It includes bearing the entire legal cost for defending the criminal charges connected with the identity theft, lost wages (in case you need time to reclaim the identity), cost of telephone calls, redundant loan application charges and so on. Next, if you do not possess identity theft insurance, then you will have to bear all these expenses on your own. Therefore, it becomes very important to have such an insurance policy.

Several financial institutions offer identity theft insurance. To obtain such insurance, you will be required to pay annual fees or monthly fees through direct debit. Most policies cost around £ 3.75 to £ 6.99 each month or £ 45 to £ 84 each year. The insurance company then access your credit report and notifies you by sending alerts, if they come across any changes made to the credit report. Thus, if you have not applied for a loan and your credit report shows the loan details, or if changes occur in the bank account, then insurance company will immediately contact you and will lend a helping hand.

Although, identity theft insurance offers good value, there are typical criticisms about the same, which includes:

1. Identity theft insurance policies give the customers a false sense of protection, as they do not do anything to prevent the identity theft at first sight.
2. These policies do not offer full coverage to the victim. For instance, you may have to incur other expenses such as travel cost, stationery cost, phone bills and so on.
3. At times, you may find it troublesome to claim the amount
4. Some policies do not provide you with legal fees
5. Many policies may not give you lost wages

However, it is always better to shield yourself from the perils rather than regretting later.

Overview:

If you cannot afford to cope up with the money loss, if you lose your credit cards or debit cards and do not know as what to do, having identity theft insurance will be really worth at such times. To obtain the policy, simply contact the insurance provider and obtain details of policies offered by different companies and choose the company, which offers good services and help you with recovering the loss in an easy and quick way.
Thus, although, the cost of having identity theft insurance seems affordable, the benefits it offers are quite limited

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