Recent News

The dates have been fixed for the 35th UK Insurance Economists' Conference for 2013. It will be held on the 17th and 18th April at Nottingham University Business School. A Call for papers will be sent out on 17th September 2013 and a final decision on the programme will be made by 10th December 2012. We hope you will join us next year!
16th May 2012

The latest edition of Crisline, the newsletter of the Centre for Risk and Insurance Studies, is now available on the CRIS website. click here to download
28th March 2012

We are looking to recruit a Lecturer in Risk Management, which is a new post at Nottingham University Business School. The deadline for applications is 22nd March and the advertisement is available at: Lecturer in Risk Management.
28th February 2012

The Agnes Hempsell Fund is offering a Scholarship for a PhD student researching in insurance (including risk management related to insurance). Further details.
30th January 2012

CRIS has published a the programme for the 34th UK Insurance Economists' Conference, to be held in Nottingham on on 25th and 26th April 2012. Further details.
6th January 2012

Chris O'Brien is presenting a paper to the Staple Inn Actuarial Society on 17 January: "Equity between with-profits policyholders and shareholders: issues and challenges". Download paper.
6th January 2012

CRIS has published a Call for Papers for the 34th UK Insurance Economists' Conference, to be held in Nottingham on on 25th and 26th April 2012. Further details.
21st September 2011

CRIS has published its report on Key Performance Indicators of UK insurance companies. Organisations wishing to purchase the report (or obtain a free extract) should contact cris@nottingham.ac.uk
1st August 2011

The dates have been fixed for the 34th UK Insurance Economists' Conference for 2012. It will be held on the 25th and 26th April at Nottingham University Business School. A Call for papers will be sent out on 12th September 2011 and a final decision on the programme will be made by 12th December 2011. We hope you will join us next year!
1st June 2011

The 11th CRIS London half-day seminar will be held in autumn dates to be confirmed.
31st May 2011

CRIS announces a new executive education course in risk management: to take place on June 21-22: for more details,click here
2nd March 2011

Chris O'Brien is presenting a paper on "Equity between with-profits policyholders and shareholders" at a sessional research event of the institute and Faculty of Actuaries at the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh on Monday 21 March. Further details are at: http://www.actuaries.org.uk/events/one-day/sessional-research-meeting-save-date-0
1st March 2011

Chris O'Brien is a member of a working party of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, chaired by Kamran Foroughi, which is preparing a paper on "Insurance Accounting: a new era?" The paper reviews recent developments from the International Accounting Standards Board that impact on insurers, and will be presented at Staple Inn, London on Monday 11 April, and at the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, on Wednesday 11 May. Further details are at: http://www.actuaries.org.uk/events/one-day/sessional-research-event-insurance-accounting-new-era-0
1st March 2011

We have announced the programme for the 33rd UK Insurance Economists' Conference to be held at Nottingham University Business School on 13th and 14th April 2011 conference attracts both academics and practitioners and enables participants to discuss current issues and latest research. For further details of the programme and application click here
17th January 2011

The programme has now been announced for the 10th annual CRIS London Seminar on the subject of Risk. For further details and a booking form click here
1st October 2010

We are pleased that Richard Simper, Senior Lecturer in Economics at Loughborough University, will be joining us as an Associate Professor in Financial Economics. Richard has done a substantial amount of research in the area of banking, and we are expecting that he will contribute to our teaching.
18th August 2010

We are pleased that Tommaso Palermo joined us as a CRIS Visiting Scholar in May, and is working on a paper on risk governance with Margaret Woods and Chris O'Brien. Tommaso Palermo is currently at Politecnio di Milano and expects to complete his PhD later this year.
1st July 2010

Nottingham University Business School is looking to appoint a Chair/Associate Professor in Financial Economics. Applications are invited from candidates with a proven background in any relevant area of financial economics, including the economics of risk. We shall be reviewing applications on 26 March. For further information, please see http://jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/vacancies.aspx?cat=107
10th March 2010

We completed research for Premierline Direct on the risks face by and insurance needs of small business. The report by Chris O'Brien is summarised at www.nottingham.ac.uk/business/NewsPage.phtml?mode=2&id=167 and the full report is at www.nottingham.ac.uk/business/cris/papers/Small_businesses_and_risk.pdf
8th February 2010

Lord Justice Jackson, Issued his review of Civil Litigation Costs. Paul Fenn one of the assessors for the review and suggested factors to apply in the proposed extended fixed costs regime: www.judiciary.gov.uk/about_judiciary/cost-review/jan2010/final-report-140110.pdf
8th February 2010

We have announced the programme for the 32nd UK Insurance Economists' Conference to be held at Nottingham University Business School on 21st and 22nd April 2010. The conference attracts both academics and practitioners and enables participants to discuss current issues and latest research. For further details of the programme and application.{more}
19th January 2010

The deadline of 2.00pm Friday 20th November, for papers for the 32nd UK Insurance Economists conference, is fast approaching. Please submit your paper to Professor Stephen Diacon by this date, click here for further details
9th November 2009

The latest edition of Crisline, the newsletter of the Centre for Risk and Insurance Studies, is now available on the CRIS website. click here to download
9th November 2009

The 9th Annual CRIS London Seminar is now fully booked. Any additional applications will be held on a reserve list. For further details click here
4th November 2009

Chris O'Brien is speaking at the Infoline conference on "TCF for with-profits", to be held in London 8th December. Further information is available from this link, and if you quote VIP Code KM6339NHWEB to get 20% discount: http://www.infoline.org.uk/r.php?uID=1381
4th November 2009

The programme has now been announced for the 9th annual CRIS London Seminar on the subject of Risk. For further details and a booking form click here
11th September 2009

The Business Risk Forum takes place at the 3rd European Risk Research Conference, in London, on the afternoon of 3rd September, kindly hosted by Deloitte. Speakers are from Fitch Ratings, Ernst & Young and the Belgian Institute of Registered Auditors. Further information and we encourage early booking. Additional information about the Risk Research Conference (Sept 2- 4) is available at www.nottingham.ac.uk/business/rmgic/3rdconferenceinfo.html and we are still able to accept bookings.
6th August 2009

"The role of risk in society" is the subject of an essay by Chris O'Brien, which discusses the Aviva Consumer Attitudes Survey and some issues arising. Further information about the survey is at www.aviva.com/customers/consumer-attitudes-survey
5th August 2009

CRIS announces that it is holding its 9th annual London seminar on Friday 20 November. It is on the subject of risk management. It will be held at Insurance Market Conferences Ltd, 16 St Clare Street, (off Minories), London EC3N 1LQ. Programme details will follow in due course.
29th July 2009

"AIRMIC has published a research report on "the Definition And Application of the concept of risk appetite". The research was carried out by Marsh Risk Consulting and the University of Nottingham (CRIS: Stephen Diacon and Simon Ashby). A copy of the report is available on request; please contact christopher.obrien@nottingham.ac.uk
22nd July 2009

With-profits business reports: Chris O'Brien has prepared three research reports related to the reattribution of certain Aviva with-profits funds: Appendix 11 The UK with-profits life insurance industry: a market review, Appendix 12 Economics, governance and regulation of with-profits life insurance business , Appendix 13 Equity between with-profits policyholders and shareholders
30th June 2009

Management development course: CRIS announces details of its management development course on Insurance and Society, to be held in Nottingham from 6-10 July. Further details of course
12th June 2009

New book on insurance: Professor Robert L Carter (Emeritus Professor of Insurance Studies at the University of Nottingham) and Peter Falush (Consultant Economist) are authors of a new book entitled "The British Insurance Industry since 1900: the era of transformation". The book is published by Palgrave MacMillan and is available at £65.
11th June 2009

Paul Fenn leads the development of a specialist teaching and learning website on "Risk and Uncertainty".
This is part of a project whereby academics make available high quality teaching and learning resources, such as lecture slides, seminar materials and handouts, the resulting wikis being available to help students.
The project is entitled Teaching Resources for Undergraduate Economics (TRUE), and Paul is one of fourteen economists, each leading a specific subject area depending on their expertise. Their role will be to encourage the sharing of resources within their field and also to provide quality control for the material submitted. {more}
26th May 2009

Researchers urge Government to issue longevity bonds. A team of experts including Kevin Dowd, Professor of Financial Risk Management, are calling on the Government to issue longevity bonds. {more}
19th May 2009

Margaret Woods was interviewed on ABC National, the Australian radio corporation, about the banking crisis, with a focus on the issues of transparency (or lack of it) in risk-related information in banks' accounts. The interview is part of a programme that was broadcast on 12 April, entitled Zombie Banks, lasting about 45 minutes.

The link to the podcast of the broadcast is:
{http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/}
18th May 2009

CRIS has published a survey on with-profit life insurance companies' realistic balance sheets. The survey covers the top 20 with-profits life insurers using the 'realistic balance sheets' they produce in accordance with the rules of the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The figures as at the end of 2008 were compared with those companies' data at the end of 2007. {more}
13th May 2009

Top prize for PhD from The Geneva Association. PhD student, Hale Abdul Kader, is the co-author of a paper that has won a prestigious prize from The Geneva Association and the International Insurance Society, Inc. {more}
13th May 2009

The dates have been fixed for the 32nd UK Insurance Economists' Conference, for 2010: it will be held on the 21st and 22nd April at Nottingham University Business School. {further details}
22nd April 2009

Professor Kevin Dowd is giving the second Annual Chris R. Tame Memorial Lecture on "Lessons from the Financial Crisis: A Libertarian Perspective." The lecture takes place on Tuesday 17th March 2009 at the National Liberal Club, One Whitehall Place, London SW1 between 6.30pm and 8.30pm. For further information, see http://www.libertarian.co.uk/conferences/crtmemlec09.htm. Admission is free.
1st February 2009

A new guide on "Financial Risk Management for Management Accountants" by Margaret Woods and Kevin Dowd has been published by CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants), the Society of Management Accountants of Canada and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The guide covers types of financial risk and why they should be managed; a risk management framework; quantifying financial risks; and tools and techniques to mitigate risk. There is also a case study, glossary and bibliography. The guide is available through CIMA.
28th January 2009

We have announced the programme for the 31st UK Insurance Economists' Conference to be held at Nottingham University Business School on 25th/26th March 2009. The conference includes papers stimulated by the global financial crisis, together with other papers that analyse developments in life general insurance and pensions. The conference is a good opportunity for academics and practitioners to discuss and reflect on these issues. For further details of the programme and application. {more}
22nd January 2009

International Risk Management book nominated for prestigious award. The American Risk and Insurance Association (ARIA) has nominated International Risk Management: Systems, Internal Control and Corporate Governance by Margaret Woods, Associate Professor in Accounting and Finance for its prestigious Kulp-Wright Book Award for 2009.
The Kulp-Wright Award is presented annually by the American Risk and Insurance Association to the author(s) of the book considered the most influential text published on the economics of risk management and insurance.
International Risk Management by Margaret Woods, Peter Kajuter, and Philip Linsley (Elsevier Science 2007) has been acclaimed for its practical usefulness in covering the international aspects of risk management systems.
For more details of the ARIA book awards http://www.aria.org/awards/bookawards.htm
6th January 2009

We have published the Discussion Paper Moral Hazard and the Financial Crisis by Kevin Dowd. {further details}
10th December 2008

We welcome Jonathan Tan as a memebr of CRIS. Jonathan's research interests include Microeconomics; Game Theory; Behavioural Economics; Experimental Economics; Public Economics; and Industrial Organization
31st October 2008

8th Annual CRIS London Seminar. This seminar of our life and pensions research will take place in London on the afternoon of 28th November {further details}
6th October 2008

We are delighted to welcome Kevin Amess as a member of CRIS. Kevin has been promoted to Associate Professor in Industrial Economics. His research interests cover a wide area: they include not only financial services but other areas including private equity, and the measurement of efficiency
1st July 2008

Paul Fenn will be part of a team carrying out a study for the Ministry of Justice on 'no win, no fee' schemes. {further details}
26th June 2008

Chris O'Brien , is speaking on "Understanding and managing longevity risk" at the 2008 Pension Plan Financial Risk conference, which takes place in London on 29-30 April.
4th February 2008

Kevin Dowd, together with David Blake and Andrew Cairns, is making a presentation on "A new look at mortality risk" at the 2007 Life Convention of the UK Actuarial Profession, being held in Manchester on 11th/13th November.
8th November 2007

Paul Fenn is one of the co-authors of a report for the Legal Services Commission on "Evaluation of the Public Defender Service in England and Wales". The report is based on an extensive analysis of the work of six Public Defender Offices, in comparison with samples of cases drawn from Private Criminal Defence Solicitors' firms. The report can be downloaded at http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/docs/pds/Public_Defenders_Report_PDFVersion6.pdf
24th October 2007

Kevin Dowd has been appointed to the LifeMetrics Advisory Board run by the investment bank JP Morgan. Kevin is advising them on mortality modelling with a view to helping set up a market for mortality derivatives trading.
24th October 2007

CRIS announces a short conference on Banking risk after Northern Rock: New Perspectives. A short conference: Thursday 15th November, 4.30-6.30 at Nottingham University Business School. {further details}
17th October 2007

Report on UK with-profits life insurers' realistic valuations. Chris O'Brien has completed a report prepared for and funded by the Society of Actuaries on the "realistic" valuations that UK life insurers have been preparing since 2004. {download report}
5th September 2007

7th Annual CRIS London Seminar. This seminar of our general insurance research will take place in London on the afternoon of 29th November {further details}
5th September 2007

New research evaluates the Public Defender Service. Paul Fenn is one of the co-authors of a report for the Legal Services Commission on "Evaluation of the Public Defender Service in England and Wales". The report is based on an extensive analysis of the work of six Public Defender Offices, in comparison with samples of cases drawn from private criminal defence solicitors' firms. The report can be downloaded at http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/docs/pds/Public_Defenders_Report_PDFVersion6.pdf
3rd September 2007

The dates have been fixed for the 30th UK Insurance Economists' Conference, for 2008: it will be held on the 9th and 10th April at Nottingham University Business School. {further details}
3rd September 2007

The Guardian reports our risk and insurance Doctoral Scholarship winner
'Money well spent'
The Guardian talks to Nottingham University Business School's Doctoral Scholarship winner and Christopher O'Brien, Director of our Centre for Risk and Insurance Studies, about her £70,000 Agnes Hempsell Scholarship award to study for a PhD. Syrian-born Hale Abdul Kader says 'Nottingham is one of the best places to study insurance and risk.' For the full story, go to http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2127471,00.html
17th July 2007

The Telegraph reports our insurance expert joins Prism Group. Chris O'Brien, Director of the Centre for Risk and Insurance Studies, has been invited to join the high-profile Prism Group--the team of expert advisers backing Clare Spottiswoode, who represents Aviva's policyholders over plans to carve up £4bn worth of surplus cash. For the full story, go to

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/06/25/cnaviva125.xml

28th June 2007

Better risk management could cut MRSA infection rates. The larger--and busier-- an NHS hospital is, the higher the MRSA infection rate, research from the Nottingham University Business School has revealed. The impact of risk management standards on the frequency of MRSA infections in NHS hospitals study looked at how demanding risk management standards imposed by hospital insurers--and the premium discounts offered if these rigorous standards are met--could reduce MRSA infection rates. Institutions with the highest number of 'bed days' for riskier treatments, particularly surgery and gynaecology, have an increased likelihood of infection. But financial incentives could play a role in controlling MRSA infection rates, potentially slashing the incidence of infection by between 11 and 20 per cent, the study shows. MRSA infection costs the NHS £1bn a year in terms of prevention, compensation payments and additional treatment. Deaths involving MRSA rose from 51 in 1993 to 1,629 in 2005. All NHS hospitals carry insurance to cover them against claims for illness and injuries caused by medical treatment. As with other insurance settings, the cover it provides reduces the need to try to minimise exposure to claims, because the insurer, not the hospital, will be paying the claim. In the NHS, the insurer, the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA), overcomes this problem by outlining strict risk management standards. The standards are increasingly demanding and-- if they can demonstrate compliance with them-- hospitals are granted increasing discounts on the premiums they pay the NHSLA for their cover. If the financial incentives implicit in these arrangements are effective, hospitals attaining higher risk management levels could face lower MRSA infection rates The study, led by Paul Fenn, Norwich Union Professor of Insurance Studies in the Nottingham University Business School, involved Professor Alastair Gray from the University of Oxford and Professor Neil Rickman from the University of Surrey. The team looked at data from all NHS hospitals in the UK between 2001 and 2005, including MRSA infection rates, hospital size and mix of cases, bed utilisation rates and risk management levels. They found that the introduction of higher risk management standards, including hand hygiene and infection control measures, reduced the incidence of infection in hospitals by between 11 and 20 per cent after allowing for all other variations in infection rates. Larger hospitals were found to have higher infection rates, particularly those with higher proportions of patients undergoing surgical or gynaecological treatment. And the 'busier' the hospital--the closer it is to full capacity-- the higher the incidence of MRSA infection. Professor Fenn said: 'Our research has demonstrated that hospital management has responded to financial incentives by adopting higher risk management standards, and where this happens, patient safety tends to improve.'
23rd April 2007

Scholarship for PhD Students. CRIS announces that the Agnes Hempsell Scholarship is available to students planning to do a PhD in the area of insurance/risk. {more}
3rd April 2007

FSA introduces new rule to protect with-profits policyholders. The Financial Services Authority has announced it is implementing a new rule (effective from 6th April 2007) to ensure that policyholders' interests are protected when a market value reduction applies on a unitised with-profits policy, in a firm that distributes 90% of it surplus to policyholders, 10% to shareholders. The change was originally suggested by Chris O'Brien in an article published in "Economic Affairs" in 2003. FSA consulted on the proposal, and the outcome of the consultation process is included in section 4 of the FSA Handbook notice 64: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/handbook/hb_notice64.pdf (pages 24-26).
3rd April 2007

Paul Fenn, together with Alistair Grey, Neil Rickman, Dev Vencappa, Oliver Rivero and E. Lotti will be presenting a paper at the Royal Economics Society annual conference at Warwick on "The impact of risk management standards on the frequency of MRSA infections in NHS hospitals". This takes place on Wednesday April 11th.
14th February 2007

Chris O'Brien is speaking at the Pension Plan Financial Risk Conference, which takes place in London on 4th-6th June. His presentation is entitled "Mortality risk: examining the best methods for managing the longevity risk". Further details of the Conference are available from www.terrapinn.com/2007/PPFR
13th February 2007

Kevin Dowd has been invited to join the editorial board of the new Journal of Risk Model Validation, to be edited by Steve Satchell.
28th November 2006

Aoife Hanley was invited to attend a conference called "Globalisation and Productivity", for Development of Sweden's Economic Statistics from October 25th -26th at Saltsjobaden in Sweden. While there Aoife presented a paper called "Productivity effects of international outsourcing: Evidence from plant level data" which is co-authored with Holger Görg (University of Nottingham and CEPR) and Eric Strobl (Ecole Polytechnique Paris). Aoife also acted as discussant on a paper called "Effects on productivity from Swedish off shoring by Eva Hagsten (Statistics Sweden), Patrik Karpaty (Örebro University) and Stefan Svanberg (Statistics Sweden)
28th November 2006

The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), a Brussels-based think tank, has produced a report on insurance regulation in the European Union, being the outcome of a taskforce on this subject, chaired by Johan van der Ende, with the report largely written by Rym Ayadi (CEPS) and Chris O'Brien (CRIS). The report is being launched in London at a meeting of the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation on October 27th.
18th October 2006

Kevin Dowd has been appointed editor of a special issue of the Journal of Risk.
18th October 2006

Insurance Company Performance 2006 is now available. This is our compilation of data from over 250 UK insurance companies, covering 2004 (including comparisons with 2003). Part I consists of data from the report and accounts, Part II is data from FSA Returns. Part I costs £155, Part II costs £155, Part I and II together cost £280. Enquiries to Tim Orton: 0115 951 5269, timothy.orton@nottingham.ac.uk
18th October 2006

We are pleased to welcome Richard MacMinn, Edmondson Miller Professor of Insurance and Financial Services, Katie School, Illinois State University, as a new CRIS Research Associate. Richard was previously Swiss Re Professor of the Management of Risk at the University of Nottingham.
18th October 2006

One-week modules. We announce that three one-week modules which are part of the MBA programme in Risk & Insurance Management are available to managers on a standalone basis. The modules are:
Crisis Management and Business Continuity, 5th - 19th January 2007.
Insurance and Society, 26th - 30th March 2007
Operations Management of Insurance Organisations, 9th - 13th July 2007
18th October 2006

Enrico Bachis has been appointed Researcher on the programme to research competitiveness in insurance markets. Enrico is currently completing his doctoral studies at Nottingham University Business School in the area of Industrial Economics.
18th October 2006

CRIS announces a life and pensions research seminar to be held at the offices of the Association of British Insurers on Monday 4th December (12.45 - 5.00pm). The seminar will consist of presentations from CRIS researchers on life and pensions issues. {more}
18th October 2006

David Blake, Andrew Cairns and Kevin Dowd have been awarded a prize by the Faculty of Actuaries for their paper, 'Living with mortality, longevity bonds and other mortality-securities'.
18th October 2006

We have submitted evidence to the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee enquiring into the "Compensation Culture". {more}
18th October 2006

David Blake, Andrew Cairns and Kevin Dowd are presenting a paper, 'Living with mortality: Longevity bonds and other mortality-linked securities', to the Institute of Actuaries at a Sessional Meeting, Monday 27 February 2006, at Staple Inn Hall, London. The meeting starts at 5.00pm. The paper is available for downloading from www.actuaries.org.uk/files/pdf/sessional/fac_sm20060116.pdf. (374kb). This paper will be of interest to actuaries involved in the management of longevity risk, both in life insurers and in pension schemes. It focuses on the ways in which exposures to this risk can be managed by use of mortality-linked securities and derivatives, some already existing and others still hypothetical.
21st February 2006

CRIS announced that one-week modules on its MBA programme are available to managers on a standalone basis. This gives individuals the benefit of a wider perspective on insurance/risk without the commitment to attend a full MBA programme. The modules run from 3-7 April, 10-14 July and 4-7 September. {more}
21st February 2006

We have announced the programme for the 28th UK Insurance Economists' Conference to be held at Nottingham University Business School on 29th/30th March 2006. The meeting attracts both academics and practitioners and enables participants to discuss current issues and the latest research. For further details of the programme and application. {more}
21st February 2006