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This month… UK wedding costs spiral, the insurance sector watches with grim fascination as the AIG scandal unfolds and online advertising spend exceeds radio for the first time.

Finance -– Love hurts the pocket

Love does wonders, but money makes marriages, states a French proverb. This certainly appears true for UK couples planning to make a trip down the aisle.

A new study by investment house Brewin Dolphin (BD) discovered the average cost of a wedding in the UK has reached £16,000. Over 260,000 UK couples plan to spend £4.2 billion to tie the knot in 2005, but although the average engagement lasts over 11 months, most do not save up for the big event beforehand.

BD found 45 per cent of those getting married do not make any financial plans. Regionally, Wales and the West Country are the worst culprits for lack of planning while Londoners are the most prepared.

Among those that do plan, 15 per cent save money by foregoing holidays for 12 months and nine per cent take on an extra job. One per cent even use gambling as a method of financial planning. Ten per cent use loans or credit cards. ‘Starting married life with huge debts is far from ideal and saving is the best way to ensure your wedding day does not leave you with a financial hangover,’ says Sandy Bryson, head of financial services at BD.

But, on the big day, it seems every one gets pinched. Morgan Stanley Credit Cards reckon guests pay up to £300 to attend a wedding, covering gifts, travel, accommodation and outfits. Little wonder then that marriages have been in decline for the past 30 years.

Insurance – Greenberg takes a buffeting

The insurance community continues to watch with horrified fascination each twist in the US scandal of AIG, the world’s largest insurer and parent of blue chip UK groups, which has admitted to persistent financial irregularities under the reign of Hank Greenberg. These are alleged to involve misusing so-called reinsurance programmes to massage profits and perhaps reward key personnel in offshore and onshore arrangements, some with companies in the empire of legendary investor Warren Buffett.

Less gory changes are afoot in Britain. Legal & General has begun to look for a chief executive as David Prosser prepares to retire. Standard Life, preparing to de-mutualise, has recruited Alison Reed from Marks & Spencer as finance director.

Insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) is investigating a Cayman Islands subsidiary, which supported a captive insurer alleged by the US authorities to be involved in fraud. JLT is not subject to any allegations or inquiries itself.

Media – Online beats on-air

A new report has found that advertising spend on the internet has surpassed that of radio for the first time. The report, commissioned by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), claims that online advertising rocketed up 60 per cent in 2004 to £653.3 million, representing 3.9 per cent of total spend by advertisers. The IAB believes online ad revenue grew more than fourfold in the past four years.

Radio advertising, on the other hand, is 3.8 per cent of total advertising spend. While the press is still the predominant choice for advertisers, with 41.5 per cent of the market, followed by television at 23.9 per cent and direct mail with 14.6 per cent, the brisk growth of online ads was attributed to the massive increase in households with high-speed broadband access. As IAB’s chief executive Guy Phillipson commented, ‘There is a massive cultural shift going on, forcing a change in consumer and advertiser behaviour.’

Advertising companies will be cheered that total spend increased 5.8 per cent to £16.9 billion.

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