Insurance premiums set to soar after compensation changes

I was able to find this story on the BBC News Page. It was published on the 27^th February 2017 by Brian Milligan; Personal Finance reporter.

The story reveals how the average car insurance premiums could increase by up to £75 a year as a result of a government ruling as the industry experts have said.

A new formula for calculating compensation payments for those who suffer long-term injuries has been announced by the Ministry of Justice.

But the Association of British Insurers (ABI) called the decision "crazy".

The Ministry of Justice said it had no choice under the current law, and said it would consult on possible changes.

Shares in insurance companies fell, with some saying that profits would be hit by millions of pounds.

·      What the change means?

When the victim of an accident is awarded compensation in a lump sum, the discount rate reduces their payout.

This is to make up for the extra money they could make by investing that lump sum over many years.

The Ministry of Justice has decided to reduce the discount rate from 2.5% to minus 0.75%.

This is because the formula is based on gilt yields, or the interest rate on government bonds.

By the time inflation is taken into account, real returns on such bonds have become negative.

'£1,000 increase'

Reducing the discount rate to minus 0.75% was a "crazy decision", said Huw Evans, director-general of the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

"Claims costs will soar, making it inevitable that there will be an increase in motor and liability premiums for millions of drivers and businesses across the UK," he said.

"We estimate that up to 36 million individual and business motor insurance policies could be affected in order to over-compensate a few thousand claimants a year."

Experts said higher insurance premiums could cost drivers under the age of 22 up to £1,000 a year.

"We anticipate an increase of £50-£75 on an average comprehensive motor insurance policy, with higher increases for younger and older drivers - potentially up to £1,000 for younger drivers, and a rise of up to £300 for older drivers," said Mohammad Khan, UK general insurance leader at accountancy firm PwC.

However, accident victims are set to benefit as they will receive higher pay-outs.

Lawyers who had campaigned in favour of the changes welcomed the news.

"People already coping with the most severe injuries have been deprived of the help and care they need for years," said the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.

HSBC shares slide after 62% profit fall

I found this story on the BBC News web page. It talks about how the Shares in HSBC have fallen after the bank reported a steeper-than-expected fall in annual profits.

The bank reported a $7.1bn (£5.7bn) pre-tax profit for 2016, down 62% on the $18.9bn reported a year earlier.

HSBC attributed the fall to a string of one-off charges, including the sale of its operations in Brazil.

The bank also announced a smaller-than-expected share buyback. That also helped undermine shares, which were down by 5% in London.
"It's a bank that is still in transition after the crisis," said banking analyst Chris Wheeler from Atlantic Equities.
However, he thinks this could be the last set of results that include big one-off charges, for reorganising the business and writing-down the value of assets.

Alluding to the US election and the UK's vote to leave the European Union, HSBC said 2016 would "be long remembered for its significant and largely unexpected economic and political events".
"These foreshadowed changes to the established geopolitical and economic relationships that have defined interactions within developed economies and between them and the rest of the world," said chairman Douglas Flint.
"The uncertainties created by such changes temporarily influenced investment activity and contributed to volatile financial market conditions."
Looking ahead to 2017, the bank said the "outcome of the US election has added to concerns about a rise in protectionism".
"This has been accentuated in many parts of the world by technological change and income inequality."
HSBC said that any "amplification of this trend" would lead to a disruption in global trade and affect its traditional line of business.

The bank confirmed last year it would keep its European headquarters in London, despite the Brexit vote.
But announcing the results on Tuesday, Mr Flint said the bank's current planning suggested it may need to relocate some 1,000 roles from London to Paris over the next two years, depending on how negotiations develop.
He added the bank had "broadly all the licences and infrastructure needed to continue to support our clients once the UK leaves the EU".

‘Kingsman’ – ‘Skyfall’

Comparison

Recently, in class we were able to watch the British movie Kingsman: The Secret Service which was released in January 2015. The film involves several big name actors including Colin Firth, Samuel L Jackson and Michael Caine and was directed by Mathew Vaugn and based on the 2012 comic books of the same name by Mark Miller and Dave Gibbons. In this essay, I will be comparing ‘Kingsman’ with another British film, which, also is one of our MS4 case studies; Skyfall. This is the 23rd film in the James Bond series and was released in 2012. The film recruited Daniel Craig as Bond and also stars Judi Dench. It became the highest grossing film in the UK at the time generating over $1,000 million.

First of all, I was able to identify that both of the movies ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ and ‘Skyfall’ explore similar themes and ideas, however it can also be identified how they differ at times as well. Both films are British made, follow Todorov's theory and overlap in genres such as Spy and Action films. However, Kingsman  can also be be listed as a comedy due to certain parts of the film being solely for humour, such as the idea of the influential character’s heads exploding in a firework display manner. Contrastingly, Skyfall explores a genre of its own in that it could be classed under Thriller or Adventure. Despite both films being Action, Skyfall seems to conform to the genres conventions more with significantly more car chases and explosion than Kingsman, none the less Kingsman does include several such as the police car chase at the beginning of the film. Amongst similar themes between the two are saving the world and becoming a hero. Both main protagonists Bond and Eggsy, although very different, succeed in 'saving the world' as it were.

Secondly, masculinity is a strong theme in both of the film. This is because both of the protagonists are males and the villains both of which are trying to save or change the world. Masculinity is more so shown throughout Skyfall rather than Kingsman which does show masculinity but the males are far from being the only ones able to fight and defend themselves. In Kingsman some stereotypical traits of masculinity are put into the female characters as well as the males. Both Bond (Daniel Craig) and Harry Hart (Colin Firth) are shown to represent the dominant ideology, white, middle class, middle aged, straight males.

However, to contrast, the two films overall convey opposing political views. Both films showcase the dominant ideology. With Bond being a white, heterosexual, middle aged man, clean shaven and in a suit. He is also a protagonist with great power, skills and authority suggesting the dominant ideology is the criteria for his abilities. Similarly, Harry Hart is of the same nature however Kingsman is about embracing 'Eggsy' a boy despite his low social class being able to become/ being considered for a Kingsman. Vaugn here conveys social realism through Harry Hart's left wing political views and through the film in general including characters of a working class - unlike Skyfall. 

Lastly, there are also positive representations throughout Kingsman with disability represented through Gazelle who has blades for legs. She uses this in her favour as she fights offthe kingsman and protects Valentine, although failing to do so against Eggsy in one of the final scenes. In addition, there is also a positive representation of females throughout as Roxy a woman, much smaller in weight and height than the other contenders, manages to win the position of Lancealot showing capability over men who are suggested to be seemingly more able. On the other hand, Skyfall over sexualises women as the mysterious lady is tied up and a game made of trying to knock the whiskey from her head. Bond's colleague Eve Moneypenny is also shown to shoot Bond instead of the opposition. In addition to her being shown to not be able to do what she aimed to do, she becomes a sexual object. A scene by which Bond is shaving, a masculine act, she takes over shaving him suggesting women are below men, before he unbuttons her blouse without consent.