Author: admin

In this episode of Current Account, Clay is joined by two leading voices in the insurance sector, Jérôme Haegeli, Swiss Re Group Chief Economist and Head of Swiss Re Institute, and Philippe Brahin, IIF Director of Insurance and NBFI Regulation and Policy, to explore how economic uncertainty, regulatory changes, and shifting risk landscapes are reshaping global insurance markets.

Together, they discuss the forces driving change in the industry, from trade tensions and technological disruption to rising natural catastrophe exposures. The conversation highlights how insurers are responding to these pressures, the strategies they are pursuing to close protection gaps, and the initiatives underway to strengthen investment capabilities. They also talk through the recent announcement by Treasury about the future of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) and what it means for insurance broadly.

The episode then looks ahead to 2026 and beyond, when global insurance premium growth is expected to slow to an average of 2.3 percent in real terms, slightly below the pace of the past five years. Clay and his guests consider what insurers must do to maintain resilience and profitability in a more challenging environment.

For more on insurance markets, find here Swiss Re’s report: Shifting sands: Global economic and insurance market outlook.

Current Account programming will return in January 2026.

The Spanish government has fined property rentals giant Airbnb €64m (£56m) for advertising unlicensed apartments.

It also said that some of the properties advertised in the popular tourist destination were banned from being rented.

The fine means that Airbnb has to withdraw the adverts promoting unlicensed properties. Although the Consumer Affairs Ministry said the fine cannot be appealed, Airbnb said it intends to challenge it in court.

Spain, one of the most visited countries in the world, has a buoyant tourism economy but that has fuelled concerns about unaffordable housing, as high demand from visitors raises the price of housing, pushing local people out of the market.

“There are thousands of families who are living on the edge due to housing, while a few get rich with business models that expel people from their homes,” said Spain’s consumer rights minister Pablo Bustinduy in a statement.

But Airbnb said in a statement that it was “confident that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs’ actions are contrary to applicable regulations in Spain”.

A spokesperson added that since short-term rental regulations in Spain changed in July, Airbnb was “closely collaborating with Spain’s Ministry of Housing to support the enforcement of the new national registration system”.

Like many countries, Spain’s government is concerned about how short-term holiday lets can change a neighbourhood, fuelled by a transient population of holiday-goers.

The country has been fighting a battle with thousands of Airbnb listings, banning them and clamping down on how many properties the firm can advertise. In May, there were demonstrations against the firm ahead of the busy summer season.

Spain’s government said 65,122 adverts on Airbnb breached consumer rules, including promotion of properties that were not licensed to be rented, and properties whose licence number did not match with those on official registers.

Writing on social network Bluesky, Mr Bustinduy said: “We’ll prove it as many times as necessary: no company, no matter how big or powerful, is above the law. Even less so when it comes to housing.”

Globally, several popular tourist cities place heavy restriction on Airbnb, including Barcelona, New York, Berlin, Paris and even San Francisco, where Airbnb was founded.

The tech firm started up in 2007 but became hugely popular around 2014, as tourists looked for cheap accommodation without the tax costs imposed on hotels.

Users swelled as anybody could become a “host” and make some extra cash from renting out their spare room – though many major cities have since placed limits on these types of rentals, as complaints of noisy house parties and absent hosts became an issue.