News in Brief.

(From Insurance Day)

Health launch

ROYAL & SunAlliance's (RSA) former healthcare and assistance business and its subsidiary, FirstAssist Group, which were bought out by management earlier this month, have been launched under the FirstAssist brand. The re-launched entity, which is backed by Munich Re as well as Barclays Private Equity and Bank of Scotland Corporate Banking, will focus on providing more holistic solutions.

Mis-selling fears

FINANCIAL advisers and product providers who encouraged investors, some of whom agreed to accept a high level of risk, to buy stockmarket-linked bonds could still face a wave of mis-selling claims when the next tranche of "precipice" bonds mature on May 6, an insurance law firm has warned. Partners from Reynolds Porter Chamberlain believe a recent statement from the Financial Ombudsman suggests inexperienced investors may not have fully understood financial advisers' classifications of attitude to risk. Jonathan Davies, a partner in RPC's financial services team, cautioned: "With so many stockmarket-linked bonds due to mature in a short space of time, the number of investors lodging mis-selling complaints is likely to jump ...