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The potential relocation of UK insurers away from Britain will turn “from a trickle into a
flood,” says one analyst. Craig Scarr, Head of Insurance at accountancy firm Mazars,
warned that something needs to be done to stem the threat of new European capital
rules, known as Solvency II.
“The bigger concern is other insurers that are
more European focused. Will they go anyway?”
asked Scarr.
“We saw at the end of the last decade Aviva
starting to move to Dublin. We saw Brit
(insurance) move part of their business or their
control functions over to Holland. The issue now
though is far more than that. Many large
insurers have got project plans that at least cost the impact of moving because of RDR
(retail distribution review) and Solvency II.” he said.
The RDR is the UK's financial watchdog's major reform of the regulation of retail
investment advice and is due to come into force on 1 January 2013.
These comments were made as the CEO of the UK’s biggest insurer, Prudential, said
the group is considering moving its headquarters from London, possibly to Hong Kong,
over Solvency II. Tidjane Thiam said: “Solvency II is an enormously complex undertaking.
We love London, we're a British company and we've been here for 160 years. It's not a
debate about London but about the things that are happening in Brussels. Without
Solvency II we wouldn't be having this debate."
Prudential met forecasts Tuesday with an operating profit of 2 billion pounds ($3.12
billion) in 2011. The 7 percent increase in the insurer’s operating profit was due in part
to growth in the group’s Asian operations. It was the first time that Prudential’s Asian
division led the group’s earnings.
Find this article online at: http://cnb.cx/UezkFP
BOONVILLE - Nearly 80 workers at the
Hostess Brands bakery in downtown
Boonville must make a very difficult
decision-- take a sizable pay cut for the
third time, or chance losing their job.
There's no way to sugarcoat it.
Hostess has gone bankrupt and is
asking workers to take an eight percent
pay cut and agree to sharp reductions in
company-paid pension benefits. The company's restructuring specialist-turned-CEO,
Gregory Rayburn, has said these sacrifices must happen for the company to stay
afloat. Otherwise, it's liquidation for the maker of your favorite lunchbox snacks.
A worker at the bakery in Boonville told KOMU 8 the company is asking for too
much, too often. He feared he would lose his job, so he requested to keep his
identity anonymous.
"Everybody within a year would be living paycheck to paycheck, I think. And those
are guys who are financially stable now," said the Hostess Brands worker.
Workers in Boonville are among more than 19,000 Hostess employees that face this
decision. The worker we spoke with said he didn't want to punish the company
employees that would have a hard time finding another job when it was corporate
management that caused the problems.
He said, "Me knowing I can move forward and go get another job, should I vote yes
so those guys can have a chance or should I just say I am going to vote no for the
guys who put their whole life into this place and don't have anything to show for it?"
Hostess has asked employees for givebacks in the past, but is still in the red. The
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a union that represents thousands of
Hostess' workers says it is the company's history of cutting labor costs that upsets
workers.
"Hostess has asked union workers to take pay cuts and to pay more for benefits
several times, yet this is the first time management has taken a cut as well," said
Linda Giles, secretary-treasurer of the local Teamsters union that represents
Boonville workers.
Hostess moved to reduce executive pay in April, but some Boonville workers don't
think that is enough.
"I think the majority of the plant is pretty adamant about voting no. I think most of
those people there think this is a slap in the face," said the Boonville worker.
Teamsters nationally agreed Friday to accept the deal, but several Boonville
workers belong to the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers
Union and will vote this week.
When all the votes are in, the future of the company will be in the hands of the
bankruptcy judge.
Find this article as well as an on-air story online at:
http://www.komu.com/news/hostess-workers-face-bitter-decision/
MOBERLY - A dozen people with
disabilities lost their jobs due to a
change in the trucks that collect
Moberly's trash and recycling.
"We have been forced to lay off 12 of
our handicapped employees
because we simply did not have the
work," said Greg Kohls, manager of
Randolph County Sheltered Industries.
Randolph County Sheltered Industries is a non-profit employer of disabled citizens.
"Our mission statement is to provide dignified employment to the handicapped or
disabled in a safe environment," said Kohls.
About a year ago, Moberly hired Sheltered Industries to handle the city's recycling.
Sheltered Industries hired several workers and invested $40,000 into its recycling
plant because of the agreement.
But the company the city uses to collect citizens' trash and recycling recently made
a change that Kohls says makes handling Moberly's recyclables dangerous.
Veolia Environmental Services recently made the change from using two trucks to
pick up trash and recycling separately, to one that collects both in separate
compartments. Its contract with the city does not specify how it must collect the
trash.
"On the trucks they are using here in town, the truck is split. The container is two
thirds for garbage and one third recyclables. So there is a panel, a divider, in the
middle of the garbage truck," said Tom Sanders, head of Moberly Public Works.
The change means the truck compacts recyclables as well as trash.
Kohls says the proximity to the trash leads to contamination of the otherwise clean
recyclable materials.
"The new collection method contaminates the materials, and we are not going to put
our employees health at risk," said Kohls.
The Health Department inspected the recyclables the new trucks delivered to
Sheltered Industries and told Kohls they were not safe to handle. Kohls told Veolia
to stop bringing the recycling until a change was made.
Veolia Area Manager Dan Buckley said the trucks are the industry standard.
"The only difference in the form that it is being delivered is that it is being
compacted. Is it any cleaner slash dirtier? I don't think so," Buckley said.
He said any contamination is from the public not properly cleaning out recyclables
before they put them on the curb. He said the contamination may seem worse since
the recyclables are now compacted in the truck.
"There is just such a large percentage of people that the recycling is just not as
clean as they think it is," said Buckley.
Kohls said that is not the case.
"The material was clean when it got picked up and it got contaminated by their truck,
by their collection method. I mean there is no way that is recyclable," said Kohls as
he showed several photos he took of recyclables covered in sludge and mud.
Kohls met with an executive from Veolia last week.
"We are working with them hand in hand, and we are going to continue to work with
them to find a solution," said Buckley.
Kohl's says he is hopeful the companies and the city will find a way Sheltered
Industries can resume handling Moberly's recyclables. He said he wants to hire back
the disabled workers he was forced to let go.
Find this article as well as an on-air story online at:
http://www.komu.com/news/new-trash-trucks-cause-layoffs-of-handicappedworkers/