Insurance news

• Sparro lands as head of US insurance at Endurance

  31-08-2016 23:36
  Endurance has hired former AIG executive Chris Sparro as the
  head of its US insurance platform.
  The executive replaces Doug Worman, who suddenly left the
  Bermudian last month in a move revealed by The
  Insurance Insider.
  As executive vice president and CEO of US insurance, Sparro will
  be responsible for continuing the build-out of Endurance's
  product portfolio, which currently includes a range of
  professional, casualty, property and specialty covers.
  Based in New York, the executive will report t
  
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• WR Berkley hires Lowery as CIO

  31-08-2016 19:51
  WR Berkley has appointed Richard Lowery as senior vice president
  and chief information officer, effective immediately.
  In a statement released today, the firm said Lowery would be
  responsible for the development and implementation of IT solutions.
  He will report to Lucille Sgaglione, executive vice president.
  Lowery has nearly 30 years of IT experience and most recently
  held senior roles at Risk Solutions International and Marsh &
  McLennan Companies.
  The insurer's president and CEO Rob Berkl
  
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• Trust Re H1 profits drop 59 percent

  31-08-2016 19:51
  Profits at Bahrain-based composite carrier Trust Re fell 59
  percent in H1 to $13.2mn as the company struggled with soft market
  conditions and a sharp fall in investment income.
  Net underwriting profit fell 29.2 percent to $8.6mn, which the
  company attributed to prolonged soft market conditions.
  However the company was hit by an exceptional 68 percent fall in
  investment returns to $11.3mn. The firm said the previous
  year's H1 figure had been flattered to a significant extent by
  a one-off...
  
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• Markel appoints co-CEOs to board

  31-08-2016 19:51
  Markel Corporation's co-CEOs Thomas Gayner and Richard Whitt
  have been elected to the company's board.
  In a statement yesterday, the company also announced that
  president and co-chief operating officer Michael Crowley had been
  appointed vice chairman.
  Gayner and Whitt became co-CEOs at the beginning of this year,
  replacing former chief executive and chairman Alan Kirshner - who
  moved to the position of executive chairman - with Crowley
  concurrently appointed sole president.
  All three continue to
  
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• Broughton leaves Allianz to join QBE

  31-08-2016 18:39
  
  Andrew Broughton has left Allianz where he was director of commercial broker markets and will join QBE as executive general manager of corporate partners and direct.
  
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• Allianz says plans to replace to replace QBE-bound Broughton "well developed"

  31-08-2016 18:39
  
  Andrew Broughton has left Allianz where he was director of commercial broker markets and will join QBE as executive general manager of corporate partners and direct.
  
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• Connerty leaves Gable after one year

  31-08-2016 17:28
  Julian Connerty has resigned his position as non-executive director
  at Gable, effective immediately, after just over one year with the
  beleaguered Lichtenstein-based carrier.
  The announcement was made in a regulatory filing today, which
  did not give details regarding the decision.
  The former Clyde & Co partner, who now works at Signature
  Litigation, joined the company's board last July.
  This follows the resignation of fellow non-executive and
  chairman of the remuneration committee Andrew Tro
  
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• Brokers must increase due diligence following SSP saga, says expert

  31-08-2016 15:56
  
  Brokers have been cautioned that moving to another technology provider would provide no "instant solution".
  
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• Top lawyer becomes latest to step down from Gable board

  31-08-2016 14:59
  
  A man described as “one of the finest insurance lawyers in the country” has resigned from the board of Gable Holdings, just a year after being appointed.
  
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• Brokers struggling following SSP outage

  31-08-2016 14:18
  
  Outage will have long-term implications according to brokers as SSP admits it is "unable to provide a further update".
  
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• CII appoints senior executives to Insuring Women's Future committee

  31-08-2016 14:04
  
  Senior executives from the insurance industry have joined the Insuring Women's Future programme's committee to focus on women's insurance risks.
  
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• Enterprise: FSCS says “first obligation to meet live claims”

  31-08-2016 13:43
  
  Regulator says it is looking at a number of options in relation to the collapsed Gibraltar insurer Enterprise.
  
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• Storm warning issued for Florida coast

  31-08-2016 13:37
  The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has issued a tropical storm
  warning and hurricane watch for areas along the Gulf coast of
  Florida as a result of Tropical Depression 9.
  A hurricane watch is effective from the Anclote River to Indian
  Pass, while tropical storm warnings have been put in place from the
  Anclote river to the Walton/Bay county line.
  Tropical storm conditions are expected to reach the coast by
  tomorrow afternoon.
  Maximum sustained winds for the depression were recorded...
  
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• Sompo Canopius expands into US ocean lines

  31-08-2016 12:26
  Sompo Canopius has launched a US ocean marine business led by John
  Ellis, the company announced today.
  Ellis will become head of US ocean marine based in New York,
  reporting to global head of marine, energy and engineering Mike
  Southgate.
  Ellis joins the company from XL Catlin, where he was most
  recently a regional vice president in the northeastern US, where he
  managed a marine and inland book.
  Prior to that he served in a similar role at International
  Marine...
  
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• Peak Re completes Nagico buy-in

  31-08-2016 12:26
  Hong-Kong based reinsurer Peak Re has completed a deal to acquire a
  50 percent stake in Caribbean insurance group Nagico Holdings.
  Peak Re, which is 85 percent owned by Fosun, announced the deal
  for the St Maarten-headquartered $142mn (£109mn) personal and
  commercial lines premium insurer in July last year.
  It said at the time that the move was part of its strategy of
  venturing into non-Asian markets to diversify its portfolio. The
  company had an Asia Pacific focus when it...
  
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• Italy quake insured losses to be minor: AM Best

  31-08-2016 12:26
  The earthquake that struck central Italy last week (24 August)
  is unlikely to have a large effect on the country's insurance
  industry, according to AM Best.
  In a briefing today, the ratings agency said that while the
  quake could result in significant economic losses it expected the
  impact on the insurance industry to remain contained, due largely
  to the low earthquake insurance penetration rate.
  AM Best said that the penetration rate of earthquake insurance
  stood between 1 percent and 2...
  
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• Broker Network member makes acquisition

  31-08-2016 12:22
  
  Acquisition takes Colmore headcount to 18
  
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• Home insurance premium rises remain low despite flood costs

  31-08-2016 11:57
  
  Increased competition is limiting annual home insurance price rises to just 1.6%, research has revealed.
  
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• Organ says Bluefin’s “going great guns”

  31-08-2016 11:23
  
  Bluefin CEO says the broker is growing and meeting strategy aims and blames £17m post tax and amortisation loss on historical acquisitions.
  
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• Stanmore Nursery Scheme breaks £2m mark

  31-08-2016 11:10
  
  Firm plans to increase the specialist nursery scheme and the commercial broking business over the next five years.
  
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• Hiscox finalises DirectAsia Hong Kong sale

  31-08-2016 11:02
  London-listed carrier Hiscox has completed the sale of its
  DirectAsia Hong Kong business to Well Link Group Holdings after
  receiving regulatory assent for the deal.
  In a regulatory filing, the company explained the divestiture
  would enable DirectAsia to shift its focus towards growing in
  Singapore and Thailand.
  DirectAsia will continue to operate under the same brand for a
  transitional period of up to one year.
  The Hong Kong division of DirectAsia was founded in 2012. The
  company employs 40 peop
  
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• Fosun insurance top line doubles as profits almost halve

  31-08-2016 11:02
  The top line of Fosun's insurance division more than doubled
  year-on-year to 13.09bn yuan ($2bn) in the first six months of 2016
  while profits attributable to the segment nearly halved.
  In its H1 results, the conglomerate reported that profits
  generated by its insurance businesses fell to 1.01bn yuan, down
  43.5 percent from the first half of 2015.
  Fosun blamed the reduced profitability on the "weakness of
  the global economy and the shrinkage of the entire insurance
  industry".
  It continued: &
  
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• Hiscox completes sale of Hong Kong Direct Asia operation

  31-08-2016 10:50
  
  Hiscox-owned Direct Asia has completed the sale of its Hong Kong operation to Well Link Group.
  
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• Colmore Insurance Brokers buys Webb Holton

  31-08-2016 10:49
  
  Webb Holton staff to move across following the deal.
  
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• Profile: Into integration

  31-08-2016 10:00
  
  Integro Insurance Brokers’ president, international operations, John Sutton explains the firm’s buying strategy and how it is getting to grips with integrating its latest acquisitions
  
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• Bluefin reports £17m post tax and amortisation loss

  31-08-2016 09:45
  
  Turnover increases 3% to £122m as consolidator hails the successful delivery of organic growth and acquisition strategy.
  
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• SSP outage continues as brokers rage on Twitter

  31-08-2016 09:22
  
  Broker software house SSP which suffered a major outage has said it is still struggling to get its system back up and running.
  
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• Hiscox completes sale of DirectAsia's Hong Kong arm

  31-08-2016 09:13
  
  Deal will allow Hiscox to develop other existing DirectAsia brands
  
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• Competition slows down home insurance price rise - research

  31-08-2016 09:06
  
  Impact of insurance premium tax rise is short-lived
  
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• Solicitors' PI: Uncertainty ahead

  31-08-2016 08:05
  
  Most law firms will seek renewal of their professional indemnity insurance this autumn, although an estimated one-third will renew their PII away from 1 October. The announcement that unrated insurer Enterprise has stopped writing new business leaves the field to rated insurers. This year, the market is marked by uncertainty, be it around aggregation of claims, Brexit or anti-fraud recommendations, to name but a few.
  
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• Spotlight: Fraud at the vets

  31-08-2016 08:00
  
  Pet claims fraud is on the rise and insurers are developing or contemplating new tools against it: a database, cross-referencing strategies and pet photographs on policy documents.
  
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• Esure's Stuart Vann on why whiplash reforms need to stay on the government agenda

  31-08-2016 08:00
  
  With parliamentarians heading back to work in the next couple of weeks and the Brexit decision two months behind us, attention now needs to turn to the deliverables the government signed up to in advance of the referendum and the subsequent change of Prime Minister and cabinet shakeup.
  
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• Bluefin chief hails 2015 results despite EBITDA drop

  31-08-2016 07:30
  
  Robert Organ says 2015 numbers are ‘a good news story for Bluefin’
  
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