Insurance news

• Willis secures new all-class market for G360

  30-08-2016 19:12
  Sompo Canopius has become the latest Lloyd's carrier to sign up
  to write all of the pillars of multi-class facility Willis Global
  360 (G360), The Insurance Insider can
  reveal.
  Barbican is also understood to have taken across-the-board
  participations on the London market follow-form facility.
  Sources said that Sompo's global specialty (re)insurance arm
  is ceding the lion's share of the business via quota share
  deals that carry override, but will retain a sizeable minority of
  the risk to ensure it
  
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• Tokio Marine HCC takes surety execs from Chubb

  30-08-2016 19:12
  Tokio Marine HCC (TMHCC) has hired a duo of surety underwriting
  executives from Chubb and added to its established presence in the
  space with the launch of a new Boston area office, The
  Insurance Insider can reveal.
  According to sources, the specialty insurer has recruited John
  Cocomazzi to its surety group as vice president and regional
  director.
  Based in New York, Cocomazzi will be responsible for the New
  York and New England territories.
  He was most recently senior vice president...
  
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• RT Specialty fights USG Bacon claim

  30-08-2016 19:12
  RT Specialty has jumped to the defence of one of its employees, who
  is being sued by his former employer USG Insurance Services after
  defecting to the rival wholesale broker to launch its Pittsburgh
  office.
  Both the intermediary and its new branch manager Lucas Bacon
  were named as defendants in the suit brought by USG.
  The filing follows Bacon's abrupt resignation from USG,
  where he had worked for more than a decade before defecting to join
  the Ryan Specialty Group...
  
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• Ratings pressure lurks beneath mortgage reinsurance

  30-08-2016 19:12
  Carriers targeting growth opportunities in mortgage reinsurance
  must devise strategies to effectively manage the risk if they are
  to avoid downwards ratings pressure, according to Standard &
  Poor's (S&P).
  In a report, the ratings agency said mortgage reinsurance can be
  a diversifying business for underwriters and is currently highly
  profitable for reinsurers, offering "shelter from the
  gloom" of soft pricing in other lines of business.
  But it cautioned that, with significant exposure to
  
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• Qatar Re warns pricing may restrict growth

  30-08-2016 19:12
  Qatar Re CEO Gunther Saacke has indicated that his company is
  prepared to temper its growth plans while pricing pressures remain
  in global reinsurance markets.
  In the company's H1 results, released yesterday, Saacke said
  trading conditions remained challenging, despite signs pricing in
  the market was beginning to bottom out.
  The executive commented: "Niches of profitable growth
  continue to exist, but are harder to come by. Therefore, we
  anticipate and indeed will proactively ensure that the pace
  
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• Jain to shift Gen Re growth gears

  30-08-2016 19:12
  Ajit Jain is set to drive growth at Gen Re as he looks to transform
  its underleveraged underwriting model and arrest a relative decline
  in market share against the European reinsurance giants.
  In an internal memo seen by The Insurance
  Insider, the Berkshire Hathaway reinsurance chief
  said that he had identified a cost problem that was an
  "overarching issue" for the subsidiary.
  But while part of the solution would tackle expense and
  bureaucracy, Jain also made it clear that there...
  
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• HCC Specialty sues defecting promotions underwriter

  30-08-2016 19:12
  The specialty division of Tokio Marine HCC is suing one of its
  former senior vice presidents after he defected to launch a
  competing managing general agency (MGA).
  Promotional risks underwriter Jack Woodbury had worked for HCC
  for almost a quarter of a century, but at the end of June he
  tendered his resignation and "immediately" accepted a
  position at a rival start-up.
  The MGA, Prize and Promotion Insurance Services, is a subsidiary
  of specialty insurance programme manager BUA, which offers...
  
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• Fitch: Average loss ratio on US cyber insurance over 65%

  30-08-2016 19:12
  US carriers are averaging a 65.8 percent loss ratio on their direct
  standalone cyber business, according to a report published by Fitch
  Ratings last week (24 August).
  In aggregating cyber security statutory supplement data for the
  US P&C industry, the rating agency found direct loss ratios on
  standalone cyber business varied considerably by individual
  underwriter.
  In terms of loss ratio, Zurich led the peer group with a ratio
  of 165 percent in 2015. Of the top 15 carriers by market...
  
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• European reinsurers bemoan India competition rules

  30-08-2016 19:12
  European reinsurers have lodged formal complaints with the
  Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai)
  over new guidelines that they claim have hindered their ability to
  compete in the country.
  Munich Re and Swiss Re confirmed to The Insurance
  Insider that they have written to Irdai to raise
  issues surrounding right of first refusal rules introduced as part
  of new regulations last year.
  Hannover Re was also reported by local press to have issues with
  the legislation, but decl
  
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• Dream owner beckons for Ascot in CPPIB

  30-08-2016 19:12
  Lloyd's (re)insurer Ascot is heading for a $900mn+ deal with
  the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) that will mark yet
  another point in the journey of long-term, lower-return money into
  the industry.
  If CPPIB is able to close out the still unsigned deal to buy the
  AIG-backed Lloyd's carrier for around 1.5x-1.6x book value it
  will follow Exor into the sector, after the Agnelli family
  investment vehicle bought PartnerRe last year for $6.9bn.
  Matt Fairfield's new vehicle Exin has...
  
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• Disparity evident in UK insurers: Willis

  30-08-2016 19:12
  An analysis of financial returns from Prudential Regulation
  Authority-registered insurers has uncovered a significant amount of
  variation in UK carriers' performance over the past five years.
  The report, authored by Willis Towers Watson, found that at an
  aggregate market level, the UK non-life insurance space had
  performed relatively well over the past five years compared to
  other industry sectors, having averaged a return on equity of
  nearly 8 percent.
  However, there was pronounced variation in
  
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• Brokers unable to work following SSP power outage

  30-08-2016 16:59
  
  Brokers are unable to access emails, records and contact details to clients following the system failure.
  
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• Blog: Pet owners could be left in the dog house without cover

  30-08-2016 16:46
  
  They say dog is a man's best friend, but this is seemingly untrue when said dog has cost you thousands of pounds worth of damages to your home.
  
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• Glaser calls for Nafta-like deal for US and UK

  30-08-2016 16:29
  The next US president should prioritise a trade deal with the UK
  that resembles the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta),
  according to Marsh & McLennan Companies CEO Dan Glaser.
  Writing in the Financial Times yesterday, Glaser said
  that the US and the UK should strengthen their special
  relationship, and consider the important role a partnership between
  London and New York would play in the light of Britain's
  decision to leave the European Union (EU).
  "In a volatile and complex...
  
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• SSP confirms unprecedented power outage

  30-08-2016 14:42
  
  Power outage causes problems for SSP brokers.
  
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• Principal Insurance to double staff numbers with HQ relocation

  30-08-2016 14:33
  
  Specialist motor and business insurer Principal is relocating its headquarters to Manchester as it prepares to double its staff numbers.
  
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• Brokers hit by major SSP outage

  30-08-2016 13:40
  
  Some brokers unable to log on to certain services as result of SSP outage 
  
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• ABI rejects claim that insurers are 'profiteering' over savings on personal injury claims

  30-08-2016 13:40
  
  The Association of British Insurers has defended the rise in motor premium costs, despite the insurance industry saving over half a billion pounds as a result of a drop in personal injury claims.
  
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• Challenging market is ‘no excuse’ for poor performance, report finds

  30-08-2016 13:12
  
  Challenging market conditions are no excuse for poor insurer performance, according to a report by Willis Towers Watson.
  
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• Integro agrees LatAm wholesale reinsurance deal

  30-08-2016 12:56
  International broker Integro has agreed a deal with Latin
  American intermediary HR Latinoamerica Ltda Corredores de
  Reaseguros (HRL) to serve as its exclusive London wholesale
  reinsurance trading partner.
  Under the agreement HRL will continue to source local
  reinsurance business and will operate under the Integro name. It
  will also establish HRL as Integro's exclusive licensee for
  reinsurance business in Colombia.
  The deal marks an expansion of Integro's presence in the
  region, which already inc
  
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• Insurers can 'break free' from market challenges: Willis

  30-08-2016 12:56
  Difficult insurance market conditions are no excuse for poor
  performance from UK carriers, according to a Willis Towers Watson
  study released today.
  An analysis of financial returns from Prudential Regulation
  Authority-registered insurers showed that those operating in
  similar classes of business had delivered markedly different return
  levels over the last five years.
  At an aggregate market level, the analysis shows that the UK
  non-life insurance industry had performed relatively well in the
  pre
  
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• IGI underwriting profits rise 39% in H1

  30-08-2016 12:56
  Dubai-based carrier International General Insurance Holdings (IGI)
  reported strong net underwriting profits for the first half of
  2016, with the total rising 39 percent year-on-year to $28.4mn.
  The carrier also reported net earnings were up 22 percent to
  $19.8mn over the same period and a substantially improved combined
  ratio, which fell by 7.1 percentage points to 81.9 percent.
  IGI's ratio of underwriting profit to gross written premium
  also edged up slightly from 16.72 percent to 22.43 percent
  
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• Charles Taylor reports 6.8% rise in revenue to £74m

  30-08-2016 12:26
  
  Charles Taylor has reported a 6.8% increase in revenue to £74m in the first half of 2016.
  
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• Allianz will not revise policy for crashed Airlander 10

  30-08-2016 12:24
  
  Allianz will not revise premiums for the experimental Airlander 10, despite the aircraft crashing on its second flight last week.
  
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• Direct Insurance opens Cheshire office

  30-08-2016 12:05
  
  Firm aims to give brokers in the North and Scotland improved access to Lloyd's.
  
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• Direct Insurance London Market expands UK footprint

  30-08-2016 11:00
  
  Specialist Lloyd’s broker opens new office
  
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• Disappointing results for Slater and Gordon due to poor performance in its UK operations

  30-08-2016 10:45
  
  Slater and Gordon has reported an overall loss of £778.59m, in its final results for 2015-2016 partly due to its underperformance in its UK operations.
  
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• The stats: September 2016

  30-08-2016 10:30
  
  The latest Acturis Premium Index showed an unusually negative second quarter of the year, with most business lines on the decline.
  
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• Qatar Re H1 profits up 79% as top line surge continues

  30-08-2016 10:28
  Expansive reinsurer Qatar Re saw its net profits surge 79
  percent to $23.9mn in the first half of the year, primarily driven
  by a 48 percent increase in net investment income to $17mn.
  The company also grew its premium base by 41 percent to $654mn
  compared to the same period in 2015, while its combined ratio
  improved by 1.9 percentage points to 95.8 percent.
  The total annualised investment yield, including capital gains
  and losses, came in at 5.0 percent, nudging...
  
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• Charles Taylor profits up 6% in H1

  30-08-2016 10:28
  Insurance services firm Charles Taylor grew its profits before tax
  by 4.2 percent year-on-year to £6mn ($7.8mn) in the first half
  of 2016.
  Overall revenue at the group rose 7 percent to £74mn
  compared to the same period in 2015.
  Adjusted earnings per share were up 10.3 percent to 8.55p per
  share, while revenue climbed 7 percent to £74mn.
  The company also increased its interim dividend by 5 percent to
  3.15p per share.
  Profits in the adjusting services segment doubled...
  
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• Abacus partners with Applied Systems

  30-08-2016 10:00
  
  Broker launches niche property owners products on Applied TAM.
  
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• #Insagepeople: 30 August - 04 September 2016

  30-08-2016 09:56
  
  Keep up to date with who is where in the world of insurance with our live updates.
  
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• Tough market ‘no excuse for poor performance’

  30-08-2016 08:58
  
  Study by Willis Towers Watson highlights wide variance in insurers’ performance
  
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• Charles Taylor profit rises in first half

  30-08-2016 08:30
  
  Charles Taylor reports ‘good set of results’, says chief executive
  
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• Why owners should love their pets enough to insure them

  30-08-2016 08:00
  
  Almost four millioncats and dogs are insured in the UK but a significant number of pet owners are leaving their pets uncovered
  
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• Rios rejoins Allianz for Asia-Pacific risk role

  30-08-2016 05:56
  
  Diego Rios has returned to Allianz as chief risk officer for Allianz Asia-Pacific.
  
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