Insurance news

• Zurich enters takaful market with MAA buy

  29-04-2016 19:04
  Zurich Insurance Group has received regulatory approval to take
  full ownership of Malaysian takaful provider MAA Takaful.
  MAA Takaful is a joint venture between MAA Group Berhad and
  Bahrain's Solidarity, which hold 75 percent and 25 percent
  stakes respectively.
  Parent company MAA Group Berhad announced on 27 April that the
  transactions for each stake had received full approval from the
  Malaysian central bank.
  The agreement was first announced in November last year. The
  deal consideration was not
  
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• Arch open to mortgage insurance acquisitions: Iordanou

  29-04-2016 19:04
  Bermudian (re)insurer Arch would consider acquiring other
  mortgage insurance businesses as part of its growth strategy, CEO
  and chairman Dinos Iordanou revealed yesterday (28 April).
  Speaking on the company's Q1 earnings call, Iordanou was
  quizzed by Macquarie analyst Amit Kumar on whether the carrier
  would seek to grow its mortgage insurance book organically given
  market rumours regarding the sale of a large mortgage insurance
  asset.
  Iordanou replied that while the company's immediate focus
  was
  
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• Aon Benfield returns to organic growth for Q1

  29-04-2016 19:04
  Aon's reinsurance broking arm Aon Benfield reported organic
  growth of 1 percent in the first quarter of 2016, compared to a
  drop of 1 percent in the same period a year ago.
  The quarterly growth was primarily a result of growth in
  facultative placements, cedant demand in treaty placements and new
  business generation.
  The growth was also partially offset by unfavourable market
  conditions globally, Aon said.
  The global broker's group Q1 results reported that its
  broking segment Aon Risk Solutions..
  
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• Aon broking unit reports 4% profit rise and 3% organic growth

  29-04-2016 16:55
  
  Aon’s Risk Solutions division made an operating profit of $429m (£294.5m) in the first quarter of 2016, up 4% on the $412m it made in last year’s first quarter.
  
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• Swiss Re bottom line falls 14%, but beats consensus

  29-04-2016 13:46
  Global reinsurer Swiss Re reported a 14.3 percent year-on-year
  drop in group net profits to $1.2bn for Q1 2016, but still
  comfortably beat many analysts' expectations.
  Citi analyst Andrius Budnikas called the results
  "solid", noting that profits were some 29 percent better
  than consensus.
  However, the group combined ratio rose 7.8 percentage points
  from the prior-year period to 92.8 percent, with the loss ratio
  increasing 7.2 points to 59.5 percent and the expense ratio coming
  in 0.6 points high
  
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• Swiss Re appoints divisional CEOs

  29-04-2016 13:46
  Reinsurance giant Swiss Re has announced that Moses Ojeisekhoba
  will become reinsurance CEO after Christian Mumenthaler moves from
  the role to replace outgoing group CEO Michel Liès in
  July.
  Ojeisekhoba is currently regional president and CEO reinsurance
  for Asia, as well as being a member of the group executive
  committee.
  The executive has been with Swiss Re since 2012. The reinsurer
  said that, together with his team, he had increased both Swiss
  Re's market share and its profit share in.
  
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• Private flood insurance bill edges towards approval

  29-04-2016 13:46
  A bill that could see private surplus lines carriers take a
  larger chunk of the market for flood insurance has overcome another
  hurdle after passing the US House of Representatives.
  The Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act was
  unanimously passed by the House earlier today (28 April).
  If made law the bill would give consumers the choice between
  coverage provided by the beleaguered National Flood Insurance
  Program (NFIP) and that bought in the private market.
  Tom Santos, vice presid
  
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• Gibbs named as AmTrust International chairman

  29-04-2016 13:46
  AmTrust has appointed Andrew Gibbs as chairman of its Bermuda
  arm, the company announced today (29 April).
  He will also become chief operating officer of AmTrust
  International Insurance.
  Gibbs will take on the role from 6 September and will serve as a
  senior executive in the company's European subsidiaries.
  He was previously director of insurance supervision at the
  Bermuda Monetary Authority, and formerly held senior executive
  positions at Validus and Ace.
  Commenting on the appointment, Barry Zy
  
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• AJ Gallagher generates 4.8% organic growth

  29-04-2016 13:46
  AJ Gallagher (AJG) impressed with solid first quarter organic
  revenue growth performance across its broking and risk management
  business and margin improvement.
  Overall organic growth came in at 4.8 percent, with brokerage
  matching the run rate with 4.8 percent growth and risk management
  delivering an underlying revenue increase of 4.7 percent.
  The group's adjusted Ebitdac for brokerage and risk
  management was up 15 percent to $222.7mn for the quarter and the
  adjusted Ebitdac margin improved by
  
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• 20% increase in jobs at mutual insurers since crisis

  29-04-2016 13:18
  
  Globally there has been a 20% rise in the number of jobs at mutual insurers since the financial crisis, according to a report.
  
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• Self-driving cars and instant insurance in the news; spotlights on affinity and parachuting in

  29-04-2016 12:56
  Important news and exclusive content from Insurance Post over the past week, in case you missed it.
  
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• RSA's new pet referral policy criticised by vets

  29-04-2016 11:37
  
  RSA has been slammed by veterinarians for restricting full cover to a small network of referral centres across the country.
  
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• Quiz of the week - 29 April 2016

  29-04-2016 11:32
  
  Test your knowledge of the week's insurance news, with the Post insurance quiz of the week.
  
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• Review: Discerning drivers

  29-04-2016 10:31
  
  Covéa Executive Motor. This product has been reviewed by brokers and rated from one to five stars, based on the policy’s key benefits. * = Poor ** = Average *** = Good **** = Very good ***** = Excellent
  
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• Why insurers set up in Gibraltar

  29-04-2016 10:30
  
  Gibraltar is subject to the same rules as everywhere else in Europe. Kathryn Morgan explains why insurers really flock to the British Overseas Territory
  
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• Products round-up: Offerings ramp up for Biba

  29-04-2016 10:30
  
  The British Insurance Brokers’ Association conference is a notable opportunity for insurers to launch new products to wow brokers and secure business.
  
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• Direct relationships may soon become the rule

  29-04-2016 10:30
  
  EYs Kevin Koenig and Steve LaValle have a worrying take on how sensor data may affect broking in future.
  
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• Quizzical questions: 29 April 2016

  29-04-2016 10:26 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  Test your knowledge of the week’s news with our topical news quiz.
  
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• Research: State of the Young Insurer Nation Part 4: Tomorrow's World

  29-04-2016 10:05
  
  In the fourth and final section of this research project, Michèle Bacchus asks young insurer employees how they see the future of insurance and what they feel they can learn from the older generation
  
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• Video: Liverpool Regional Review Part 2

  29-04-2016 10:00
  
  In our second video from Liverpool, Insurance Age reporter Ida Axling continues to investigate what the local insurance market is like.
  
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• Three law firms beat off rivals to join Towergate legal panel

  29-04-2016 09:15
  
  Three law firms - BLM, DWF and DAC Beachcroft - were the winners in a tendering process of 20 law firms fighting it out to join Towergate Undewriting’s legal panel.
  
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• Admiral guns for China with price comparison site entry

  29-04-2016 09:08
  
  Admiral aims to crack the Chinese insurance market with a price comparison site entry.
  
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• Gallagher enjoys strong start to year with sales up 11%

  29-04-2016 08:47
  
  Gallagher enjoyed a strong start to the year as its turnover smashed through the billion dollar barrier for the first three months of the year.
  
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• XL closes down 9% after Q1 miss

  29-04-2016 08:40
  XL Group led a clutch of P&C stocks down in trading today (28
  April) after the (re)insurer reported a set of results that
  disappointed analysts and investors.
  The company's shares closed down 8.7 percent at $32.74 in
  New York in response to a 46 percent decline in operating profits
  to $103.4mn for the first quarter.
  At $0.35 a share, the performance was significantly below Wall
  Street analysts' consensus forecasts of $0.50 a share.
  Other stocks to suffer in trading included...
  
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• RenRe buys $10mn stake in Universal

  29-04-2016 08:40
  RenaissanceRe has made its second strategic investment in a US
  homeowners' insurer in a matter of weeks with a deal to buy
  into Florida-based Universal Insurance Holdings.
  In an announcement, Universal said the Bermudian had bought
  583,771 of its shares for total consideration of $10mn in a private
  placement.
  "I am extremely pleased to have RenaissanceRe, one of our
  core reinsurance partners, make this investment in our
  company," said the insurer's chairman and CEO Sean
  Downes.
  He said the addit
  
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• Fairfax slides to net loss on investment losses and FX

  29-04-2016 08:40
  Higher operating profits in its (re)insurance operations were not
  enough to prevent Fairfax Financial falling to a first quarter loss
  driven by investment losses and FX movements.
  The Canadian investment conglomerate reported a net loss of
  $51.0mn, compared to net earnings of $225.2mn in the prior-year
  period.
  Chairman and CEO Prem Watsa said net investment losses of $160mn
  arose primarily as a result of stock price fluctuations and foreign
  currency movements, adding that the firm is maintaining
  
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• AJ Gallagher generates 4.8 percent organic growth

  29-04-2016 08:40
  AJ Gallagher (AJG) impressed with solid first quarter organic
  revenue growth performance across its broking and risk management
  business and margin improvement.
  Overall organic growth came in at 4.8 percent, with brokerage
  matching the run-rate with 4.8 percent and risk management
  delivering an underlying revenue increase of 4.7 percent.
  The group's adjusted EBITDAC for brokerage and risk
  management was up 15 percent to $222.7mn for the quarter and the
  adjusted EBITDAC margin improved 91 basis p
  
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• Validus underwriting holds up in earnings beat

  29-04-2016 03:29
  Validus reported a solid earnings beat for the first quarter as its
  bottom line benefited from stable underwriting performance that
  contrasted with several of its peers.
  Net operating income for the period fell by 14.2 percent to
  $117.4mn compared to Q1 2015, but at $1.39 a share, earnings were
  comfortably ahead of the $1.25 a share consensus forecast of Wall
  Street analysts.
  The Bermudian saw its top line climb by almost 5 percent to
  $1.17bn for the period and generated...
  
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• Personal auto and investments offset commercial improvement at The Hartford

  29-04-2016 03:29
  The Hartford reported an earnings miss for the first quarter as
  improved underwriting performance in its commercial lines business
  was offset by auto-driven deterioration in personal lines and lower
  investment income.
  Core earnings dropped 15 percent to $385mn, which at $0.95 a
  share were below Wall Street analysts' consensus of $1.02 a
  share.
  Net income was off by more - down 31 percent to $323mn - as the
  bottom line was also impacted by net realized capital losses of
  $96mn....
  
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