London, Moscow and Paris are the most exposed European cities to a set of 22 risks, with a combined $24.6bn of annual GDP – or a third of Europe’s total losses – under threat, according to new research from Lloyd’s and the University of Cambridge. The Lloyd’s City Risk Index finds that market crash, cybercrime and floods are the top…
Business resilience to risk and disruption is highest in Switzerland, followed by Luxembourg and Sweden, finds a global index of 130 countries and jurisdictions published by FM Global. However, European countries have deteriorated when it comes to cyber resilience. Myanmar, Nigeria and Madagascar were the bottom three ranked countries in the overall index. Based on 12 measures of resilience across…
Global commercial insurance rates have risen for the second consecutive quarter, up 0.9% on average, driven by increases in property business and finpro lines, according to Marsh. However, overall pricing continues to fall in continental Europe, even though the rate of decline slowed again, the broker’s global insurance market index shows. The rise in global commercial insurance pricing was driven by…
Fines under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will only be insurable in two European countries, according to analysis by Aon and law firm DLA Piper. In 20 of the 30 countries analysed, fines – which could be as high as €20m or 4% of a group’s global turnover – will not be insurable. Only companies in Finland and…
The most complex nation in terms of financial compliance is China, according to the latest Financial Complexity Index 2018 from TMF Group, largely driven by the continued embedding of the Golden Tax System, which aims to introduce stricter monitoring and enhanced data sorting and transparency. The Cayman Islands was the least complex jurisdiction out of the 94 jurisdictions covered by…
The Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic has released an amended draft Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) legislation, which changes the initial draft IPT Act from January 2018. The Act sees the transition from the current non-life insurance levy to an IPT. According to Sovos FiscalReps, which recently met with the Slovakian Tax Office, life insurance will not be subject…
RENOMIA, an independent corporate and employee benefits insurance broker that operates in central and eastern Europe (CEE), has acquired a stake in Croatian broker DPS International. DPS International has been the Croatian partner in the Czech-based brokering firm’s franchise network RENOMIA European Partners, which operates in 30 countries across the CEE region, since 2016. This acquisition makes Croatia the seventh…
Slovakia is planning to introduce various changes to insurance premium tax (IPT) in the country, according to IPT compliance services firm Impendulo. The Slovakian Ministry of Finance has published a draft bill intended to amend various details of its IPT, though Impendulo stressed that it is a proposed document and has not currently passed through its statutory process. According to…
Measures taken by the European Commission (EC) against Poland over its national law on judicial appointments are negative for the country’s risk rating but are unlikely to result in a downgrade, according to credit insurer Coface. But the risk rating might be affected by future action, it added. In an assessment note following the EC’s recommendation to member states to…
European catastrophe insurance data company PERILS has estimated insured property losses for Cyclone Herwart, which mainly affected Austria and Germany at the end of October, of €252m. Strong winds brought by Herwart caused damage to buildings in Austria and Germany on 29 October. It also affected parts of Denmark, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, although these countries fall outside…