Monthly Archives: July 2012

Banks, Credit Cards, Financial, Financial Information, Financial Services, Financial Solutions, Insurance, Insurance Services, Loans, Money, Mortgage, Personal Finance

Confused.com Invites Public To Become Burglars For The Day

Confused.com is offering members of the public the opportunity to burgle a house filled with the most-stolen items, including iPads, Kindles and laptops.

To promote the need for home insurance, Confused.com is giving members of the public the chance to become a legal burglar for a day and nabbing themselves items to keep in the process.

The first five people to correctly enter the right answer to the clues hidden in the video on this page http://bit.ly/Oft9TA will be sent a further video link with more information about taking part in the experience.

This link will provide more details about where to begin their experience, where they’ll be met by a member of a burglary crew. From there, the successful burglars will be told more while in transit, and allowed to keep items they successfully find while inside the empty house.

The ‘burglaries’ will take place in a secret location and will also be filmed and assessed by a security expert, in order to show members of the public how best to protect their home and possessions.

Those not amongst the first five to correctly answer can enter a further draw to win a home security robot with built in webcam, to help them keep an eye on their home no matter where they are.

Sharon Flaherty, head of content at Confused.com said: “We looked at the most-burgled items and perhaps unsurprisingly, electrical goods such as tablets, video game consoles and laptops topped the list. So many people go without contents insurance, or have insufficient cover, and we wanted to highlight the issue, while giving people the chance to have a unique experience.

“Much of the experience is being kept secret, but we will be releasing footage after the burglaries themselves. Many burglars are opportunistic individuals, and not professionally put-together crews as Hollywood would have you to believe. As such, our footage will be as close to burglary as you can legally get, demonstrating just how an intruder might find his or her way around your house.”

Via EPR Network
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Confused.com Launches New Travel Insurance Service

Confused.com is launching a new price comparison service that allows travellers with pre-existing medical conditions to get a quick and easy travel insurance policy.

Most travel insurance policies tend to exclude pre-existing conditions; these are medical conditions that have been diagnosed at the time of purchasing a policy. It is important to note that this includes conditions diagnosed a number of years ago that you may continue to have check-ups on. If people travel with a known medical condition without informing their provider, and need to make a claim as a result of falling ill abroad, then any emergency treatment or hospital costs relating to that pre-existing condition would be excluded, leaving the policyholder to pick up the pieces.

Confused.com can find an insurance quote to cover pre-existing medical conditions and also offer cover for non-pre-existing conditions, so when people have an accident they can have the peace of mind that their insurance policy will safeguard them.

Confused.com has teamed up with travel insurance specialists to allow people to compare travel insurance policies that cover pre-existing medical conditions, meaning consumers no longer have to search hundreds of insurers only to find out they may not insure them.

Comparing travel insurance with Confused.com means people can search the market to find their best quotes available for travel insurance with pre-existing medical conditions.

Confused.com’s new service allows customers to select their particular condition, answer a selection of questions on their personal situation and will only show accurate prices by providers who will cover them; saving the customer time.

Those with pre-existing conditions are seen by insurance companies as customers who would pose a greater risk of claiming, resulting in them paying higher premiums and having fewer insurers to choose from. Therefore many people might find it tempting not to declare more minor conditions such as asthma etc., simply to save the hassle or because they are worried about the higher premium but if they then need to claim, the insurer can access their medical records and so will find out that they have a pre-existing medical condition and the policy may become void. This could then result in the policyholder having to pay out for expensive medical bills. This is particularly relevant in countries with higher costs for medical treatment such as the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Spain, Cyprus, Turkey or Malta.

Having travel insurance is very important for people with pre-existing medical conditions and making sure they have the right policy that suits their individual needs is key.

Kate Rose, Head of Travel Insurance said: “At Confused.com we understand that not everyone has a perfect medical record and that shouldn’t prevent you from enjoying travel as much as anyone else. We advise that you shop around and compare with Confused.com to get a great deal on your travel insurance.”

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Confused.com Reveals Telematics Technology Helps To Create Safer Roads And Save Drivers Money

Confused.com has introduced a range of car insurance providers which could offer discounts to its customers for good driving, via telematics technology.

Confused.com, the car insurance comparison website now has five telematics insurance providers on its website, which include insurethebox, Autosaint, Coverbox, AA Drivesafe and Bell. By having a telematics device fitted to their car, drivers could save money on their car insurance.

Technology is changing – and so is the law. The European Court of Justice has ruled that from 21 December 2012, car insurance premiums must be gender neutral and as such, car insurers are finding new ways of assessing risk such as through telematics
devices.

Telematics enables personalised insurance based on the policyholder’s driving. This is measured by the black box, or otherwise known as telematics device, which gathers data from the telematics device fitted to the car. Telematics is a method of monitoring a vehicle gathering data such as mileage driven and harsh acceleration and braking.

The insurance provider fits this device free of charge to its customer’s car and the better the driving, the greater the chance of premium reductions on renewal. Customers who use the device could also see their driving manner online through a secure personalised portal. They can even try and improve their driving skills by using the data to see if they are driving too fast or breaking too harshly, making the roads safer for everyone.

As an additional safety benefit, the telematics device will inform the insurance company in the event of an accident, and the emergency services may be contacted where appropriate. On top of this, the device acts as a tracker, meaning the car can be located in the event of being stolen.

When it comes to car insurance, if a driver is unlucky enough to fall into one of the high risk groups such as young drivers or inexperienced drivers telematics can help. 17-20 year olds pay an average of £2,491 for a comprehensive policy, more than three times the national average of £797. But instead of paying for insurance based on the average driver, telematics insurance is based on how individuals drive.

Gareth Kloet, Head of Car Insurance at Confused.com, said: “Telematics insurance is targeted at drivers who believe they can reduce their premiums by driving safely. This can be of specific benefit to young drivers, who traditionally have been considered a higher risk than other drivers. Telematics allows insurers to offer premiums that reflect an individual driver’s actual risk on the road not just assessing them by age or gender.”

“Telematics is great for young drivers or anyone who wants to take control of their insurance costs and Confused.com’s car insurance comparison service makes it easy for customers to compare different policies and now offers even greater choice for insurance than before.”

Confused.com’s telematics services will be supported by a new 30 second TV advert running from 25 July. The new advert can be viewed at www.confused.com/press/our-adverts.

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Confused.com Expands Their Credit Card Panel With Fluid

Confused.com has added a new credit card from online personal finance brand Fluid to its credit card panel meaning customers can now apply to a choice of 50 credit cards.

The low-fee balance transfer credit card, powered by MBNA, offers new customers 15 months at 0 per cent interest on balance transfers. Balance transfers must be made within the first 60 days of opening the account and a 1.5 per cent handling fee applies.

The credit card also allows new customers to move credit into their current account. Fluid charges a 4 per cent fee for this money transfer and offers 15 months at 0 per cent interest but after that, charges will apply.

New customers can also benefit from 0 per cent interest on purchases for five months from the date the account is opened.

Will Becker, chief executive of Media Ingenuity, Fluid’s corporate parent, said:
“We have listened to what customers want within the UK market. In conjunction with MBNA, we’ve created a card with an exclusive offer that can yield a substantial saving to consumers. This is a great card for people who are looking to get control of their finances and repay existing balances within the 15-month offer period.”

Confused.com started to display credit cards in 2008 and it enables customers to compare credit cards from across the whole of the UK market.

With the average authorised overdraft rate currently at 12.659% APR, Nerys Lewis, head of credit cards at Confused.com, believes the Fluid credit card’s money transfer option could help people who need to pay off their overdraft.

Lewis says: “This credit card could be a good option for anyone who is paying interest charges on their current overdraft facility, as long as they can pay back their debt within the 15-month period.

“Many university graduates of the last few years could be starting to pay interest on their graduate overdraft accounts, for example, so the Fluid credit card may be a useful option for those who can afford to pay off this debt before the interest-free period is over.

“Meanwhile, the comparatively low balance transfer fee of 1.5 per cent makes the Fluid credit card a strong offering to anyone who is looking to transfer their existing credit card balance, providing they keep on top of payments.

“If you use a balance transfer credit card carefully, it can be a sensible way to manage your finances.”

Customers can apply for the Fluid credit card at www.confused.com/credit-cards

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Confused.com Reveals That Women Could Save Money For Their Partners

Confused.com has revealed that women who drive regularly could make their male partners big savings and could almost halve the cost of their car insurance by simply being added as a named driver.

However, there are only 154 days where such savings could be made so Confused.com are calling all men to put their partners to good use before it’s too late.

A new UK poll into women’s spending habits found that 35% of women spend on average more than £200 a month on household bills, 34% of women spend on average over £200 a month on essential food bills and 79% of women spend on average up to £100 a month on socialising compared with 72% of men.

On top of this, 93% of women spend on average up to £150 a month on clothes and 87% of women spend on average up to £100 a month on grooming and beauty products (£23 per week).

In fact, the research determines that thousands of pounds will be spent over a woman’s life, all in an effort to satisfy the insatiable urge to shop.

However while some men may despair when they see their partner’s expenditure, they can feel better about one thing: while women are spending they are also shopping around for great deals. In fact, women are much more likely to search incessantly for the best deal, while men are happy to pay more just to be done with the task of shopping. Fifty-four per cent of women admit they shop around and get better deals than their partner; with 38% of men agreeing with this.

As well as women being more savvy shoppers, the research also found that more women (57%) than men (47%) admit to saving, stashing away up to £100 a month.

In fact not only are women savvy savers but they could almost halve the car insurance bill for a man by simply being added to their insurance policy, if they are a regular driver. According to the latest Confused.com car insurance price index the average annual cost of comprehensive cover for a male driver is £954 if he is the only driver insured on the car. However, by adding a spouse it could cause the policy to decrease as the average for a driver and spouse is just £452, creating a potential saving of £502.

When a driver adds a female driver to their comprehensive policy, average costs come down. For example, a 21-25 year old male pays an average of £1,763 for their car insurance, but by adding a spouse who drives on a regular basis, average car insurance prices reduce by 29%, making insurance £1,257 for fully comprehensive cover and creating a potential saving of £506.

Surprisingly, 63% of men surveyed didn’t know that by adding their female partner they could reduce their cost of their policy.

While there is a chance women could currently save their partner money on their car insurance, this is expected to come to an end when the Gender Directive ruling comes into force. From 21 December 2012, insurance providers will no longer be exempt from a wider EU principle covering gender equality meaning insurers will no longer be allowed to take gender into account when they calculate car insurance premiums.

Until then, insurers can continue to use gender as a rating factor, charging men and women different premiums.

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Admiral Reveals The Great Summer Getaway Is Getting Brits Hot Under The Collar

Admiral recently questioned 2,000 motorists planning to go on car trips this summer and found that one in seven feel agitated about their upcoming trip. But what most stresses people out about car journeys?

At the top of the car insurance specialist’s list was traffic jams, with almost half (46%) the respondents saying they find them stressful, followed by other road users (29%), getting lost (25%) and the sheer volume of traffic (20%). Rounding out the top five was taking the kids (17%). The other road users they said stress them out most were caravans (39%), lorries (36%) and motorbikes (21%).

As well as getting stressed, the survey showed a lack of planning on the part of many motorists, with almost one in five (18%) admitting they don’t plan their route beforehand at all and almost a third (29%) admitting they don’t check traffic reports before they head off.

A quarter forget to buy something and have to do it en route, therefore extending their journey. Almost one in ten (9%) miscalculate the time it takes to get ready to leave, meaning they head off later than expected, hitting all the traffic.

And the time people leave home could have an impact on how busy the roads get. The most popular time for planning to leave was between 8am and 10am with almost two in five (38%) choosing this time.

Dave Halliday, Admiral managing director, said: “The key to minimising stress on your car journey this summer is effective planning. Plan your route thoroughly and allow more than enough time for the journey. Be strict about it. Make sure you leave at the time you planned to and remember to factor in potential traffic jams and breaks. Also, with most people leaving around the same time, why not set off a little earlier or later.

“Worryingly, our survey showed that more than 2 in 5 motorists admit they don’t take sufficient breaks on driving tips. However much you want to reach your destination, it’s not worth taking a risk. It’s better to get there slightly later than not at all.”

Busy lives have an impact on people’s planning as one in five say they don’t plan because they have too much to juggle with life in general. Almost one in five (18%) say they prefer to be spontaneous, while a similar number say they are just too lazy to plan their journey properly.

Dave added: “It’s also vital that people remember to put as much effort into planning their trip home as they do their trip away. The last thing you want to do is get rid of all that holiday relaxation by getting stressed on your return journey.”

Admiral has created a video to help take the stress out of the great summer getaway. It features tips on how to beat the top 5 stress causing factors on summer journeys and expert advice from the Highways Agency on planning properly for your trip. The video can be viewed at: www.admiral.com/greatsummergetaway

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Confused.com Releases New Facebook App Designed To Celebrate Friendships

Coinciding with the release of a report titled ‘Friendship, Finance and the Future: The rise of Singledom in the UK’, Confused.com has created an app that allows users to celebrate the important friends in their life.

A report by Future Poll for Confused.com has shown that four in five say that friendships last longer than romantic relationships. With friends playing such an important role in our lives the app gives users the opportunity to celebrate the anniversary of their meetings, or ‘Frenniversary’ and show how important their friends are.

The app, called ‘Friend Booth’, has three different functions; a tattoo booth, a cover photo montage creator and a Frenniversary reminder service.

The tattoo booth allows Facebook users to create an image with a virtual tattoo dedicated to their closest friend. The user selects their friend and either takes a photo or chooses an existing one, they then select the style of tattoo they want their friend’s name to appear in. They can resize the tattoo and adjust the angle to make it look as convincing as possible before posting it to their wall.

The photo montage creator allows users to create a montage that’s sized, ready for them to have as their cover photo. The Facebook application asks users to enter the name of their best friend. Photos in which both the user and their best friend are tagged will be displayed, allowing the user to select their favourite pictures which will be automatically added into a bespoke image that the user can set as their profile cover image.

The report claims that in the future relationships status on passports and census forms could include mate-trimony as an option, with next of kin automatically being a friend. With friends playing such a significant role in our lives celebrating Frenniversaries will become more common. The Facebook application helps us remember this date by providing a Frenniversary reminder service. When they sign up their email address and friend’s name they’ll be sent an email reminder to make sure they don’t forget to celebrate the day.

Sharon Flaherty, head of content at Confused.com said: “This application is all about having fun with your friends and showing you appreciate them, but the report raises issues around how insurance companies need to protect long-term friendships as they do marriage. More and more people are relying on their friends, buying houses with them and becoming financially co-dependent. If something were to happen they would be left completely unprotected.

“This report by Future Poll shows that in the future more single people will protect their most important relationships with life insurance, in the short term the app allows users to show the people that matter they care.”

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Confused.com Reveals That Car Insurance Prices Have Dropped

Confused.com has revealed that after several years of soaring increases, the brakes have been applied to car insurance prices. The average cost of comprehensive car insurance for Q2 2012 stands at £797, a price drop of 7.1% year on year, compared with £858 which was the average cost for Q2 2011. However, despite the drops and impending gender directive implementation, men are still paying on average £110 more than women on their car insurance.

Despite prices plummeting, 17-20 year old drivers in the UK are still being quoted average comprehensive car insurance premiums of £2,491. Postcodes are a significant factor in car insurance pricing with 17-20 year-old male drivers in Manchester/Merseyside finding they are quoted significantly more than their counterparts in Central Scotland. The average price for 17-20 year old male drivers in Manchester/Merseyside is £5,394, while in the Central Scotland region male drivers aged 17-20 are quoted a more modest £2,999. Young male drivers aged 20 or younger in Inner London can expect to pay an average of £5,330 per year.

Regionally, the West of England has seen the biggest fall in prices, as average premiums for comprehensive cover dropped by 10.5% year-on-year. 21-year-olds saw the largest year-on-year reduction in prices, experiencing a 10.5% drop. This compares with a 1.9% increase in Q2 of 2011 and a drop of 4.6% quarter-on-quarter.

Over the past 12 months, car insurance price cuts have been greater for 17-20 year old women than men of the same age. With the looming EU gender directive which takes effect this December, shifts in gender pricing are beginning to show through. For example, for women aged 17-20, comprehensive car insurance prices increased by 0.5% over the second quarter this year, but for men of the same age group car insurance prices have fallen by 1.1%.

Despite this welcome respite for male drivers, men are still paying an average of£110 more per year than their female counterparts. For younger drivers, women aged 17-20 are quoted £1,878 on average, while men of the same age suffer average insurance quotes of £3,596. While this could be in part connected to the types of cars the drivers choose to drive, it is also in part due to gender, which will no longer be an influential factor by 2013.

Gareth Kloet, Head of Car Insurance at Confused.com said: “Competition between car insurance providers is currently very high, which means it’s a great time to get a deal on your car insurance. At Confused.com we have more than 130 insurers competing for customers and so drivers can benefit from this competitive market by shopping around. When it comes to men versus women, any gender differences have to be factored out of quotations after December this year and so other factors such as the type of car you drive and the distances you expect to cover will become more important in the quote process. We anticipate that drivers will continue to reduce their annual mileage as a result of high motoring costs and seek cheaper vehicles in their search for more affordable cover.”

More than 4 million quotes are used in the construction of each quarter’s insurance price index – this makes it the most comprehensive insurance index in the UK. Unless otherwise stated all prices referred to are for comprehensive cover.

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Watch out for Fake Gold Bullion Bars

When you buy gold bullion bars these days you expect the metal to be pure gold but recently fake bars are being sold around the world and one of them was detected in the U.K. filled with tungsten. Detecting fake gold bullion is important to ensure that you retain the value of your gold bars.

When you purchase gold bars you expect them to be real gold bars, not fake. Fake gold bullion bars are those which have had the gold drilled out of them and the gold replaced by tungsten. Tungsten is a similar weight to gold and so the difference is not easily detected at once. But if you weight the bar there can be enough of a difference to warrant further inspection.

Many of these ‘gold’ bars can be in existence undetected as it is rare that anyone actually tests every individual gold bar they have. So when you buy gold make sure your product is pure gold and not fake. You can check for tungsten in the gold bars by melting them down and separating the different metals. Each metal melts at a different temperature so for example tungsten melts at a higher temperature than gold. This can be an expensive project.

Another way to detect fake gold bars is to weight them but the different weight between tungsten and gold is very hard to detect.

Here the ultrasonic instrument is coming to your rescue. It shows you whether the big gold bar has metal of consistent characteristics(pure gold). Or if it has a void area with tungsten buried below some millimeters of fine gold. Testing small bars, even if they are sealed in plastic foil (less than 0.5 mm thick) takes only a few seconds.

Finally, when you are buying gold bars make sure you are dealing with a reputable dealer and if you are buying large quantities of bars check them with an ultrasonic instrument.

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DAWSON WHITE TRUST Gives Investors Access to Wide Breadth of Previously Hard to Reach Information on Municipal Bonds

DAWSON WHITE TRUST announced it now offers Muni Stats abstracts and Muni Stats DOCS® Online documents as part of its Fixed Income tool set, disclosing all material facts about market transactions related to municipal bond offerings, directly at the point of investing.

Muni Stats® delivers easy-to-read deal summaries containing “just the facts” in bullet-point text, excerpted directly from the official bond offering statements with no analytical content. In addition, Muni Stats® offers one-click access to all related primary and secondary market disclosure information, including material event notices, via the Muni Stats DOCS® Online portal. Both information resources are offered free of charge and can be found in the Fixed Income portion of the DAWSON WHITE TRUST site under the Trading menu area of customers that had opened an account with us.

“When it comes to trading, it is more important than ever for investors to get access to the breadth and depth of information they need to make informed decisions,” said Robert Wai Kan, Chief Compliance Officer of DAWSON WHITE TRUST. “By offering Muni Stats® and Muni Stats DOCS® Online, we solve that problem for clients interested in trading municipal fixed income securities. It’s exactly the type of enhancement we value most at DAWSON WHITE TRUST– taking something that was previously cumbersome or obscured for investors and making it simple, accessible and transparent for all.”

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Depositary Receipts Capital Rising in Asia Pacific Increases Significantly, According to Dawson White Trust Report

In a year of gradual economic recovery, the issuance and trading of depositary receipts (DR) remained strong in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in key markets such as China, India and Taiwan, according to Dawson White Trust inaugural Depositary Receipt APAC Year in Review.

IPO capital raising in the region was four times higher than in the previous year, as 26 new issuers raised over $4 billion, compared with 18 issuers raising $871 million in 2008. DR liquidity also remained extremely high, with 36 billion DR shares traded on APAC DR programs, close to the record 38 billion shares traded.

“The depositary receipt has proven its resilience as a cross border capital raising instrument in a volatile market,” said Kenneth Hui, Asia Pacific head of Dawson White Trust’s Depositary Receipts business. “As the global financial crisis subsides, the depositary receipt will play an even bigger role as a capital raising tool in funding the growth of the emerging APAC economies.”

Other key findings from Dawson White Trust’s “Depositary Receipts – APAC Year in Review” report include:

• 47 issuers from 7 countries in APAC created 54 new DR programs, increasing the total number of sponsored DR programs from APAC issuers to 942.
• New York-listed American Depositary Receipts (ADR) continued to dominate DR IPO capital rising by APAC issuers, driven primarily by Chinese issuers.
• Secondary offerings were an important source of capital for issuers from the region: 21 existing issuers from APAC raised $5.2 billion in the U.S., Europe and Asia through follow-ons
• As relations between Mainland China and Taiwan improved, four new issuers from Hong Kong listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in the form of Taiwan Depositary Receipts (TDR).

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Dawson White Trust Announces Changes to the Compensation Program

Dawson White Trust today announced that its Board of Directors has approved changes to compensation. They include the following:

• Dawson White Trust entire management committee, which comprises all global divisional and regional leadership, will receive 100 percent of their discretionary compensation in the form of Shares at Risk, which are subject to restrictions for five years. Discretionary compensation represents the vast majority of senior management’s compensation and is directly tied to the firm’s overall performance.

• Shares at Risk cannot be sold for five years, in addition to other restrictions.

• The five-year holding period on Shares at Risk includes an enhanced recapture provision that will permit the firm to recapture the shares in cases where the employee engaged in materially improper risk analysis or failed sufficiently to raise concerns about risks. Enhancing our recapture provision is intended to ensure that our employees are accountable for the future impact of their decisions, to reinforce the importance of risk controls to the firm and to make clear that our compensation practices do not reward taking excessive risk.

• The enhanced recapture rights build off an existing claw back mechanism which goes well beyond employee acts of fraud or malfeasance and includes any conduct that is detrimental to the firm, including conduct resulting in a material restatement of the financial statements or material financial harm to the firm or one of its business units.

• Shareholders will have an advisory vote on the firm’s compensation principles and the compensation of its named executive officers at the firm’s Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

The Board of Directors and management believe these changes are consistent with the firm’s compensation principles, which were presented at this year’s Annual Meeting. Going forward, we continue to be focused on refining and improving our compensation practices. The principles underlying effective compensation practices include linking compensation to multi-year performance, aligning compensation with the long-term interests of the firm and its shareholders, and ensuring that compensation incentives are formulated so that they serve as a tool to attract, retain and motivate talent, without encouraging excessive risk-taking.

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Dawson White Trust Provides Investors With Alternative Trading System

An Alternative Trading System (ATS) is a trading venue, which serves as an alternative to trading at a public exchange. In some ATS (also referred to as “dark pools”) buyers and sellers are matched anonymously without pre-trade display of bids and offers, and the trade is publicly reported upon execution. It is important to note that the basic function of a broker-operated ATS is an electronic manifestation of a previously manual trading process, when trading desks would first try to execute trades internally before sending the order to a public exchange. Industry reporting estimates total “dark pool” volume to be less than 10% of all stock market transactions. The vast majority of trades still occur at exchanges and ECNs.

ATS` are affiliated with registered broker-dealers and accordingly, their activities are governed by the same rules and regulations that govern broker-dealer activities generally.

Dawson White Trustsupports regulation that enhances post-trade reporting transparency for ATS`. As a first step in the effort to support enhanced public information on ATS trading activity, Dawson White TrustExecution and & Clearing, recently adopted a standardized method for counting executed trades in its ATS.

Non-displayed or “dark” orders and related trading activity are part of the price discovery process. When seeking best execution of their orders, market participants use trading tools that shift between providing displayed and non-displayed quotes, balancing the benefits of displaying a quote to achieve an execution versus not displaying a quote in an attempt to reduce market impact and potentially obtain price or size improvement on their order. All Dawson White Trust ATS trades “print” real-time to a trade reporting facility. This publicly available “time and sales” data is an integral component of price discovery, and ATS trading contributes to this in the same manner that public exchanges do.

ATS` have led to increased innovation and competition. Increased competition among trading venues has led to a broad reduction in explicit trading costs for both institutional and individual investors. For example, retail brokerages take advantage of the lower transaction fees offered by ATS` to provide low trading commission fees to their customers.

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Confused.com Reveals Unluckiest Streets And Door Numbers

It’s not easy being ‘Green’ according to new statistics from comparison site Confused.com: 27.6% of customers living on a road named Green Way have claimed on their home insurance in the last five years.

The Confused.com figures also reveal that living at house number 166 can be unlucky too: 21.9% of UK customers living at 166 have also claimed on their home insurance within the last five years.

The highest amount of cash paid out to claimants went to residents of Portland Road, where average claims exceeded £25,000, followed by Castle Street residents whose average claims came to £13,671 per resident.

Unsurprisingly the least claims were made in the more remote areas. The Scottish Borders registered the fewest claims, where the door number 7 was unluckiest. In London it’s people living behind the number 93 who might be worried as they are the ones with the highest volume of claims over the last five years, coming in at just over 19%.

The number 60 is unlucky not only for homeowners living in Central Scotland (almost 25%), but also for those who reside in the East of England where 60 is also the most likely to have had a home insurance claim, with almost 19% of the residents putting in a claim during the last five years.

Gareth Lane, home insurance expert at Confused.com, said: “As a person looking to buy a house in the near future I’ll think twice about moving into 166 Green Way. Joking aside, if these trends continue, on average more than 14 per cent of customers could claim on their home insurance in the next five years, with an average claim amount of around £2,000.

“During these hard economic times and extreme weather it’s important to find the right cover at the right price.”

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Confused.com Reveals That Nervy Brits Call For UK Driving Laws To Follow Europe

Confused.com has asked if it’s finally time for the UK’s driving laws to fall in line with Europe, with two thirds (66%) of Brits’ experiencing some form of motoring mishap when travelling abroad.

British holidaymakers have long been labelled the blight of the European holiday season, but new research from car insurance expert Confused.com, has revealed a different side to the ‘bawdy Brits’. Nearly three quarters (73%) of Britons who will drive abroad this summer have a fear of foreign roads because of confusing foreign road signs, driving habits and cross-country law changes.

Far from being a falsified phobia, the fear of driving on the continent exists for good reason. According to the research, one in five (20%) road trips from Britain to Europe end in a crash or bump, and an overwhelming two-thirds (66%) experience some form of motoring mishap.

This is worrying news for the 25% of British motorists who drive abroad each summer without checking they have adequate insurance. The current trend shows that a quarter of British motorists casually assume that their UK policy automatically covers them on foreign soil when in fact their policy may not be as comprehensive as while driving at home.

With so many blissful summer breaks turning into holiday horrors, it’s not surprising that British motorists want to alleviate their euro nightmares. Driving on the right is the number one fear for more than a third (39%) of UK drivers, and one in five of us (19%) confess to having driven on the wrong side of the road abroad.

The debate over left vs. right is intricate and complicated, and while switching the UK from left to right overnight is perhaps a step too far, the British public feel that standardising Europe’s drink-driving laws is a must, and soon.

Nearly half (47%) of Brits who have driven in Europe are strongly in favour of introducing uniform drink-driving limits. 27% believe that standardising European driving laws would reduce their chance of having an accident abroad, an opinion supported by transport expert, Benjamin Heydecker: “England and Wales are the only two countries in the EU (other than Malta) that has a legal drink-driving limit above 50mg per 100ml – 80mg. Harmonising Europe’s standards by reducing the limit to 50mg per 100 ml – which Scotland did recently – would modify drivers’ attitude to drink driving, with undisputed benefits for road safety.”

UK drivers’ lack of preparation was revealed when quizzed on the driving laws of Europe’s top-locations: 50% of Brits admitted they didn’t realise it was illegal to use a hands free kit in Spain, or that in Sweden it’s compulsory to carry antifreeze and a shovel in the car. Similarly one in ten (10%) didn’t know that drivers in Spain and Italy who wear glasses need to carry a spare pair.

Gareth Kloet, Head of Car Insurance at Confused.com, said: “As the holiday season approaches, we’re going to see more Brits heading to the continent. While driving is often the most convenient means of travel, it’s important for motorists to take the time to understand the foreign laws. Accidents can easily happen in an unfamiliar environment, so reading up and making sure you’re completely covered for the country you’re driving in is just as important as getting the right currency.”

Via EPR Network
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Bank Cainvest Approved for Listing on Cayman Islands Stock Exchange, Symbol CIB

Cainvest International Bank Ltd.(“Cainvest”) is pleased to announce that the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange has approved Bank Cainvest for listing on the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange(“CSX”) under the symbol “CIB”.

“Following the extensive marketing initiative of the Ministry of Finance in Brazil we are pleased to welcome Cainvest International Bank Ltd. to the Cayman Islands and to the CSX family of listed companies. We are keen now to encourage the listing of growth companies and we wish Cainvest every future success.” said Mr. Anthony Travers, Chaiman of the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange.

“Listing on the CSX is an important milestone in Bank Cainvest’s growth strategy” said Charles Aboulafia, Chief Financial Officer at Bank Cainvest. “Bank Cainvest will adhere to stringent corporate governance procedures, and thereby ensure transparency for shareholders, customers and counterparties. Furthermore, being a listed company increases public awareness in the Company and its products and enhances the status of the Bank.”

Walkers acted as Cayman Islands legal counsel to Bank Cainvest. “We are delighted to have been able to assist Cainvest on this admission to the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange. This represents an exciting opportunity for Cainvest, and we are happy we were able to help.” Ramesh Maharaj, a Partner in the Corporate and Finance group of Walkers, Cayman Islands.

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Banks May Soon Be Able To Buy Gold As Tier 1 Capital

The Basel Committee for Bank Supervision, the maker of global capital requirements and whose Basel III rules form the basis for global bank regulation, is studying making gold a bank capital Tier 1 asset. The purchase of gold may drive up its demand worldwide. In addition, gold should increase the value of the banks total capital.

Goldbullionadvisors.com is a consulting firm which helps the banking industry secure gold bullion from its worldwide suppliers. Most banks will purchase physical gold and retain possession of the bullion in their vaults to enhance its capital.

Under the proposal gold would carry a zero percent risk weighting under tier 1 capital. Gold is coming back into the banking system. We are in a world where currency wars are being fought daily, and as the system continues to collapse under its own weight of paper printing, gold will be the go to asset and possibly the last man standing.

For more information about our firm, please visit www.goldbullionadvisors.com

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