Weblog

No comments

Danny Walkinshaw looks at the latest insurance stories online

The swine flu pandemic dominated news pages on the web and travel insurers were kept busy as airlines cancelled flights and governments warned tourists against travelling to Mexico, the source of the outbreak.

Telegraph.co.uk said the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) warning against all but essential travel to Mexico had left many tourists confused about whether their policies would allow them to claim in the event of emergencies such as swine flu.

The Sky News website hosted a special Swine Flu Travel Q&A with details of airlines that had cancelled flights, as well as information and advice.

With lengthy periods of more cancellations in the pipeline, claims could be flooding in for some time.

Meanwhile, Swiftcover had its television advert starring rock star Iggy Pop banned after it was ruled misleading by the Advertising Standards Authority because the company does not offer cover for musicians. The BBC website says Swiftcover now offers policies to musicians and that Iggy Pop will continue to endorse the company.

At insurancetimes.co.uk, the latest shake-up at RBS resulted in substantial cuts at its broker-only insurer NIG, with eight of its 18 branches closing and job losses expected. This became the most popular story for the whole of last month, closely followed by the report of RSA’s decision to close its Bristol office as part of a group-wide cost-cutting exercise.

Look out for new entries in the Biba conference diary at insurancetimes.co.uk, as well as “Five things you didn’t know about…” featuring Crawford & Co’s Benedict Burke.

Online Top Five