AIG TAKEOVER OF LAYA COULD EASE PRESSURE ON PREMIUMS - International insurer AIG has taken over the country's second-largest health insurer, Laya, in deal that is understood to be worth €80m.
Health insurance experts said the takeover is likely to take some of the pressure off Laya for more rises in premiums, writes the Irish Independent. The insurer has not announced a rate rise since last year. This week it emerged that GloHealth is pushing up premiums next month by around 6%. Laya boss Donal Clancy insisted it would be business as usual when it comes to members' day-to-day dealings with the company. The company will continue to operate in Little Island in Cork, where it employs 450 people. Dermot Goode of TotalHealthCover.ie said he does not expect major changes, but rate rises could be contained. "I don't see any major changes from this but there could be less upward pressure on rates. Laya has not announced a premium rate rise this year," Mr Goode said. The deal sees the Aventas Group, which took over the health insurer from what was Quinn Insurance, selling its 70% stake to AIG. Management at Laya is understood to have owned 30% of the shares, with AIG acquiring a 100% shareholding in the business.
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CYBER ATTACK COST LOYALTYBUILD MILLIONS OF EURO - The managing director of Loyaltybuild confirmed yesterday that a "very sophisticated cyber attack" 14 months ago cost the firm millions of euro in lost revenues. Richard Hadfield was commenting yesterday on new accounts that show that Loyaltybuild Ltd’s pre-tax profits declined by 69% to €1.3m in 2013 in spite of revenues increasing by 10% to €12.3m. The Ennis-based firm that operates a customer loyalty programme for the likes of SuperValu and Axa was the victim of a cyber attack on November 13, 2013. As a result, the Data Protection Commissioner slapped a prohibition order on the firm that stopped it from operating in Ireland for a period of time, says the Irish Examiner. The commissioner confirmed that the data breach involved the breach of personal data of 1.5m individuals including 376,000 individuals whose full credit card data was compromised. The order was lifted last February and Loyaltybuild re-launched in Ireland last July and with its Nordic partners last February. Mr Hadfield confirmed yesterday that the firm last year lost millions as a result of what he called a “very sophisticated cyber attack”. However, Mr Hadfield stressed that the firm did not make anyone redundant or lose any client.
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LONDON MAYOR BOWS TO ‘OUTRAGEOUS’ DEMAND TO PAY US TAX BILL - Boris Johnson has finally agreed to pay an unsettled capital gains tax bill to the US government, in spite of previously insisting he would not bow to the “absolutely outrageous” demand. The London mayor, who was born in New York and holds a US as well as a British passport, decided to pay the outstanding bill ahead of a visit to Boston, New York and Washington next month. Allies joke that there is now no question of him being “detained by the Internal Revenue Service at JFK airport” while his spokesman said simply: “The matter has been dealt with.” Mr Johnson has refused to say how much capital gains tax he owes the US from the sale of his first family home in north London, but his allies say it is “nowhere near” the £100,000 estimated by some tax experts, writes the Financial Times. Mr Johnson has previously said he wanted to renounce his American citizenship but that it was “very difficult to give up”. The clearance of his debt to the US government should remove the major obstacle to him renouncing his American passport, but his spokesman refused to comment on whether he would now do it. Mr Johnson’s decision to pay up was taken grudgingly but will ensure that his visit to the US - intended to drum up investment for London - is not dogged by questions about his tax affairs.
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NAMA MAKES €293m LOSS ON SALE OF DEBTOR LOANS - The National Asset Management Agency made a loss of €292.9 million on the disposal of various debtor loans in the first nine months of last year, according to its latest set of unaudited accounts. It is understood that this relates to the sale of a large portfolio of assets in Northern Ireland last year, which resulted in a loss being booked, says the Irish Times. However, the State agency made a profit of €150 million on the sale of property assets to leave it with a net loss on disposals in the nine months to the end of September 2014 of €143 million. This loss widened to €754 million when existing impairment provisions of €611 million, relating almost entirely to the loan sales, were recognised in the latest accounts. Nama’s accounts show that it generated proceeds of €6.87 billion in the first nine months of 2014. This comprised €3.54 billion from property deals and €3.2 billion in loan sales. When the period from Nama’s inception in late 2009 to the end of September last year is considered, a brighter picture emerges on disposals. The agency has netted just under €22 billion in proceeds - €16.9 billion from property sales and just more than €5 billion in loan deals.
