Credit Life regulations and reactions (3)

This is a short addition to parts 1 and 2. The question as to whether the benefit payable under a credit life policy can or should include arrears payments. The purpose of a credit life policy is to protect the policyholder, the lender, and the policyholder’s estate (not necessarily in that order) against death, disability …

Credit Life regulations and reactions (2)

In part 1 I discussed the implications of basing premiums on initial balance or declining balance for profitability and the threat of substitute policies. In this post I want to discuss substitute policies again, talk about cover for self-employed persons and definitions of waiting periods. What is a substitute policy Substitute policies are one of …

Credit Life regulations and reactions (1)

Credit Life regulations have been live for long enough now that insurers are starting to feel the impact and the shake-up of amongst industry players is starting to emerge. There have been plenty of debate around the regulations, in part because of the dramatic financial and operational impact they will have, and partly because of …

Medical Schemes, discrimination and the CPA

The Consumer Protection Act (CPA) protects consumers from abuse by enforcing fair practices, improved disclosure and added minimum warranties etc, It’s a good piece of legislation, even if at times some aspects of it may result in greater costs than benefits. TimesLive has a story about the alleged noncompliance of medical schemes with the CPA. …

Skype Employee Share Options That Weren’t

I deal with employee share options frequently. Mostly from a valuation perspective, but also from structuring performance and vesting conditions to retain an incentivise key staff. Now I can’t say these decisions are never controversial, but without fail the intention of the employer is to provide a fair deal to staff. That is until I …

Regulations creating operational risk (and how it relates to POPI)

Ok, so that is an unfair title. But you’ll understand what I mean: Zurich Financial Services has just been fined £2.3m for a data loss event incurred in 2008 in South Africa. Zurich joins HSBC, Nationwide and Norwich Union in the club of companies fined by the FSA now. In fairness, the fine wasn’t so …