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Thomas Hickey

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The CEO of Marketform, a syndicate at Lloyd’s of London, has stepped down to “focus on the continuing recovery of [his] wife”.

Simon Turner stepped down from his position as Director and CEO last Friday (January 13).

John O’Neill, former Chief Operating Officer, will take over as interim CEO. He commented, “In order to focus on the continuing recovery of Simon’s wife, Holly Bellingham, and due to the ongoing needs of Marketform, Simon took the decision after some leave of absence to resign these positions in the best interests of the company, and thus enable him to now give his full attention to matters at home.”

“Simon remains on the board of Marketform Group Limited and other group companies as well as being a substantial shareholder of the holding company, Marketform Group Ltd.”

“While my thoughts go out to Simon and Holly, I am honoured to take on this role at Marketform. Working with Simon Lotter, our Chief Underwriting Officer, John Mumford, our non-executive chairman, and other members of senior management our key focus will be on leading the company to deliver on our goals of profitability and delivery of our business plan,” he added.

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With more windy weather expected over the weekend, resident are being urged to take the necessary precaustions and make sure their homes can withstand the storm.

Only a few weeks after the storms that rocked the UK at the start of January, more strong winds are expected to cause damage this weekend.

“Tomorrow [will be] a windy day,” the BBC weather bureau reported. “The combination of strong winds and snow showers for upland parts of Northern Scotland will make very difficult conditions”

Despite deceptively calm blue skies forecast for the south, the wind won’t be isolated to the north.

“It’s not just going to be windy in Northern Scotland, it’ll be very blustery wherever you are … even in England and Wales you could see some gusts of 50 miles an hour or higher.”

The forecasts gives homeowners in the UK some time to take the appropriate measure of securing your properties. Things to do before the wind arrives include:

– put any small outdoor furniture inside

– secure down any outdoor furniture which is too big to be put inside

– park the car in the garage to avoid damage from flying objects

– fasten all doors and windows

A few tips for when the storm hits:

– report any damage to your insurer as soon as possible

– don’t try to do any repairs yourself, especially if the damage is on the roof,

– stay indoors until the storm has passed

The storms at the beginning of the month saw insurance companies report huge increases in the amount of claims they received. The damage caused should act as a warning to UK home owners to take the necessary precautions when possible before a storm.

The winds are expected to stick around on Sunday as well. While it should be a brighter day on Sunday the winds will remain, making it feel colder than the temperature will read.

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KBC, the Belgian banking and insurance group, is selling its Polish insurance unit Warta to German insurer Talanx for 770 million euros (£644 million) as part of a series of sales required by EU regulators.

KBC, who received a 7 billion euro bail-out at the height of the financial crisis, said today that the deal is set to boost the group’s profits by 30 million euros. It will be one of the last deals the group is required to make under a plan with the European Union in return for the aid received during the crisis.

Talanx is Germany’s third largest insurer. The company is planning an IPO and is the majority shareholder in Hannover Re with a 50.2 per cent stake. When the acquisition is completed the company will take control of Warta’s 1.5 million customers and 2,765 staff.

The deal will make Talanx the second biggest insurance group in Poland behind PZU.

“Warta is big but was undermanaged by KBC,” Reuers sited an investment banker familiar with the companies as saying.

“If Talanx comes with a new vision and tighter management, the price can be justified,” he said.

The deal will give Talanx more independence from its German business and could be a helpful boost leading up to their market listing.

The deal is expected to be among the last in a number of sales KBC is required to make to pay back the Belgian Federal state for the aid the group received. The group has already sold its private banking arm, it’s British brokerage Peel Hunt, and much of its Asian operations.

Before their debt is paid, they will need to sell their Polish banking subsidiary Kredyt Bank, their relativly small German business, it’s diamond bank unit in Antrwerp and its operations in Serbia and Russia, Reuters said.

Despite the shedding all this weight, shares for the group are strong, sitting at 12.14 euros this morning.

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QBE has launched a new health and safety e-learning initiative. Together with international training solutions company Vocam, the group will offer over 600 courses focusing on health and safety in the workplace.

The courses cover areas as diverse as Construction, Work at Height Safety, Logistics, Warehouse, Driver Safety, PPE, Electrical, Fire, Food and Hospitality, HR and induction, Drugs and Alcohol.

A fully on-line e-learning package is available in easily downloadable modules. Each training session typically lasts about 25 minutes and through a partner discount for QBE, its clients will benefit from discounts up of to 30%.

Commenting on the new programme, Mike Barraclough, Client Risk Manager of QBE’s Casualty Risk Management team said, “We are often asked by clients to recommend an e-learning provider for their health and safety training programmes. This is particularly so for those companies who do not have their own in-house resources.

“We’ve developed this initiative in direct response to this growing demand from clients and our own desire to promote a focus on health and safety training and compliance.

“Diverse and geographically spread employees can do their training online without the need to be absent from their place of work, which makes it a really cost-effective option.”

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Barbican Insurance has made a new takeover bid for rival Omega Insurance, four months after backing away from the deal.

In a letter sent to Omega today, Barbican tendered their formal proposal of a ‘merger of equals’ via a share exchange.

The move comes after a similar proposal was turned down in September. In the letter Barbican says that while they were fully prepared to complete a transaction, the Board at Omega “made but a cursory evaluation of [the] proposals”.

After Barbican’s previous bid for the insurer, Haverford also began to show interest in a takeover of Omega. Barbican said that this was “extremely disapointing” and that a deal with Haverford would disenfranchise shareholders.

Small Lloyd’s of London insurers such as Omega are seen as lucrative investments for bigger companies, with the economic climate bringing share prices down.

Barbican said that any deal would take place via a share exchange, which would leave Omega shareholders owning the majority of the shares in the new, combined company, with no acquisition premium paid to Barbican shareholders.

A view of the full letter can be viewed here.

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Hospitals are being told to remove a number of advertisments featured in NHS leaflets issued to patients.

The ads, which promote ‘no win, no fee’ injury compensation deals, have been banned by the Department of Health because of the effect they have on a growing amount of people filing personal injury claims. Some trusts however are continuing to use the ads as a means for boosting revenue.

Some hospitals are paid up to £85,000 a year or offered large donations such as equiptment or uniforms to publicise the deals, which appear on information leaflets given to patients.

Simon Burns, the Health Minister, told The Times he would be writing to Sir David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS, to demand hospitals start to follow the rules.

He said, “Patients should be able to focus on getting better, without having to be hounded by lawyers or adverts displayed in A&E departments.

“I will ask David Nicholson to write to hospitals to remind them it is not acceptable to display these adverts.”

The adverts have been playing a role in the growing amount of people filing false or exagerated personal injury claims, wasting courts time and insurers money.

Since 2007, hospitals have been banned from accepting adverts from lawyers but trusts often go ahead with the ads regardless.

Andrew Bridgen, the Tory MP for North West Leicestershire, attacked the deals which he claims have fuelled the rise of Britain’s compensation culture.

“The Prime Minister talks about slaying the ‘health and safety monster’, but we’re feeding the monster and it’s going to get bigger,” he said.

The worst offenders for publishing the ads in hospital leaflets are Pro-Vision and BOE Medical Publishing.

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Commercial insurance specialist NIG has won a contract to underwrite for Event Insurance Services (EIS), giving them insurance access to the Olympics and Diamond Jubilee.

EIS is one of the biggest event insurance companies in the UK, with 2,500 broker partners and relationships with 1,000 of the countries top venues and hotels.

Lucy Scurlock-Jones, Managing Director at EIS, said, “EIS is moving to NIG as we feel this is the right partner for us and our customers.

“We believe NIG is a more bespoke insurer which will enable us to continue to meet the needs of our customers – NIG have presented a positive and exciting future with a ‘hands on’ approach to their commitment of a closing working relationship with EIS.

“Being a niche market provider it is imperative that we have an insurer who not only supports our knowledge of the sector but who is prepared to allow us to use the tools with which to do the job and enable us to grow.

“Exciting opportunities for growth exist with the Diamond Jubilee and London 2012 – the expectation is that these opportunities will allow us to grow substantially with NIG’s support.”

Chris Robinson, an Area Underwriting Manager at NIG, added, “We worked hard to bring EIS over to NIG: By recognising their market strength and expertise, and responding quickly with the fitted and flexible solution we specialise in, we were able to secure EIS as a new client within a very short timeframe.

“We will continue to work hard to support EIS’ plans for ambitious growth in 2012 and beyond.”

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Standard and Poor’s have downgraded ING Life Insurance, after a restructure of the company. ING’s financial strength and counterparty credit ratings were lowered to BBB+ from A-. The outlook is developing.

The rating follows the insurers “revised restructuring plans”, specifically the fact that the Asian and European operations of the business are likely to be divested separately.

ING group announced last Wednesday (January 12) that it was revising the base case for two IPOs relating to the divestment of its insurance and investment management operation – one for the U.S. business and the other for the European and Asian businesses.

The revision was due to an uncertain economic outlook and turbulent financial markets, especially in Europe.

According to the announcement, the ING group will continue to prepare a standalone future for its European insurance and investment management businesses, including an IPO, while “exploring other options” for its Asian insurance and investment management businesses.

Under Standard and Poor’s ratings methodology, the insurance operations of ING are seen as “strategically not important” to the group. The ratings agency said this situation was worsened for the Japanese operation with the restructuring of the group, and that they, “currently see uncertainty for ING Life Japan’s future due to the group’s revised restructuring plans.”

“In our view, there is a lack of clarity on the extent of negative impact on ING Life Japan’s future competitive position and financial profile, especially capital and financial flexibility, following the group’s revised plans,” the agency said in a statement.

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An insurance plan covering cosmetic surgery patients has been suggested in the wake of the French breast implant issue.

Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, who is leading a government review into the risks from faulty breast implants, said a scheme like this would protect consumers.

Sir Bruce, a medical director at the NHS, likened his idea to the protection scheme currently in place in the travel industry.

In the case of travel insurance, agents pay the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) a monthly fee to have their customers protected should anything go wrong. Sir Bruce said this type of scheme “captures the flavor of where we want to go”.

“One of the things that my review will be looking at will be something rather like the ABTA arrangement that travel agents have, which means that if an organisation runs into trouble the consumer is covered,” he said on BBC radio’s The Report.

Sir Bruces suggestions come amid the current crisis surrounding faulty breast implants. French company Poly Implant Prostheses (PIP) made breast implants with non medical grade silicone for 40,000 women in the UK and countless more worldwide.

The government said it would remove and replace the implants free of charge for customers who had their surgery on the NHS. It also said it would remove but not replace implants for women who had their surgery in private institutes which no longer exist, or refuse to do the procedure.

The Harley Medical Group, who fitted around 14,000 of the implants, and Transform are two of the private firms who are refusing to replace the implants for free, despite the “moral duty” of care to their customers the government says they have.

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Europ Assistance explains the must-know key difference between annual and single-trip cover.

Frequent travellers who want to take advantage of annual multi-trip travel insurance, which gives them peace of mind for a full 12 months, should make sure they pick the right start date for their policy, cautions travel assistance firm Europ Assistance.

Unlike a single trip policy, which is usually bought at the same time as the holiday and, as its name implies, covers a specific trip, an annual policy provides cover for a specific time period and allows for multiple trips. Wise travellers will make sure that their annual policy starts the day that they first make a financial commitment for a trip, not the first day of the first trip. As with a motor or house insurance policy: there is a specific start and finish date for cover.

When you are asked for a policy start date, make sure you provide the date from which you are exposed to potential losses, and not the date you go on the first trip of the year.

“It is a false economy to try and eke out a few weeks extra cover at the end of the year by delaying your policy start date,” advises Europ Assistance director Peter Dingle. “If anything happens to cause you to cancel your trip, then your loss will only be covered if your policy start date precedes the incident.”

Of course, you must also be sure to disclose any pre-existing medical problems. You may incur a higher premium, but it is just not worth the risk of finding that you have no cover when you fall ill overseas. If you develop a medical condition during the year, do contact the insurers to see if your policy remains valid.

The main thing to remember is that you really should take time to read your policy documents. Unless you have been told otherwise, there is a 14-day cooling off period, giving you time to check the policy, contact the insurer to raise any queries and, should you so choose for any reason whatsoever, cancel the policy in return for a refund.

“Often people spend just a few minutes buying a policy online, basing their decision on price only. Reading the policy to make sure it matches your and your family’s needs can be time very well spent,” says Mr Dingle.

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The DAS Group has appointed their first ever Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Paul Timmins has been awarded the role, being promoted from Head of Risk and HR. Timmins joined DAS in 2008 as Head of Compliance and Risk Management.

The new COO role comes with a wide range of responsibilities “to meet the requirement that the operations of the fast growing nature of the Group respond to the ever increasing needs of the market.”

Paul Asplin DAS Group CEO said, “The creation of this very senior position is a reflection on the remarkable growth that the Group has achieved over the years.

“Paul will be working directly with me in a number of areas, especially those related to new projects. The high level nature of this appointment has meant that Paul has also been appointed to the Board as a Director.”

Paul Timmins added, “I’m delighted to be the first COO of the DAS Group and am already working on very interesting projects that will aid our continued strong growth.”

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American insurers aim to raise at least $500 million (£325 million) through catastrophe bond sales this month in the hope of regaining lost capital from last years near-record disaster losses, market sources said today.

The much needed surge in demand comes at a good time for the industry, after an upward revision of U.S. hurricane loss probabilities dampened activity last year, Reuters reported.

Cat bond transactions currently under way include a planned $150 million (£97m) issue from U.S. health insurer Aetna Vitality Re, aimed at shielding the company from higher-than-projected medical claims, Reuters sited the sources as saying.

Hannover Re aims to raise the same amount to protect itself against Japanese earthquake risk, while U.S. health and property insurer Assurant is looking for a $100 (£65m) million buffer against hurricane claims.

Separately, Swiss Re plans to raise about $100 million (£65m) to cover potential claims stemming from European windstorms, U.S. hurricanes, and Californian earthquakes.

“We didn’t see one transaction in January last year, and now we have five already, which is very unusual,” one of the sources said.

“All the companies need to recapitalise, and I think that’s the main driver.”

Earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand teamed with floods in Australia and South East Asia made 2011 the second costliest year on record for insurers. The only thing that stopped it becoming the most expensive was the relatively low cover for the Japanese disaster.

Investors who buy catastrophe bonds receive returns that are largely insulated from general financial market developments, but run the risk of sever losses if a catastrophe occurs.

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A dispute between Britain’s largest private medical insurance provider and private hospital group has been resolved, after both parties signed a three year agreement aimed at providing long term stability for patients, Health Insurance magazine reported.

BMI Healthcare and Bupa have come to an agreement allowing Bupa member access to private healthcare in most of BMI’s hospitals.

The dispute between the two organisations began late last year and included disagreement over fees being charged by BMI Healthcare for treating Bupa members.

John Von Klemperer, managing director, hospital operations, BMI Healthcare, said the agreement will benefit the health insurance sector as a whole and is “the beginning of a strong relationship” between the two organisations.

The deal doesn’t include every hospital in the BMI’s 70 strong network. BMI Gisburne, Park Hospital, BMI The Lancaster Hospital and BMI The Consulting Suit are excluded from the agreement.

Dr Natalie-Jane Macdonald, managing director of Bupa Health and Wellbeing, said the new arrangement will improve the way in which the two organisations work together in the future.

“We believe that the new arrangements provide a good basis to address the affordability of private healthcare while maintaining current standards of high quality care for Bupa members,” she said.

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Insurance prices continued to rise towards the end of last year, with home cover prices finishing the year 11% higher and motor insurance prices up as much as 15% on the start of the year, according to the AA’s shoparound index.

The shoparound index is an average of the three cheapest quotes from a range of insurers, brokers and schemes. The main index, which is an average of all quotes, rose by around 0.6%.

According to the AA’s benchmark British Insurnace Index published today (19 January 2012), motor insurance rose by 5.4% in the last quarter alone last year. At the beginning of 2011 the average shoparound car insurance price was £842.69 but that rose to £921.38 by the end of the year.

Home insurance, while not as drastic as motor, saw steep increases as well. Over the last three months of last year building premiums rose 3.1% and contents premiums rose 4.4%.

While experts had predicted price rises for 2011, these figures were much higher than expected.

Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance, said, “I expected a much smaller rise, especially following the small fall in premiums during the third quarter of 2011.”

According to Douglas these upward trends are expected to continue.

“The premium increases we have seen over 2011 reflect both past losses and concern about future claims.

“I expect that by this time next year, home premiums will have risen by somewhere between 5 per cent and 10 per cent” he added.

The figures support last week House of Commons report which blames rising personal injury claims for higher premiums. The AA released a similar report three years ago, warning that the rising cost and frequency of personal injury claims was putting pressure on premiums.

Mr Douglas said, “reform of the way that personal injury claims are managed can’t come soon enough. It is wrong that injury claims are rising while the number of accidents on Britain’s roads is falling.”

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Swiss Re will make two big changes over the coming months, with the appointment of a new Group CEO and a new CEO of Asian Reinsurance.

The board of directors announced that Michel Lies, pictured, will be the new group CEO as of February 1 when he takes over from Stefan Lippe. The board also announced Moses Ojeisekhoba as the next CEO of Reinsurance Aisia, and as Regional President.

Walter B. Kielholz, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said, “Michel M. Liès’ proven track record in reinsurance and broad international experience will support our mission to become the leading player in the wholesale re/insurance industry, while ensuring strategic and operational continuity.”

Mr Liès has been with Swiss Re for over 30 years, working in different areas of life and non life insurance and reinsurance. He is currently chairman of Global Partnerships, where he works on relations between Swiss Re and public stakeholders, governments and NGO’s.

As announced in December 2011, Stephen Lippe has decided to step down as Group CEO of Swiss Re.

“I am extremely excited about assuming the role of Group CEO of Swiss Re,” said Mr Liès. “The company is in a healthy state after the successful turn-around, and I am fully committed to implementing and further developing the strategy set, advancing our market position.”

The other key appointment announced today was Moses Ojeisekhoba as CEO of Reinsurance Asia. Mr Ojeisekhoba will also take on the role of Regional President and will join the group executive committee.

Mr Ojeisekhoba joins Swiss Re from Chubb Group where he was head of Asia Pacific for two years. He was with Chubb for 16 years in various roles in the US, Europe and Asia.

He will replace Martyn Parker who will return to Europe, his exact role still yet to be announced.

“Moses’ strategic leadership, primary market experience and fresh perspective make him ideal to lead Swiss Re Asia into the next phase of growth and strengthen our position as a partner of choice for local, regional and global clients”, Walter Kielholz, Chairman of the Board said.

“I would like to thank Martyn Parker for driving our successful growth story in Asia over the last six years.”

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Shares in insurance giant AIA jumped by more than three per cent Thursday after reports this week that the company may be looking to buy the Asian insurance operations of ING Group.

A Dow Jones Newswires report valued the potential deal at around 5 billion euro’s (£4.16 billion), well up on the 3.6 billion euro estimate at the start of the week.

Citing unnamed sources, Dow Jones said AIA had asked several banks to conduct a feasibility study but were yet to made a final decision on the purchase.

ING last week gave up efforts to float its Asian and European insurance operations, instead putting the Asian operations up for sale. The company said a tough market in Europe no longer made a combined European-Asian IPO sensible.

The European Commission told ING it would have to sell its global insurance arm in order to win approval for 10 billion euros in state aid received during the financial crisis, the AFP reported.

Last week, ING said it needed more time to repay the aid because it has to protect its capital base amid current market turmoil and, in another sign of worsening conditions, scale down financial targets for its banking unit.

AIA’s Hong Kong share sale was the world’s third-biggest initial public offering at the time.

Some of the cash was earmarked for helping its then parent, troubled US insurer American International Group, pay off a $182 billion US government bailout it received at the height of the global financial crisis.

Once the world’s largest insurer, AIG received the massive government cash injection as it teetered on the brink of collapse in 2008 and threatened to take down a number of large banks with it.

Source – AFP

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Former police detectives now working for Hastings Direct have used forensics information to help convict a 41 year old teacher of insurance fraud.

After a night out drinking, ‘Mr M’ from Worstershire crashed his £1,500 Volvo on his way home. He then abandoned his car and continued home. The next day when the police came to his house to notify him that his car had been in an accident, Mr M denied driving and said his car had been stolen.

He then filed his claim with Hastings, but the insurer became suspicious after an interview with Mr M and decided to investigate further.

Investigations of his car revealed extensive accident damage, but no evidence of a break in. The matter was then referred to the Worcestershire police, and a forensic examination later showed Mr M’s DNA on the car’s air bag, proving he had been driving at the time of the accident.

All Hastings could tell News Insurances was that Mr M received a “six month sentence in Worcester Magistrates Court”. No further details on the case could be given.

Paul Priestley, head of counter fraud, Hastings Direct said, “We would like to thank the police and the courts for securing this conviction.

“There is a perception that insurance fraud does not hurt anyone, but in fact it hurts everyone financially. On average every car driver in the UK pays over £44 more for their car insurance just because of fraud.

“We have heavily invested in our anti-fraud techniques and our work is both award winning and effective. We believe that this investment is necessary to ensure we are at the forefront of the industry fighting fraud to protect our honest customers.”

Phil Bird at the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) added, “The industry is closing the net on all types of insurance fraud, including cases like this where the attempt is opportunistic in nature. This conviction sends a clear message to anyone attempting to mislead their insurer.”

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The RBS has responded to the FSA’s £2.17 million fine on two of it’s subsidiaries, saying they acknowledged their failings and are “disappointed” that they didn’t meet the expected standards.

It comes after Churchill and Direct Line Insurance were fined £2.17 million for altering complaint forms and forging signatures. The FSA said that the firms had not taken adequate steps in ensuring that the files were not altered.

“We very much regret the findings of the FSA investigation,” Paul Geddes, CEO of RBS Insurance said.

The RBS pointed out that the majority of altercations were minor in nature and didn’t result in any customer disadvantages, but also that they “fully acknowledged the failings and agreed to settle at an early stage”. This saved the company just under a million pounds with the 30% reduction for early settlement.

“Although no customers were disadvantaged, we are very disappointed that we did not meet the standards we expect of ourselves and which the FSA expects of us. We acknowledge the shortcomings identified in the findings and since becoming aware of this issue well over a year ago have taken action to address these issues and to ensure we avoid such breaches in the future.”

UK Insurance Limited, the UK based general underwriter for RBS Insurance and the company who ultimately has to pay the fine, cooperated fully with the FSA investigation, and even launched their own internal investigation into the matter.

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Direct Line and Churchill Insurance, both subsidiaries of the Royal Bank of Scotland, have copped £2.17 million in fines from the FSA for altering files they were asked to inspect.

Of the 50 files the FSA requested for review, 27 were altered before submission because the firms had “failed to act with due skill, care, and diligence,” the authority said. The majority of the changes were only minor and there were no customers effected by the incident.

“This is a serious breach,” said Tracey McDermott, the FSA’s acting director of enforcement and financial crime.

“The Firms’ attempt to ensure that complete files were provided to the FSA backfired. The Firms failed to give clear instructions resulting in staff making inappropriate alterations with one individual even forging the signatures of colleagues.

“The Firms’ management did not know what changes had been made or when.”

What happened?

In May 2009 the FSA noticed a number of areas where improvements were needed in the firms complaints handling capabilities. Because of this the FSA warned the firms that it would be undertaking a more thorough review of the situation.

To prepare for the review the firms hired a major accountancy firm to do a mock review. 28 per cent of the 110 complaint files failed the assessment.

To rectify this problem, the companies initiated their own internal review of complaint files.

In April 2012, the firms submitted 50 files to the FSA for review. At the same time the FSA received information that the files may have been tampered with. With this tip-off, the FSA visited the firms offices at short notice. After an investigation conducted by the firms, the 27 tampered files and 7 forged signatures were revealed.

The Firms agreed to settle the case at an early stage and therefore qualified for a 30 per cent discount. Without the reduction the FSA would have fined them £3.1 million.

McDermott added, “The significant penalty is however intended to underscore to firms that it is of critical importance that material provided to the FSA must reflect the picture as it is – not as they might like it to be.”

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Munich Re said it expects its cliams burden from the Costa Concordia shipwreck to be in the “mid double-digit million euro range”.

The reinsurance giant, who was among a group of companies insuring the ship, said the current estimate could vary if the conditions were to change.

A spokesman for Munich Re. said, “besides costs for the vessel under hull insurance, further losses may arise due to liability claims from passengers, recovery of the wreck, and possibly from environmental liability claims.”

The Costa Cordia, a luxury cruise ship carrying 4,229, ran aground on the east coast of Italy last Friday. There have been 11 confirmed fatalities and there are still more than 20 people missing.

Beside the material costs for the vessel and it’s contents, there will be liability claims from the dependents of passangers killed, from passangers injured, and from luggage lost.

To make matters worse, there are fears that if the boat becomes unlodged from its current position it will spill some of the 500,000 gallons of fuel it has stored onboard. This will result in an environmental disaster which will cost insurers millions more.

The ships operator, Costa Crociere SpA, has enlisted the help of SMIT to salvage the wreckage.

At this point it remains unclear exactly how the wreck will be salvaged and what the cost of this will be, but sky news reported experts as saying it will be “chopped up” in the salvage process, raising more concerns for the environment and insurers.

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