Insurance news

• US commercial P&C rates down 3.9% in Q2: CIAB

  04-08-2016 22:57
  Softening of US commercial P&C rates accelerated in the
  second quarter as carriers aggressively priced renewals to prevent
  them being taken to market, according to the latest survey results
  from the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB).
  The trade body said that rates decreased across all sized
  accounts by an average of 3.9 percent, compared to falls of 3.7
  percent in Q1.
  The quarter continued the downward trend that has dominated the
  sector, with softening evident right through 2
  
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• July US storms to cost insurers $1bn: Impact Forecasting

  04-08-2016 19:30
  Six separate outbreaks of severe storms and flash flooding in the
  US in July could cost insurers in the region of $1bn, according to
  the latest report from Aon Benfield's Impact Forecasting.
  The storms, which affected the country from the Rockies to the
  US east coast, are estimated to have generated a minimum of $1.5bn
  in economic losses, according to the July catastrophe recap
  report.
  Some 67 percent of these economic losses are thought to be
  covered by insurance.
  Conversely,...
  
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• Improving operating structure and delivery key to RSA group's financial success says Lewis

  04-08-2016 16:35
  
  Steve Lewis, CEO for UK & Western Europe, RSA, believes improving operational structure and delivery has been key to RSA's strong financial results for the first half of 2016.
  
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• RSA's exit of UK personal lines motor drives underwriting profit down

  04-08-2016 16:19 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  Overall results, however, showed some resilience to a challenging market and weather in the UK.
  
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• RSA sees personal lines NWP shrink on back of broker motor withdrawal

  04-08-2016 16:19
  
  Insurer identifies opportunities to rebuild book with nationwide deal
  
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• Towergate London Market hires motor specialists

  04-08-2016 16:12
  
  Towergate expands motor team
  
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• RSA to launch digital front-end for motor as it tackles 109.7% COR

  04-08-2016 16:00
  
  Insurer will also apply technology to new Nationwide business
  
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• Asbestos victims face difficulty tracing employers as Companies House seeks to delete records

  04-08-2016 15:34
  
  Thousands of seriously ill workers and bereaved families could have their efforts to seek redress against negligent employers severely hampered under new plans to delete Companies House records according to the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.
  
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• Hannover Re: Property cat has hit pricing floor

  04-08-2016 14:45
  Pricing in the global property catastrophe reinsurance market has
  "bottomed out" as carriers are reaching a point where
  they can no longer meet return hurdles, according to Hannover Re
  CFO Roland Vogel.
  After three years of price decreases it "no longer makes
  sense" for reinsurers to provide capacity at this level of
  pricing, Vogel told The Insurance Insider
  following the publication of the reinsurer's results.
  "The bottom seems to be reached," the CFO said.
  "Not every call for price decreases..
  
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• Tulloch: Flood Re saving Aviva clients £500 on average

  04-08-2016 14:20
  
  Insurer has ceded 3,500 policies to affordable flood cover scheme so far
  
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• Esure travel insurance to cover Zika cancellations

  04-08-2016 14:18
  
  Esure travel insurance will be covering holiday cancellations for pregnant women who no longer want to travel to countries where the Zika virus has been detected.
  
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• Applied Systems adds QBE Mini Fleet to panel

  04-08-2016 14:17 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  Panel already included QBE Tradesman and QBE Property Owners.
  
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• Homeserve ‘good bad’ deal says Aviva’s UK GI CEO Holmes

  04-08-2016 14:00
  
  Aviva’s Homeserve deal has been labelled a ‘good bad deal’ by UK General Insurance CEO after the partnership negatively affected the insurer's combined operating ratio by 1% in its interim results.
  
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• Norwegian Hull Club and GIC Re join IUA

  04-08-2016 13:37
  The Norwegian Hull Club and General Insurance Corporation of
  India (GIC Re) have become the two newest members of the
  International Underwriting Association (IUA), taking the number of
  member firms to 49.
  Membership applications from both firms were formally approved
  at the IUA's most recent board meeting, it announced today.
  The additions have taken the trade body's membership to the
  highest level for a decade.
  The IUA represents international and wholesale insurance and
  reinsurance businesses
  
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• JLT Re hires Woolstenhulme

  04-08-2016 13:37
  JLT Re has appointed Micah Woolstenhulme in a new role as head of
  risk and economic advisory, it announced yesterday.
  He will be based in the Philadelphia office and report to David
  Flandro, JLT Re's global head of analytics. JLT Re's
  analytics team now has more than 100 people working within it.
  Woolstenhulme joins JLT Re from Guy Carpenter, where he was
  managing director of enterprise risk management and actuarial.
  Prior to that he was vice president in charge of...
  
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• Bank cuts UK interest rate to 0.25% to counter Brexit effects

  04-08-2016 13:37
  
  Bank moves to control inflation
  
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• Aviva 'worst performing' UK insurer, says Bank of America Merrill Lynch

  04-08-2016 13:30
  
  Bank of America Merrill Lynch has labelled Aviva's shares the "worst performing" among the UK insurer peer group as the firm released its first half results.
  
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• Hannover Re shares down 8% on Q2 miss

  04-08-2016 12:20
  Shares in Hannover Re fell more than 8 percent this morning (4
  August) following the publication of second quarter results that
  missed the analyst consensus by 12 percent.
  Second quarter P&C net income at Hannover Re fell 30 percent
  year-on-year to EUR172mn ($192mn), driven by a weaker underwriting
  result.
  As of 9.30am London time, Hannover Re stock was down 8.47
  percent to EUR83.42.
  Keefe Bruyette & Woods analyst William Hawkins said it was
  "not a pretty quarter" for the German...
  
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• CIRC urges Chinese carriers to assess risk controls

  04-08-2016 12:20
  The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has asked
  insurance companies in the country to examine their risks and
  strengthen risk controls amid growing concerns about their
  investments, according to local media reports.
  Chinese insurers have rapidly moved into riskier investments in
  recent years, prompting increased regulatory scrutiny.
  The effects of those higher risk portfolios became evident this
  month when several Chinese (re)insurers issued profit warnings for
  the first half of 2016
  
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• Liberty Mutual falls to Q2 underwriting loss

  04-08-2016 12:20
  Liberty Mutual has posted a second consecutive Q2 underwriting
  loss with a 101.4 percent combined ratio, although the result
  marked a 1.2 percentage point improvement on the same quarter of
  last year.
  Canadian wildfires from May, the Ecuador earthquake, severe
  storms in the US and Cyclone Winston all contributed to $832mn of
  losses from catastrophe events, adding 10.2 points to the
  Boston-based insurer's combined ratio.
  Despite this, the claims ratio was 0.3 percentage points better
  year-on-year
  
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• Endurance attaches first retro layer

  04-08-2016 12:20
  Endurance has attached its first layer of aggregate non-peak loss
  retro, said senior vice president of investor relations Gregg
  Schroeder on the carrier's second quarter conference call on
  Monday (1 August).
  The company has additional coverage in place for non-peak events
  for the rest of this year, he added, according to a Seeking Alpha
  transcript.
  Endurance reported a 30 percent drop in operating profits to
  $53.6mn as preannounced second quarter cat losses fed through to
  the bottom line.
  Net lo
  
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• Alberta wildfires dent profit forecast for TMK

  04-08-2016 12:20
  Tokio Marine Kiln (TMK) has revealed that losses from the
  Alberta wildfires in May this year have caused it to lower its
  profit forecast for the 2015 year of account at its flagship
  Lloyd's syndicate.
  The 2015 profit forecast for Syndicate 510, which has capacity
  of £1.06bn ($1.41bn), fell from a range of between 5.3 percent
  and 10.3 percent of capacity to between 4.2 percent and 9.2
  percent.
  Similarly, the 2015 year of account forecast for Syndicate 557
  moved from...
  
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• Aviva reports fall in UKGI operating profit

  04-08-2016 12:01 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  Insurer reveals COR deteriorated to 95.9%.
  
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• Vienna Insurance Group aims for €400m profit in 2016 as it posts H1 results

  04-08-2016 11:37
  
  Vienna Insurance Group has revealed consolidated profit before taxes of €200m (£168m) for the first half-year 2016.
  
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• Bupa sees profits fall despite revenue climb

  04-08-2016 11:23
  
  Bupa saw revenue climb 7% at constant exchange rates in H1 2016, earning £5.3bn compared to £5bn for the same period last year.
  
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• So Sure to launch 'revolutionary' social peer-to-peer mobile insurance app

  04-08-2016 11:19
  
  Managing general agent So Sure, which specialises in insuring mobile phones, is about to launch a new model of “social insurance” via an app-based peer-to-peer product.
  
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• So Sure prepares to launch 'revolutionary' insurance model

  04-08-2016 11:19
  
  Managing general agent So Sure, which specialises in insuring mobile phones, is about to launch a new model of “social insurance” via an app-based peer-to-peer product.
  
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• Heritage top line swells by 31%

  04-08-2016 11:05
  Floridian homeowners' carrier Heritage saw gross written
  premium increase by 31 percent in the second quarter as it
  incorporated recent acquisition Zephyr into its already expansive
  business.
  The carrier reported premiums of $177.3mn for the quarter, up
  from $135.6mn for the same period last year.
  It said the growth was partly driven by the inclusion of
  Hawaiian specialty carrier Zephyr, which produced $14.8mn in
  premiums, whilst another $2.4mn came from its push into North
  Carolina.
  Net income
  
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• Hester: Brexit is a net positive for RSA

  04-08-2016 10:31
  
  Chief executive explains how insurer is insulated from Brexit effects
  
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• Improved underwriting drives RSA profit jump

  04-08-2016 10:04
  UK insurer RSA reported operating profits of £312mn ($415mn)
  for H1 2016 this morning, up 20 percent on the prior-year period,
  and 12 percent ahead of the analyst consensus.
  The improved performance was driven by a 2.1 percentage point
  reduction in the combined ratio to 94.3 percent.
  Investment income of £187mn was down 9.2 percent on the
  prior year period.
  RSA's improved underwriting performance came despite cat and
  severe weather losses which include a £39mn toll from the
  Alb
  
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• Hannover Re Q2 profits down on weaker underwriting

  04-08-2016 10:04
  Second-quarter P&C net income at Hannover Re fell 30 percent
  year on year to EUR172mn ($192mn), missing analyst consensus by 12
  percent.
  Q2 P&C operating income declined 21 percent to EUR261mn as a
  result of lower net earned premium and a weaker underwriting
  result.
  Citi analyst Andrius Budnikas said in a research note:
  "Overall, this is a slightly weaker set of results driven by
  higher claims frequency and severity.
  "Although some of this could be considered a
  "one-off", the underlying.
  
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• RSA reports rising profits for first half of 2016

  04-08-2016 09:54
  
  COR for the UK business at 94.4%.
  
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• Aviva UK GI profit drops 10.8% in first half

  04-08-2016 09:14
  
  Underwriting profit flat despite Flood Re hit
  
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• Aviva's UK GI premiums rise 8% in first half

  04-08-2016 09:10
  
  Aviva's UK general insurance business had a stable first half to the year despite the combined operating ratio climbing to 95.9% from 93.2% in H1 2015.
  
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• Aviva's global profits jump 13%; GI COR rises

  04-08-2016 08:39
  
  Aviva had a mixed first half to the year as its life insurance division performed well and its general insurance profits fell.
  
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• RSA posts strong global first half results as pre-tax profit grows 20%

  04-08-2016 08:22
  
  RSA's turnaround under CEO Stephen Hester has continued in the first half of 2016.
  
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• RSA posts strong first half results as pre-tax profit climbs 20%

  04-08-2016 08:22
  
  RSA's turnaround under CEO Stephen Hester has continued in the first half of 2016.
  
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• RSA UK first half profits flat

  04-08-2016 08:18
  
  Insurer’s UK COR also flat
  
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• RSA first half profits flat

  04-08-2016 08:18
  
  Insurer’s COR also flat
  
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• Moneysupermarket chief executive to step down

  04-08-2016 08:05
  
  Peter Plumb will depart on or before company’s AGM
  
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• Suncorp's insurance profits fall 17.5% for full year

  04-08-2016 04:39
  
  Adverse weather events meant Australian insurance giant Suncorp missed its full year catastrophe allowance by A$60m (£34m).
  
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• Universal approved to write commercial residential in Florida

  04-08-2016 01:19
  Universal Insurance Holdings has been approved to enter the
  commercial residential market in Florida, as it looks to diversify
  from its significant homeowners' presence in the state.
  In a statement, the Fort Lauderdale-based company said it had
  been given the green light by the Florida Office of Insurance
  Regulation to amend its certificate of authority to add fire,
  commercial multi-peril and other liability lines.
  The business will be written by its wholly-owned subsidiary,
  American Platinum Pr
  
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• Heritage top line swells by 31 percent

  04-08-2016 01:19
  Floridian homeowners' carrier Heritage saw gross written
  premium increase by 31 percent in the second quarter as it
  incorporates newly-acquired Zephyr into an already expansive
  business.
  The carrier reported premiums of $177.3mn for the quarter, up
  from $135.6mn for the same period last year.
  It said the growth was partly driven by the inclusion of
  Hawaiian specialty carrier Zephyr, which produced $14.8mn in
  premiums, whilst another $2.4mn came from its push into North
  Carolina.
  Meanwhile net in
  
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• E&S growth and higher profits at James River

  04-08-2016 01:19
  Second quarter operating profits at James River Group (JRG) were
  up 10.5 percent to $13.7mn as the specialty insurer and working
  layer reinsurer reported higher underwriting profits and strong top
  line growth in its E&S and admitted business.
  Consolidated combined ratio improved from 97.8 percent to 96.1
  percent as each of the carrier's operating units benefited from
  reserve releases in the period.
  Gross written premiums (GWP) in E&S climbed 25.8 percent to
  $97.4mn, with submissions up 1
  
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• Court ruling forces Peter Hearn to pay Willis Re $2.8mn

  04-08-2016 00:26
  A US district court has ruled former Willis Re chairman Peter
  Hearn must pay the reinsurance broker $2.8mn after defecting to
  join rival Guy Carpenter last year.
  The ruling comes in an embittered legal battle between the
  executive and his former employer over a portion of his
  performance-related bonus that Willis Re claimed should be
  repaid.
  Hearn departed Willis Re in May last year before being named as
  the new CEO of rival Guy Carpenter, sparking a legal feud.
  The...
  
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• Allstate beats despite higher cats

  04-08-2016 00:26
  Allstate reported a 10.3 percent fall in second quarter
  operating profits that were just ahead of Wall Street expectations
  already reset to factor in elevated cat losses.
  The company generated operating profits of $235mn, or $0.62 a
  share, that compared favourably with analysts' consensus
  forecasts of $0.57 a share.
  The results included the impact of $961mn of cat losses, up 20.6
  percent from the $797mn experienced in the prior-year period.
  Allstate had already reported $835mn of pre-tax ($542mn
  
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