Regulatory fines for data breaches under the GDPR increased 39% in Europe during the past year to €158.5m, according to new research from law firm DLA Piper. The company said regulators “tested their powers” under the GDPR in 2020 after a slow start during the regulation’s first 20 months when fines totalled €114m. Total fines levied since the GDPR was…
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has called on the EC to make sustainability reporting mandatory in Europe and create a new regulatory pillar to oversee non-financial reporting, as the EU looks to update rules. The GRI has also said that companies using its standards for sustainability reporting will need to apply three new and updated standards from this year. GRI…
The world will be more unstable, less cooperative and more prone to crises this year, with the risk of interstate conflicts higher than it has been for decades, warns Risk Advisory’s Strategic Outlook 2021. The risks consultancy’s report says that the global security and geopolitical outlook is broadly worsening this year in North America, west and central Africa, south Asia…
McGill and Partners is setting up a European operation in Ireland to service EU customers post-Brexit. The office will be based in Dublin. Stephen Cross, McGill and Partners’ head of innovation and strategy, who is also a founding partner of the firm, has been appointed CEO of the Irish entity. He said the new business will allow the specialist (re)insurance…
A new joint venture between Seventeen Group, which owns London-based brokerage James Hallam and MGA Touchstone Underwriting, and German broker MRH Trowe has been launched to create a Lloyd’s broker in Germany that will allow clients of all firms to better access UK and EU markets. The new European Lloyd’s broker London Re will be based in Duesseldorf and have…
Governor of the Bank of England (BoE) Andrew Bailey said the UK’s financial services sector should not pay too high a price for access to the European Union’s markets now that the country has formally left the trading bloc without a deal that covered financial services. The bank also said Solvency II rules need reforming in the UK. Speaking before…
Aon does not expect a delay to its proposed $30bn acquisition of Willis Towers Watson (WTW), following confirmation that the European Commission (EC) has launched a Phase II competition investigation before it will approve or reject the deal. The broker said it expected a full competition review of the deal, and believes its current completion schedule for the first half…
Our recent annual conference with Belgian risk management association Belrim came at a difficult time for its members and our readers. So, to try and help them navigate these choppy waters, it focused on ‘Managing ESG and corporate risk in a changed world’. Sponsored by AIG, Chubb, CMS, Howden, Sompo International and Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, the virtual event combined…
The European insurance industry has criticised advice published this week by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (Eiopa) on the review of Solvency II, because it fails once again to insist that national supervisors properly apply the principle of proportionality. Insurance Europe, the Brussels-based group that represents the insurance sector, and the Association of Mutual Insurers and Insurance Cooperatives…
The European Commission (EC) will launch a full investigation into Aon’s $30bn acquisition of Willis Towers Watson (WTW) due to competition concerns, according to Reuters that cited sources close to the matter. A preliminary review of the deal by European regulators is due to end on 21 December, but Reuters said a wider probe will follow before the EC grants…