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    Ian Smith

    Insurance correspondent

    Ian Smith is the FT's insurance correspondent, covering the global industry from London. He was previously deputy markets news editor, and before that worked on the special reports desk. He joined the FT from Investors' Chronicle in 2018, where he was companies editor.

    He won the Scoop of the Year award at the 2023 British Insurance Brokers' Association media awards, and in 2022 took home Journalist of the Year as well as the Best Consumer award for a piece on how low-income households were being treated by the insurance sector.

    Email Ian Smith @iankmsmith  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)

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    • Sunday, 3 September, 2023
      Prudential PLC
      Africa the next ‘growth engine’ for Prudential, says new chief

      FTSE 100 insurer maps out expansion plans after walking away from US and European markets

    • Wednesday, 30 August, 2023
      Prudential PLC
      Prudential chief Wadhwani plans to reduce reliance on Hong Kong and China

      FTSE 100 insurer plots expansion in India and Africa after pivot to Asia

      The Prudential logo on a building in Hong Kong
    • Wednesday, 30 August, 2023
      Direct Line Insurance Group PLC
      Direct Line appoints Aviva’s Adam Winslow as chief

      Announcement comes a week ahead of results as insurer tries to recover from string of profit warnings

      Direct Line logo
    • Friday, 25 August, 2023
      UK insurance industry
      Ex-Swiss Re underwriter wins £1.3mn in sexual discrimination tribunal case

      The award is one of the largest of its kind for harassment in the City of London

      The Swiss Re logo outside the company’s Zurich offices
    • Thursday, 24 August, 2023
      Pensions
      Corporate pension buyouts reach record volumes in US and UK

      Higher interest rates are making deals affordable for many more companies

      Commuters at the Times Square subway station in New York
    • Monday, 21 August, 2023
      Greensill Capital
      Australia’s IAG reports $4.5bn of Greensill legal claims

      Insurer is confronting multiple Australian legal cases from investors

      A person holds up a phone with an IAG logo
    • Monday, 21 August, 2023
      War in Ukraine
      Ukraine nears deal with global insurers to cover grain ships

      Scheme could cover up to 30 commercial vessels in Black Sea under threat of potential attack from Russia

      A farm worker checks grain moisture content during the summer wheat harvest in Kyiv region, Ukraine
    • Sunday, 20 August, 2023
      Grenfell Tower disaster
      Aviva chief calls for extension of cap on fire-safety costs to England’s low-rises

      Thousands of leaseholders in blocks of flats under 11 metres face bills to replace cladding six years after Grenfell disaster

      Aviva chief Amanda Blanc
    • Wednesday, 16 August, 2023
      UK insurance industry
      Admiral says ‘cycle is turning’ after surge in cost of motor insurance

      One of Britain’s biggest motor insurers says increases in premiums have helped it match rising cost of claims

      A Friday rush-hour traffic jam on the M25 in London, UK
    • Wednesday, 16 August, 2023
      Greensill Capital
      Greensill charged ‘excessive’ fee to arrange NHS project financing

      Collapsed firm’s insurer claims it deliberately avoided disclosing the £10.4mn structuring charge

      A logo displayed on the offices of Greensill Capital in the Daresbury Park business estate near Warrington
    • Tuesday, 15 August, 2023
      Legal & General Group PLC
      Departing L&G chief urges UK to ‘reverse’ trend of underinvestment

      Sir Nigel Wilson’s comments come as insurer’s interim results show mixed effects of rising interest rates

      Legal & General logo
    • Saturday, 12 August, 2023
      Climate change
      European insurers say US backlash has damaged climate change push

      Companies ditch collective action in the face of legal threats and political opposition from some Republicans

      Soar power station near Nottingham
    • Friday, 11 August, 2023
      Travel & leisure industry
      Business travel recovery stalls as companies seek to cut costs and emissions

      Industry has previously been able to rely on big companies paying high prices for flexible bookings

    • Thursday, 10 August, 2023
      Savills PLC
      Savills profits plummet as rising interest rates hit property market

      Real estate adviser says economic uncertainty dented recovery in China’s property sector

      A man walks past a Savills window
    • Wednesday, 9 August, 2023
      Insurance
      Insurers rack up $50bn in losses from natural catastrophes this year

      Reinsurers demand much higher prices for cover of extreme weather events in response to growing bill

      A firefighter wades through mud after a landslide in Valdres, Norway, on Tuesday
    • Tuesday, 8 August, 2023
      Zurich Insurance Group AG
      Administrator for Greensill Bank sues insurer Zurich for $250mn

      Suit in London’s High Court seeking claims over debts tied to a company owned by industrialist Sanjeev Gupta

      Company logo beside the security gate at the entrance to the Greensill Capital offices in the Daresbury Park business estate near Warrington, UK
    • Monday, 7 August, 2023
      Insurance
      NHS troubles present ‘business opportunities’, says Axa chief

      French insurer seeks to take advantage of stresses in UK’s state-funded health system

    • Sunday, 6 August, 2023
      Grenfell Tower disaster
      ‘Arbitrary’ cladding rules leave residents in England’s low-rises with big bills

      Leaseholders in buildings under-11m forced to pay for remediation work as they lack protection under post-Grenfell disaster legislation

    • Wednesday, 2 August, 2023
      UK insurance industry
      UK to establish resolution regime for insurance companies

      Bank of England to gain powers to manage demise of large businesses

    • Friday, 21 July, 2023
      The Big Read
      How an era of extreme heat is reshaping economies

      As record-breaking heatwaves become the new normal, a range of industries brace themselves for changes to the way they do business

      Fires in Greece, low river levels hampering transport and industry in Germany and a construction worker in Spain
    • Tuesday, 18 July, 2023
      UK insurance industry
      Price of UK car insurance accelerates to all-time high

      More pressure on households in cost of living crisis as quotes rise a record 40%

    • Tuesday, 18 July, 2023
      Just Group PLC
      Insurer Just Group’s sales double as corporate pension deals surge

      FTSE 250 group generates record first-half results

      Just Group chief David Richardson
    • Monday, 17 July, 2023
      UK financial regulation
      UK watchdog proposes tougher rules on ‘finfluencers’

      FCA says new consumer duty will be applied to social media posts

      An image of a person’s hands using an iPhone
    • Wednesday, 12 July, 2023
      UK insurance industry
      UK must increase flood defence spending, insurance scheme chair urges

      Mark Hoban says growing challenge from climate change requires action from insurers and homeowners

      Members of the Fire and Rescue service work in the village of Fishlake near Doncaster, northern England, on November 11, 2019 following heavy rain and the River Don bursting its banks
    • Sunday, 9 July, 2023
      The Big Read
      The pension deal bonanza remaking the UK’s retirement sector

      Soaring interest rates have facilitated a big rise in ‘bulk annuity’ transactions, but the impact of transferring tens of billions of pounds of assets to a handful of insurers could be profound

    Previous page You are on page 1 Next page

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