Insurance news

• XL Catlin ups property capacity to $400mn

  07-09-2016 23:07
  XL Catlin has increased capacity for its global property insurance
  by around 25 percent to $400mn.
  The company said the hike reflected globally increasing property
  values and more complex risks.
  Chief executive for energy, property and construction Doug Howat
  said the changing nature of property risk management had prompted
  the additional capacity.
  He said: "We've seen commercial and industrial property
  values rise, facilities growing more high tech, and natural
  catastrophe events take their tol
  
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• Lockton starts London terror facility

  07-09-2016 23:07
  Independent broker Lockton has launched an exclusive London market
  terrorism facility in conjunction with a panel of specialist
  carriers.
  The Terrorism Crisis Solutions (TCS) facility will be
  underwritten by Hiscox, Beazley, Talbot and XL Catlin.
  A spokesperson for Lockton said there is no individual leader
  for the product, which will be underwritten on a collaborative
  basis.
  Coverages available will include sabotage and terrorism policies
  for property damage and liability, financial protection
  
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• MGAA chair steps down after six months

  07-09-2016 17:33
  
  Trade body names new chairman
  
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• Former ERS director faces FRC complaint

  07-09-2016 17:27
  The UK's Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has made a formal
  complaint against former Equity Syndicate Management Limited (ESML)
  director Douglas Morgan for a failure relating to reserving
  practices at Syndicate 218 between 2007 and 2009.
  The Lloyd's motor specialist had a difficult 2010, with
  £499mn ($667mn) of losses caused by fierce competition,
  under-reserving and claims inflation.
  The losses, which shattered a three decade-long unbroken streak
  of profitability, were racked up on net e
  
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• Cedants seizing low pricing opportunity: AM Best

  07-09-2016 15:58
  Cedants are taking advantage of prolonged reinsurance soft market
  conditions to increase ceded premiums and lock in more multi-year
  policies, according to AM Best.
  In a report released today the ratings agency said cessions had
  increased by around 17 percent year-on-year during 2015, compared
  to lower increases in premiums.
  Insurers are benefiting from low pricing and leveraging their
  position to sign multi-year treaty policies at favourable rates,
  particularly the largest buyers.
  A trend toward
  
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• Borchers appointed Allianz X chief

  07-09-2016 15:58
  Peter Borchers has joined Allianz as head of the company's
  corporate start-up incubator and collaboration vehicle Allianz X.
  Borchers founded and ran Deutsche Telekom's global incubator
  hub:raum/Deutsche Telekom, having previously started and managed
  the company's internal accelerator.
  Allianz X is designed to guide start-ups in the sector from idea
  to market entry within six months.
  Allianz SE chief digital officer Solmaz Altin said the
  initiative would consider so-called "moonshots" -
  explorat
  
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• Andersen: Reinsurers should address underserved risks for growth

  07-09-2016 15:58
  Reinsurers can find growth by addressing the risks they rejected
  decades ago, Aon Benfield CEO Eric Andersen said this morning at
  The Insurance Insider's Pre-Monte
  Carlo Executive Briefing.
  The reinsurance industry does not have to settle for 1-2 percent
  growth in developed markets if it starts providing solutions to
  risks that were sent back to the customer 25 years ago, he
  explained.
  "Lots of the issues customers want to talk about we really
  don't play in," Andersen said.
  Companies from...
  
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• Revealed: 10 insurers with the most complaints

  07-09-2016 15:44
  
  Direct Line Group has received the highest number of general insurance related complaints in the first half of 2016, according to the latest figures from the Financial Ombudsman Service.
  
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• NIG adds online calculator to help brokers tackle underinsurance

  07-09-2016 14:38 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  New tool designed for business interruption insurance.
  
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• Scor's RoE target falls under new investor plan

  07-09-2016 14:24
  Scor has downgraded some of its financial targets as part of its
  new strategic plan for 2017 to 2019.
  In the Paris-based reinsurer's "Vision in Action"
  plan, unveiled today, it detailed a 200 basis point drop in return
  on equity expectations to 800 basis points above the five-year
  risk-free rate.
  Under the previous "Optimal Dynamics" plan, Scor had
  targeted 1,000 basis points and employed a three-month risk free
  rate.
  Solvency targets remained unchanged at between 185 and 220
  percent, with...
  
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• Fitch: More stable reinsurance rates not a meaningful positive

  07-09-2016 14:24
  Fitch Ratings said the reinsurance sector had moved closer to
  the point of losing its stable ratings outlook in 2016, with
  carriers facing extended difficulties from low investment yields
  and deteriorating underwriting performance.
  The rating agency computed its outlook based on the individual
  ratings held by the peer group of reinsurers it follows. It has had
  a negative sector outlook on the industry as a whole since
  2014.
  Fitch senior director Martyn Street said that rate reductions
  might have
  
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• Cooperation the key to reducing (re)insurance costs: Nichols

  07-09-2016 14:24
  Collaborations and joint ventures provide a way for the
  insurance industry to strip back the costs in its distribution
  chain, Axis Re CEO Jay Nichols said this morning at The
  Insurance Insider's Pre-Monte Carlo Executive
  Briefing.
  "We have a value chain issue," Nichols said.
  "We're pulling a lot of dollars out to transport risk to
  capital."
  He pointed to the fact that transferring risk from insurance
  buyers via a lengthy chain of agents, insurers, reinsurance
  brokers, reinsurers and sidecar inve
  
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• Cooper Gay makes senior energy hires

  07-09-2016 14:24
  Cooper Gay has appointed Simon Hirst-Marsden as head of energy
  technical upstream and Tony Rastall as divisional director of
  energy specialising in onshore construction risks.
  In a statement released today, the broker also announced the
  appointment of Richard Haines as managing director of the energy
  division. Hirst-Marsden and Rastall will report to Haines.
  Haines and Rastall take up their roles with immediate effect and
  Hirst-Marsden is expected to start next month.
  Hirst-Marsden joins from Ll
  
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• ERS former director and three advisors will appear before tribunal

  07-09-2016 14:09
  
  Three financial advisors and a former director of Equity Red Star have been singled out following an investigation into historic losses at the Lloyd's syndicate.
  
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• Kennedys doubles presence in Dublin as insurers relocate post-Brexit

  07-09-2016 13:51
  
  International law firm Kennedys will double its office space in Dublin as insurers are gearing up to enter the Irish market in the wake of Brexit.
  
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• Reinsurers maintain profitability but RoEs decline: Willis Re

  07-09-2016 13:14
  Reserve releases played a significant role in helping reinsurers
  make a profit for the first half of 2016, according to a
  reinsurance market report from Willis Re.
  The broker's index tracking the annual financial performance
  of the major reinsurance companies found that average return on
  equity (RoE) had declined from 10.4 percent at the end of June 2015
  to 8.3 percent at the end of June 2016.
  The fall was largely due to an increase in catastrophe losses.
  The first...
  
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• Reinsurer profitability solid despite market woes: Haley

  07-09-2016 13:14
  The reinsurance industry is maintaining profitability despite
  the ongoing soft market and myriad challenges to margins, according
  to speakers at The Insurance
  Insider's Pre-Monte Carlo Executive Briefing.
  Speaking at the event this morning, Willis Towers Watson CEO
  John Haley told delegates he recognised the tough conditions
  buffeting reinsurers, but pointed to positive signs from Willis
  Re's reinsurance market report, released earlier today.
  The report showed the industry had maintained profita
  
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• Consolidation has paused not ended: Goldman Sachs

  07-09-2016 13:14
  High valuations and the perceived challenges of large-scale
  integration have checked major M&A this year, but the logic of
  consolidation in a fragmented industry will reassert itself in
  time, according to Goldman Sachs' most senior insurance
  investment banker in London.
  Paul Miller, head of insurance Emea at the company, told
  The Insurance Insider's Pre-Monte
  Carlo Rendez-Vous event that "muted activity"
  this year reflected the sector's strong share price
  performance.
  "The low-yield environm
  
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• Career file: Jack Howell

  07-09-2016 12:18
  
  Zurich has appointed Jack Howell as its new Asia-Pacific CEO. He is expected to join the company on 1 September and will be based in Taikoo, Hong Kong.
  
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• Das appoints RSA’s David Swigciski

  07-09-2016 10:54 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  Swigciski starts immediately as head of corporate for the Bristol-based legal expenses insurer.
  
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• Co-op Insurance teams up with Miles Smith as commercial partner

  07-09-2016 10:54 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  Move follows van, taxi and minibus insurance deal in July.
  
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• SSP admits some restoration promises were "premature"

  07-09-2016 10:16
  
  Software company remains silent on timeline for bringing all users back online.
  
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• Brexit drives up cost of telematics parts

  07-09-2016 10:16
  
  Telematics firm Trakm8 has seen rise in demand for fleet telematics
  
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• AR review slams “significant shortcomings”

  07-09-2016 10:05
  
  Brokers react to FCA’s findings that oversight of appointed representatives is not up to scratch
  
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• The uninsured risk

  07-09-2016 10:00
  
  Renovations and extensions may add thousands to a house’s value, but they might not be covered by existing insurance, explains Tim Slattery
  
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• QBE reduces Hong Kong workforce by 20 for "better efficiency"

  07-09-2016 09:48
  
  Australia-headquartered global insurer QBE informed 20 of its Hong Kong staff on 6 September they were being made redundant.
  
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• Brokers given update on number of firms live on SSP

  07-09-2016 09:29
  
  Brokers have been told their data will be restored in stages
  
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• Enterprise parent provides update on MGA, ratings reinstatement

  07-09-2016 09:20
  
  Company says it is working “intensively” to set up final structure of MGA
  
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• Japanese insurer appetite for London not dulled by Brexit

  07-09-2016 09:19
  
  There are fears that Lloyd’s could lose out if free trade between UK and EU is restricted
  
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• Research reveals country with fastest-growing insurtech investment

  07-09-2016 09:17
  
  New research finds investment in UK insurtech has tripled
  
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• Interview: Dany Cotton, London Fire Brigade

  07-09-2016 08:00
  
  As director of safety and assurance at the LFB, Dany Cotton talks to Stephanie Denton about diversity, technological advances and what insurers can do to help prevent fire loss
  
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• In the September issue of Post

  07-09-2016 08:00
  
  The London Fire Brigade, the anniversary of the great Fire of London and the Top 30 European insurer ranking are in the September issue of Post.
  
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• I work in insurance: Sue Chittock, Aviva

  07-09-2016 08:00
  
  Sue Chittock is the UK diversity and inclusion consultant at Aviva and in her spare time she is an army reservist
  
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• How a board game is teaching teenagers all about risk

  07-09-2016 08:00
  
  The insurance industry could score points among the young generation
  
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• Editor's comment: Fire lessons

  07-09-2016 06:30
  
  Humphrey the golden hamster, our most recent literary favourite, has just taught my son to ‘stop, drop and roll’ if he ever finds his clothes on fire, which has led to many impromptu practices at various locations… just in case.
  
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• Penny Black's Social World - September 2016

  07-09-2016 06:00
  
  Throwing ideas, sponges and a party
  
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• Top 30 European insurers: At the top of their game

  07-09-2016 05:00
  
  A lack of large natural disasters, favourable exchange rates and a number of sizeable mergers have seen many of the top 30 European insurers weather the tough environment and climb the rankings
  
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• Roundtable: Autonomous driving systems need standards

  07-09-2016 05:00
  
  Can insurers keep up with the pace of change powered by Advanced Driver Assistance Systems – especially when it comes to repairs? Post, in association with Autoglass, hosted an industry roundtable to find out
  
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