Hints and tips:
...Companies to quantify the hit to profits included the insurer Assurant, which took a $17.2m charge, the security company Brink’s ($8m) and the staffing company ManpowerGroup ($2.5m)....
...Assurant declined to comment. The developments highlight the risks that insurers run as they experiment with different distribution methods....
...Instead it acts as a broker, passing on the risk to traditional players such as Allianz and Assurant....
...Protect Your Bubble, which is owned by New-York listed Assurant, said it used The Fone Clinic among several other repair companies. “We will monitor the situation closely,” it added....
...JPMorgan is a focus of the inquiry because in recent years the bank held a small financial stake in an insurance company called Assurant on behalf of its clients....
...Assurant has also raised its premiums for some customers, citing “exceptional” volumes of claims over the past 24 months....
...Three picks of Forsyth’s are: Potash, the Canadian fertiliser producer, which is trading at 17 times 2009 earnings; Assurant, a niche company that specialises in homeowner insurance; and Bucyrus, a coal...
...The general division, however, lost €66m as a result of transactions related to the divestment of Assurant. However, this was still a 21 per cent improvement on last year, said Fortis....
...Excluding the sale of Spanish insurer Seguros Bilbao and the divestment of its share in US company Assurant, profits increased 26 per cent....
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