Insurance news

• MGA focused on 'minimising' loss ratio to launch with £30m capacity

  06-04-2016 19:16
  
  The chief executive of a claims management firm is planning to launch a new managing general agency (MGA) which will specialise in van and commercial vehicles and will have a focus on “minimising loss ratio to maximise profit”.
  
  Read more

• MGA focused on 'minimising' loss ratio launches with £30m capacity

  06-04-2016 19:16
  
  A new managing general agency (MGA) specialising in van and commercial vehicles with a focus on “minimising loss ratio to maximise profit” has launched.
  
  Read more

• Brightside bowls in with 5-year cricket sponsorship deal

  06-04-2016 15:21
  
  Brightside has signed a five-year cricket shirt deal as it aims to become one of the country’s top insurance brokers.
  
  Read more

• Smart Driver Club Insurance to offer up to 40% off premium for lower-risk drivers

  06-04-2016 14:10
  
  Smart Driver Club Insurance, the insurance offering of former Wunelli CEO Penny Searles' new UK-first telematics venture, will offer a significant reduction in its premium for drivers with a low level of risk.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Excuse my distributor, he’s only a broker

  06-04-2016 14:08
  
  James York reacts to how brokers have been snubbed in the roll out of Flood Re.
  
  Read more

• Allianz doubles excess liability capacity to £50m per class

  06-04-2016 13:03
  
  Allianz Commercial has boosted its excess-of-loss capacity, which will allow brokers to access excess liability cover of up to £50m per individual class of business for clients.
  
  Read more

• Hastings’ ex-chairman Neil Utley transfers 3.6m shares to charitable trust

  06-04-2016 12:44
  
  Neil Utley has transferred just over 3.6 million shares of his sizeable holding in Hastings Insurance Group to his family's charitable trust, according to a note issued to the London Stock Exchange today.
  
  Read more

• Advertising watchdog raps Ageas Retail over ‘misleading’ mail ad

  06-04-2016 12:11
  
  The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint from a customer about a marketing mail sent by Ageas Retail brand RIAS.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Neil Utley sells 3.6 million Hastings shares

  06-04-2016 11:14
  
  Former Hastings chairman Neil Utley has sold 3.6 million Hastings shares, taking his holding in the insurance and broking group to 6.59%.
  
  Read more

• Former Wunelli boss Searles launches used car membership club

  06-04-2016 11:13
  
  Former Wunelli CEO Penny Searles has returned to the market with the launch of an insurance company called Smart Driver Club Insurance, part of a membership service for motorists driving used cars.
  
  Read more

• Tony Latham departs as Pool Re non-exec chairman for ex-Zurich boss Geoff Riddell

  06-04-2016 10:50
  
  Former CEO and chairman of Zurich Global Corporate, Geoff Riddell, will step into the non-executive chairman role at Pool Re as Tony Latham retires.
  
  Read more

• Wunelli’s Penny Searles launches telematics and insurance service

  06-04-2016 10:41
  
  Penny Searles, co-founder and former managing director of telematics firm Wunelli, has launched a connected car service for used cars, which includes an insurance offering.
  
  Read more

• Software houses ready to go on Flood Re

  06-04-2016 10:40 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  Technology firms reject any conflict with insurers in making the scheme available via the broker channel.
  
  Read more

• The UK Broker Summit / Best Companies / In Focus

  06-04-2016 10:30
  
  Brokers gathered at the Four Seasons Hotel in March to get under the skin of the issues affecting insurance in 2016.
  
  Read more

• In-depth: Spring cleaning

  06-04-2016 10:30 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  A good scheme can make the difference between a broker breaking even and making a profit. Here we examine how to pitch new schemes to insurers, revitalise older schemes and how the Insurance Act will impact on the schemes market
  
  Read more

• Editor’s letter: April 2016

  06-04-2016 10:30 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  “That would be to utterly miss the point. It still went up and deserved challenging”
  
  Read more

• Drone cover demand predicted to rise

  06-04-2016 10:30
  
  The commercial market for drone insurance is ready to take off, with personal use following in its slipstream
  
  Read more

• C-Suite Broker: JLT's Paul Knowles - Changing terrorism trends demand new insurance solutions

  06-04-2016 10:30
  
  As we saw with the recent tragic events in Brussels and Lahore, as well as events preceding that elsewhere in Europe and the Middle East, terrorism is an evolving risk that presents significant challenges to our clients and the insurance industry
  
  Read more

• Broking break: Risky Business

  06-04-2016 10:30
  
  Our cartoon uncovers what's really going through the taxman's head
  
  Read more

• FCA reviewing GI broker professional indemnity cover

  06-04-2016 07:30
  
  The FCA is reviewing the professional indemnity (PI) insurance protection that general insurance brokers buy to cover the cost of negligence claims made against them by clients.
  
  Read more

• Thomas Carroll buys commercial broker Monmouthshire

  06-04-2016 07:25
  
  Broking and advisory group Thomas Carroll has bought commercial insurance broker Monmouthshire Insurance Services (MIS) for an undisclosed sum.
  
  Read more

• FCA launches regional general insurance events for smaller firms

  06-04-2016 07:19
  
  The FCA is planning to roll out programme of regional events called Live & Local for smaller firms this year.
  
  Read more

• The Insider 30's average share price rises

  06-04-2016 00:34
  After the volatility experienced in the previous
  month March was a more benign trading period, with two-thirds of
  the Insider 30 trading up. The group as a whole achieved an average
  share price rise of 2.1 percent.
  Novae's stock rose by 10.8 percent to 877.5 pence over
  March, as investors reacted positively to its 2015 results
  published at the beginning of the month, which boosted its share
  price by 5.4 percent in the first week after their release.
  Another significant...
  
  Read more

• Retail intermediary pleads ignorance in negligence claim

  06-04-2016 00:34
  A regional US retail insurance broker has claimed that it had
  "no expertise" procuring cyber insurance coverage in the
  face of allegations it negligently secured limits well below the
  $3mn demanded.
  Eustis, which operates in Louisiana and Texas, has blamed
  wholesaler RT Specialty after a loss revealed allegedly ambiguous
  exclusions and endorsements in a policy.
  The unusual defence was mounted in a dispute brought by the
  four-star New Hotel Monteleone - located in the French quarter of
  New Orlean
  
  Read more

• New US inversion rules could hit P&C earnings and M&A

  06-04-2016 00:34
  Tighter US Treasury rules to tackle so-called "inversion"
  deals and earnings stripping through related-party debt could
  impact global P&C profits and M&A activity, according to
  Morgan Stanley analyst Kai Pan.
  Legislators have been targeting the practice of corporate
  inversion where a domestic company merges with a smaller overseas
  company in a bid to redomicile to a new jurisdiction not subject to
  US corporate tax rates.
  After inversion rules were initially tightened last November, a
  sec
  
  Read more

• Nephila in second Citizens takeout

  06-04-2016 00:34
  Nephila Capital has received approval for a second round of
  takeouts from Florida's Citizens Property Insurance through its
  relationship with fronting carrier State National.
  In a statement on 1 April, the Florida Office of Insurance
  Regulation (Floir) said State National subsidiary National
  Specialty Insurance Company had been approved to remove up to
  19,535 personal residential policies from Citizens.
  The approval covers the 21 June take-out period and will remove
  the policies from the state-b
  
  Read more

• Map chairman warns of 'suicidal' underwriting

  06-04-2016 00:34
  David Shipley, chairman of Managing Agency Partners (Map), has
  criticised rivals that are currently writing for volume, saying the
  strategy was "bordering on suicidal".
  Writing in the accompanying notes to the Lloyd's
  syndicate's annual report, Shipley noted that there had been a
  considerable deterioration in conditions across most areas of the
  market, fuelled by benign loss experience.
  This had also been exacerbated by what he termed "major
  initiatives to minimise the role of underwriting judgm
  
  Read more

• Liberty GWP falls amid refocus

  06-04-2016 00:34
  Liberty Syndicate 4472 reported a 13.5 percent decrease in its
  top line for 2015, as it made efforts to reposition the business
  towards longer-tail lines.
  Gross written premium at the syndicate totalled $1.76bn for the
  year.
  "Despite new opportunities and business growth in
  established lines, the syndicate's planned decrease in both
  property and pecuniary lines, repositioning of the syndicate's
  motor book to elsewhere within Liberty Specialty Markets, coupled
  with further rate reductions and con
  
  Read more

• Kemper warns of $45mn Q1 cat losses

  06-04-2016 00:34
  New York-listed personal lines carrier Kemper has warned first
  quarter cat losses could run up to $45mn following a number of
  significant storms.
  The announcement follows a poor set of Q4 2015 results that sent
  the carrier's share price into a tailspin.
  On 5 February, Kemper's share price dropped by more than 20
  percent after the insurer reported that profits had fallen by 75
  percent to $4.8mn.
  Now, Kemper has said that its results for the first quarter will
  be...
  
  Read more

• Haley extension raises questions over Casserley future

  06-04-2016 00:34
  Willis Towers Watson's decision to extend the contract of
  65-year-old CEO John Haley by three years has intensified talk that
  former Willis group CEO Dominic Casserley will leave the
  company.
  Sources have said there is now widespread talk in both the
  market and Willis itself that the expanded group's deputy CEO
  will not have a long-term future in the
  consultancy-cum-brokerage.
  Following the consummation of the $18bn merger with Towers
  Watson - which was achieved despite an initial shareholder re
  
  Read more

• Further alleged victims added in AIG Cosby suit

  06-04-2016 00:34
  A further four alleged victims have come forward in a string of
  suits against actor and comedian Bill Cosby, who is facing
  allegations of rape dating back 40 years.
  Insurer American International Group (AIG) has succeeded in
  adding the latest claimants to a suit it has brought against the
  performer.
  He is now facing at least seven claims that he tricked women
  into taking tranquilisers before sexually assaulting or raping
  them.
  The allegations were first made in a number of...
  
  Read more

• Exor parachutes Bonaccorso in as PartnerRe CFO

  06-04-2016 00:34
  Former Exor managing director Mario Bonaccorso has been
  appointed CFO of PartnerRe, the carrier announced today (5
  April).
  He replaces Bill Babcock, who had served in the position since
  October 2010.
  Babcock's departure cleared the way for the Italian
  investment vehicle to parachute Bonaccorso into the company, in the
  latest in a string of executive changes since Exor purchased
  PartnerRe last month in a deal worth $6.9bn.
  Bonaccorso has resigned his position as managing director at
  Exor and his
  
  Read more

• Energy market braces for $225mn drilling loss

  06-04-2016 00:34
  Severe weather has caused UK drilling firm Stena Drilling to
  drop a piece of equipment to the sea bed off the coast of Nova
  Scotia, resulting in a potential $225mn loss for the energy
  market.
  The relevant Stena policy is led by QBE's O'Farrell
  syndicate and brokered by JLT. A separate wreck and removal policy,
  underwritten by Gard, could also be impacted - with sources
  suggesting a potential $25mn-$40mn hit.
  Stena has notified the market that it expects to make...
  
  Read more

• Energy insurers facing perfect storm: Willis

  06-04-2016 00:34
  Willis Towers Watson has warned of a bleak outlook for energy
  insurers, with increased capacity, rate declines and reduced demand
  combining to create the "perfect storm".
  Speaking at the launch of the broker's Energy Market Review,
  Robin Somerville, report editor and communications director of the
  Natural Resources Industry Group, said low oil prices were
  compounding longstanding market issues of overcapacity and
  increased competition.
  Somerville predicted that underwriting in the sector could c
  
  Read more

• Credit Suisse edging closer to securitisation

  06-04-2016 00:34
  Credit Suisse is progressing its plans to issue an operational
  risk insurance securitisation after a major single investor said it
  would take at least SwF100mn ($105mn) of the transaction, sister
  publication Trading Risk has
  reported.
  The SwF630mn deal was originally pitched as a single layer of
  reinsurance cover offering a 4 percent coupon, but has since been
  restructured to accommodate the investor's demand for a
  slightly higher risk-return profile than the original target.
  The investor's stak
  
  Read more

• Chinese company exploring corporate ILS product

  06-04-2016 00:34
  A Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) is looking at tapping
  into the capital markets by issuing a corporate cat bond, sister
  publication Trading Risk has learned.
  Paul Owens, CEO of Willis Towers Watson's Global Captive
  practice, told Trading Risk that there had been significant
  interest in China in corporate cat bonds similar to the PennUnion
  Re deal last year.
  The PennUnion Re bond is only the second ever cat bond to cover
  storm surge. The $275mn cat bond provides protection to...
  
  Read more

• Brokers look to overturn threatening judgment

  06-04-2016 00:34
  In an unusual move, four of the largest reinsurance brokers have
  waded into an appeals court case to ask judges to overturn a
  decision in a dispute between a legacy carrier and its
  reinsurer.
  The brokers said that the decision by a New York district court
  "threatened to undermine the proper functioning" of the
  facultative reinsurance market.
  It follows the 2014 judgment in a dispute between Global
  Reinsurance Corporation of America and Ace legacy affiliate Century
  Indemnity Company.
  The reinsure
  
  Read more

• Aviva cat premium falls by 20% on renewal

  06-04-2016 00:34
  London-listed insurer Aviva has renewed its major catastrophe
  reinsurance treaty with a premium reduction of almost 20 percent,
  The Insurance Insider can reveal.
  However, exposure reductions and model changes mean that the
  premium drop-off exaggerates the extent of the rate cut, with the
  risk-adjusted movement coming in high single digits.
  It is understood that Aviva's main open market cat programme
  was placed as a single tranche providing £1.2bn ($1.7bn) of
  protection in excess of a &poun
  
  Read more

• AmTrust Lloyd's woes continue

  06-04-2016 00:34
  The travails of AmTrust's Lloyd's syndicates 1206 and
  2526 continued in 2015, with combined ratios deteriorating as the
  expansive US insurer attempts to turn the ailing businesses
  around.
  The former AG Doré Syndicate 2526 reported a combined ratio
  that increased from 174 percent in 2014 to 258 percent for
  2015.
  The managing agent attributed this to necessary reserve
  strengthening following an independent claims review that revealed
  higher levels of claims development from 2013 and before
  
  Read more

• AIG impresses analysts in meeting

  06-04-2016 00:34
  American International Group (AIG) shares traded up late last
  month after the insurer's management met with sell-side
  analysts and impressed in a tough round of questioning about their
  turnaround strategy.
  With under-pressure CEO Peter Hancock making introductory
  comments, the discussion was led by commercial insurance chief Rob
  Schimek and CFO Sid Sankaran.
  And their responses were enough to convince Janney analyst Larry
  Greenberg that the ailing insurer's stock was worthy of an
  upgrade.
  The pr
  
  Read more

Follow @Insurance_UKnws on Twitter!