Insurance news

• Arthur J Gallagher accuses Aston Scott and Peter Blanc of staff poaching

  20-09-2016 20:00
  
  Gallagher seeks interim injunction to stop employment of Duncan Rogers at Aston Scott.
  
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• Gallagher seeks injunction to force Aston Scott to sack employee

  20-09-2016 19:25
  
  Former Gallagher employee and Peter Blanc accused of colluding to poach staff and clients
  
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• Gallagher accuses Peter Blanc and Aston Scott of 'poaching staff'

  20-09-2016 19:25
  
  Gallagher has also applied for an injunction to prevent an ex-employee from working at Aston Scott
  
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• Court details emerge of Gallagher's 'sustained attack' from rival broker

  20-09-2016 19:25
  
  Gallagher wants former employee banned from working at rival before he causes any more damage to their business 
  
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• Global Risk Partners acquires SLK

  20-09-2016 19:09
  
  Global Risk Partners has announced the acquisition of commercial and personal insurance broker SLK General Insurance Services.
  
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• Applied Net 2016: Brokers must focus on connectivity, says Applied CEO

  20-09-2016 17:51
  
  Reid French tells brokers about the impact of technology on the sector and urges them to diversify into all channels of communication.
  
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• GRP buys SLK General Insurance Services

  20-09-2016 16:16
  
  Management will stay on to lead the acquired business.
  
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• Two days to go until FCA’s Joseph Smith speaks at Broker Expo Brighton

  20-09-2016 16:00
  
  Smith will discuss topics ranging from governance to appointed representatives and more.
  
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• FCA’s Joseph Smith speaks at Broker Expo Brighton tomorrow

  20-09-2016 16:00
  
  Smith will discuss topics ranging from governance to appointed representatives and more.
  
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• Average UK car insurance bill rose by 13% over past year

  20-09-2016 15:21
  
  A surge in expensive claims, repairs and an imminent tax rise are all to blame, says Consumer IntelligenceAverage car insurance bills have jumped by more than 13% over the past year following a surge in costly claims, according to new data.Motorists appear to be paying the price for advances in technology, as repairs to cameras, sensors and other hi-tech features can run into thousands of pounds. The bad news for drivers is that an imminent hike in the tax on insurance is likely to add a few mor
  
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• Bupa Global appoints Sheldon Kenton as MD

  20-09-2016 14:40
  
  Bupa Global has announced the appointment of Sheldon Kenton to managing director.
  
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• Zenkyoren on track to buy its largest cat bond

  20-09-2016 14:27
  Zenkyoren has nearly tripled the target size on its latest
  Nakama Re cat bond transaction, which at $700mn could be the
  carrier's largest cat bond to date, sister publication
  Trading Risk reported.
  This came as the insurance coupon on the deal fell to the lower
  end of the forecast range.
  Zenkyoren had initially sought $250mn from the issuance, which
  will provide it with three-year rolling aggregate cover for
  earthquake perils over a five-year term.
  The mutual has previously used the...
  
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• Reinsurers wilt in dog days of soft market

  20-09-2016 14:27
  Reinsurers will continue to grapple with a competitive environment
  characterised by a sharp imbalance between supply and demand in
  2017, where the maintenance of even adequate returns is dependent
  on prior-year reserve releases and benign cat experience.
  The annual Monte Carlo war of rhetoric between brokers and
  reinsurers was again in evidence as carriers insisted that they
  would not give up any more ground at 1 January, while
  intermediaries indicated that cedants would attempt to carve out
  fur
  
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• Jubilee loss for Markel Catco

  20-09-2016 14:27
  Markel Catco said August returns for the London-listed Catco
  Reinsurance Opportunities Fund would be 3.5 percent lower due to a
  loss from the Jubilee oil field event, sister publication
  Trading Risk reported.
  This is equivalent to a loss of about $12.2mn based on the
  $348mn fund's prior-month net asset value (NAV) for the
  ordinary share class, although across its total $3.7bn asset base
  the manager's Jubilee claim would be a multiple of this
  sum.
  The manager has reserved for a...
  
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• Insider view: the LMG manifesto

  20-09-2016 14:27
  There are some jobs that are not just about what you do,
  they're about what you say.
  In fact, the doing in these jobs is partly about what has been
  said - the work is performative. Politics is the prime example.
  You can be doing a fantastic job as an executive politician.
  Putting in place the right systems and structures, taking the tough
  calls well. But if you don't successfully communicate that, you
  will fail. Perception matters and you cannot...
  
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• Insider View: Argenta sale

  20-09-2016 14:27
  Argenta is likely to command a handsome sale multiple. The business
  offers access to the coveted Lloyd's market and its combined
  ratio has hovered around the 90 percent mark for the last three
  years.
  It also offers either the opportunity to push towards
  £270mn ($352mn) of aligned capacity or a stream of fee income
  that comes from writing on behalf of third-party capacity provided
  by Names.
  The valuation will also benefit from the relatively small cheque
  size, which would allow...
  
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• Froehlich resigns from Lloyd's

  20-09-2016 14:27
  Lloyd's interim director of performance management Theresa
  Froehlich has resigned her position, The Insurance
  Insider can reveal.It is understood that Froehlich submitted her resignation letter
  earlier this month.She is expected to remain with the Corporation until the end of
  the year to hand over to RSA's Jon Hancock, who is set to take
  up the role on a permanent basis in December.The Insurance Insider revealed on 9
  September thatHancock, RSA's managing director for UK commercial, was...
  
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• Continental carriers into the red

  20-09-2016 14:27
  Shares in The Insider 30 composite fell
  0.87 percent on average last week, driven by mid-single-digit
  decreases at continental carriers.
  In the aggregate, the biggest drop was recorded at French
  carrier Scor, which closed the week 5.1 percent lower at EUR26.92
  per share.
  The second largest deterioration was at Munich Re, whose stock
  price fell by 3.6 percent to EUR160.90.
  Across our expanded coverage universe, Generali was the
  week's poorest performer, with a 9.3 percent weekly decline in
  its sh
  
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• Catalina has $1bn war chest for legacy deals

  20-09-2016 14:27
  Legacy consolidator Catalina has just under $1bn at its disposal
  for future run-off acquisitions, CEO Chris Fagan told
  The Insurance Insider.
  The figure would be a combination of equity and debt, Fagan
  explained, adding: "We probably would not look to do a single
  deal of that size. But we have the firepower."The run-off carrier published financial results today for the first
  time in its 20-year history.
  Net run-off income for the year totalled $83.3mn, up 62 percent
  on the...
  
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• Casualty reinsurers eye further stabilisation at 1.1

  20-09-2016 14:27
  Casualty reinsurance underwriters at the Monte Carlo
  Rendez-Vous last week were holding on to hopes that
  stabilising pricing conditions witnessed in 2016 will extend to 1
  January, signalling that the end is in sight for the soft phase of
  the cycle.
  But with many factors impacting demand and supply, a market-wide
  outcome for the key renewal will be tough to call, with individual
  experience ranging widely by client and line of business.
  Data on the last few key renewal dates...
  
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• Brexit negotiations could be harmed with 'too much lobbying': Aubert

  20-09-2016 14:27
  Nicolas Aubert has highlighted the importance of an active and
  supportive regulatory system ahead of the UK government's
  Brexit negotiations, in comments that appeared to contradict calls
  for post-Brexit deregulation by Lloyd's chairman John Nelson.
  Aubert, who is chairman of the London Market Group (LMG), spoke
  to The Insurance Insider as the body outlined its goals for the
  next six months.
  He said he believed there was an opportunity for the government,
  the Prudential Regulation Authority and
  
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• Ascot sale highlights lure of Lloyd's for pension funds

  20-09-2016 14:27
  The $1.1bn takeout of Ascot highlights the ongoing
  attractiveness of the Lloyd's market for long-term investors
  despite falling returns and persistent competitive challenges.
  Last week (16 September) the Canada Pension Plan
  Investment Board (CPPIB) emerged as the victorious bidder, in a
  deal understood to value the Lloyd's carrier at around 1.5x to
  1.6x book value.
  AIG, which owned 20 percent of the Ascot managing agency Ascot
  Underwriting Holdings and provided all the syndicate's capital,
  will
  
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• Argenta owners try to catch end of M&A window

  20-09-2016 14:27
  Argenta's owners are looking to capitalise on the lag
  between the deterioration in market conditions on Lime Street and
  the drop in valuations in order to exit at an attractive
  multiple.
  The Insurance Insider revealed
  yesterday that Argenta chairman Alasdair Locke, who owns 45 percent
  of the business, has called in Goldman Sachs to run a strategic
  process that appears likely to lead to the sale of the company.
  Lloyd's businesses have been lucrative assets to hold in
  recent years,...
  
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• Argenta: a unique hybrid Lloyd's model

  20-09-2016 14:27
  Argenta offers a potential acquirer a model not currently
  replicated elsewhere in the Lloyd's market, with a Lloyd's
  managing agency, partially aligned syndicate and sizeable
  members' agent, in addition to modest managing general agency
  operations.
  As such, a bidder will be weighing up the value both of exposure
  to underwriting at Lloyd's via a middleweight syndicate, and
  the fee income and profit commissions raised through the Names
  capital that Argenta puts to work via its own Syndicate 2121 a
  
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• Car insurance costs continue to grow – research

  20-09-2016 13:43
  
  Increased claims and insurance premium tax rise are driving up premiums 
  
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• Why 'unhackable' Blockchain could revolutionise the insurance industry

  20-09-2016 13:35
  
  Everyone’s talking about it, but is anyone really doing it? There’s a continuous chatter surrounding blockchain, so isn’t it about time more firms used the distributed ledger system?
  
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• Dual loses global marine and energy head

  20-09-2016 13:06
  Bernt Hellman, global leader for marine and energy at Dual, has
  left the company, The Insurance Insider
  understands.
  Hellman has been at Hyperion's managing general agency arm
  since 2014, after he left his role as active underwriter at Skuld
  Syndicate 1897 to build Dual's marine and energy offering.
  It is thought his former Skuld colleague and Dual director of
  energy James Scott, has also left the firm, along with other team
  members.
  Sources told The Insurance Insider
  that recent attempts...
  
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• Fenchurch Law boosts insurance disputes team

  20-09-2016 12:31
  
  Insurance law firm says new appointments shows commitment to growth
  
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• Skipton and Legal & General sign five year distribution deal

  20-09-2016 12:18
  
  Skipton Building Society and Legal & General have announced a five year general insurance distribution agreement.
  
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• Hermine loss below $400mn: RMS

  20-09-2016 11:45
  Hurricane Hermine will cost the insurance industry less than
  $400mn, according to modelling agency RMS.
  Earlier this month the Category 1 storm became the first
  hurricane to make landfall over Florida since 2005, but the damage
  it caused was limited because it tracked over a less urbanised area
  of the state.
  RMS said that about 30 percent of its modelled loss estimate was
  linked to coastal flooding, including "leakage" claims
  made under wind policies. The $400mn estimate does not include...
  
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• 13

  20-09-2016 11:45
  13...
  
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• L&G partners with Skipton building society

  20-09-2016 11:38
  
  Partnership is ‘great news’ for L&G
  
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• Applied Net 2016: Insurers need to find new way of innovating to contend with Millennial threats

  20-09-2016 10:38
  
  Voice recognition and video interfacing could be the two next best things in insurtech and could help to increase customer engagement in the insurance market place.
  
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• Insurance industry needs to up its drive to recruit Millennials

  20-09-2016 10:36
  
  Insurers have been urged to widen their hiring scope so they can reel in a new generation of professionals.
  
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• Catalina posts return of above 14% in 2015

  20-09-2016 10:30
  Catalina achieved a 14.3 percent return on net tangible assets
  (Ronta) in 2015, according to the legacy consolidator's
  financial disclosures.
  This figure was an improvement on 2014, CEO Chris Fagan told
  The Insurance Insider following the
  publication of its results - the first time the company has done so
  in its 20-year history.
  "We are a consistent mid-teens reporter of Ronta. That is
  because the nature of our business model is very stable - it is not
  subject to the...
  
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• Member numbers dropped at Broker Network in 2015

  20-09-2016 10:00
  
  Turnover was also down but profit after tax increased.
  
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• VCII rebrands as Business Insurance Solutions

  20-09-2016 09:50
  
  Commercial vehicle and van broker pushes forward with name change to reflect new SME focus.
  
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• Charities warns of road deaths amid rise of new in-car apps

  20-09-2016 09:41
  
  Car makers have insisted that technology is safe
  
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• Applied Net 2016: Brokers urged to stay on top of emerging technology

  20-09-2016 09:31
  
  Experts highlight changing customer expectations and the importance of keeping up to speed with InsurTech start-ups.
  
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• Seventeen Group hires motorsports team from rival broker

  20-09-2016 09:06
  
  Broker wants to develop portfolio through existing client base
  
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• Motor premiums to rise amid unsustainable reserve releases

  20-09-2016 09:05
  
  Continued competition keeps home market premiums under pressure
  
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• Liberty's Kadidja Sinz on why opportunity, not politics, is keeping Europe front of mind

  20-09-2016 08:00
  
  Opportunity, not politics, has kept Europe front of mind for most businesses in 2016 as many companies are increasingly multi-national and have offices and ambitions across the continent.
  
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• Huge opportunity for insurers to diversify offerings, says Bain

  20-09-2016 07:50
  
  Insurers have a huge opportunity to sell insurance related products according to customer research conducted by consultancy Bain and Research Now.
  
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