Speaking at the Sesame Symposium, Iain Clark, managing director of protection at LV=, said that the sector is a long way from offering the easiest sales process that it should to customers.

He said: “”Where we are and where we need to be is a very big leap. We are very good at the virtues of policies like income protection or critical illness cover, but we are not very good at doing the second, third or fourth sale.

“We need to make it easier for consumers to buy that second or third product. We are overcomplicating things for the customer and they are afraid of making a mistake.”

He added: “We need to build the blocks up for customers.

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The property/casualty insurance industry has entered an “unusual” period, according to an analysis by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc.

In “2012 Outlook: Are We There Yet?” New York-based KBW notes that insurer capital remains plentiful and pricing is improving from the perspective of insurers, but that return on equity appears likely to decline.

“What is historically unusual is that this shift is occurring despite solid capital positions, which are allowing many leading players to buy back stock,” KBW said in the report dated Sunday.

The report’s authors said they believe the industry is reacting to “increasingly common ‘unusual’ large-loss events” and other pressures on earnings.

The report projects that rate increases will be moderate, not uniform and “not in any way a traditional hard market.” Well-positioned insurers might find such an environment to be “a boon, but for others, it simply won’t be enough,” said KBW.

Last month, KBW released an analysis of third-quarter property/casualty insurers saying that while pricing might be improving, underwriting results continue to be weak.

Those holidaying or travelling over Christmas, and indeed at any point during this winter season, have been strongly advised by a leading holiday comparison website to double-check that their travel insurance provides cover against some of the more unwelcome surprises of the season, such as large volumes of snow, or even the ‘wrong type’ of snow.

With last year’s disaster stories of grounded planes and non-existent train services still painfully fresh in many peoples’ memories, the website, Cheapflights.co.uk, has advised that this year people can, and should, seek out cover for these possible eventualities.

Possible to Get Cover for Most Things

Cheapflights.co.uk’s resident travel expert, Nadine Hallak, summarised:

“While it may not be possible to plan for absolutely everything, it’s quite possible to get cover for most things.”

Hallak cautions that whilst most general travel insurance policies cover the basic essentials such as medical treatment, lost luggage, and routine cancellations, it is often necessary to widen the search in order to find cover which guards against more extraordinary events. Recalling last

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I recently read in an article on foxbusinessnews.com that life insurance companies may owe beneficiaries and the 50 states more than $1 billion in unclaimed assets death benefits that have gone unclaimed by beneficiaries who most probably could have used the money.

A recent report from the Insurance Information Institute (III) sheds some light on this problem and explains the main reasons these benefits go unclaimed and, most importantly, how you can prevent this from occurring:

• If the insured changes addresses, the life insurance company and the the insured may lose track of each other, as insurance companies use snail mail as their main mode of communication.  Unfortunately, the U.S.

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