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What are the current key issues facing the insurance industry?
 By
Archie Kane, Chairman of the Association of British Insurers
There is no question that we face some significant challenges
in the months and years ahead and I would highlight five
key areas of importance: climate change, retail distribution,
pension reform, Solvency II and customer confidence...
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The Brown ‘bounce’ revisited
 By
Julia Clark, Head of Politics, Ipsos MORI, and James
Baglin, Research Executive, Ipsos MORI
This wasn’t how it was meant to be, was it? After 10
years of Blair’s New Labour, weighed down by Iraq and
much else besides, received wisdom had it that we should
have cornered the right-hand man waiting not-so-patiently
for his turn. The so-called miserly Chancellor, the pension
grabber, the Scotsman. Forever part of the Blair machinery,
without the spin or charisma to propel it. Or not...
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Recognising the importance of diversity to the City of
London
 Two
factors underlie the drive for diversity in the City: the
need to broaden the scope of business focuses into culturally
unfamiliar areas, and recognition of the value of a multicultural
workforce with a profitable variety of training and skills...
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Conservatives venture into world of policy
 August
is a good time for opposition parties to generate stories – the
Government’s press machine grinds to a halt and journalists
are looking for easy copy. Rolling 24-hour news channels
have to find both stories and pictures, so the BBC must have
been delighted when the Conservative Party’s Economic
Competitiveness Policy Group published its report: not only
was there some Conservative policy to cover at last, but
it was also an opportunity to play the unfortunate footage
of John Redwood MP failing to sing the Welsh National Anthem
in 1993...
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Current Accounts: how do they do it for the money?
 It's
not the first Facebook firestorm, but it might have been
the most unexpected. The 'Stop the Great HSBC Graduate Rip-Off'
group started by Wes Streeting, Vice President of the National
Union of Students, has nearly 7,000 members and is growing
by the day. There are specific details of this controversy
about the switch from interest-free overdraft to one with
charges which I don't wish to touch upon (particularly the
notice period given to account holders). Importantly, though,
it has brought the spotlight back on to charges around banking...
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Party Conference Season Preview
 It
is against the backdrop of a greatly changed political landscape
that the forthcoming party conference season looms; and,
as we head towards the next parliamentary session, the prospect
of a General Election is at the forefront of everyone’s
minds...
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Can the European Central Bank keep its independence?
 As
Portugal gets its teeth back into its Presidency of the European
Union after the summer break, it has the unenviable task
of brokering an agreement on the draft European Treaty. Submitted
at the end of July, it will be informally discussed for the
first time this weekend by EU foreign ministers. Political
battling between Member States aside, the Reform Treaty has
caused most headaches for the European Central Bank (ECB) – not
on account of the many similarities it shares with the failed
original draft Constitution, but because of a small but significant
omission...
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