Insurance news

• Marsh hires King as UK chief client officer

  11-10-2016 19:21
  Marsh has hired Ailsa King from Willis Towers Watson and named
  her chief client officer for the UK and Ireland.
  King leaves Willis after 25 years at the broker, where she was
  most recently head of UK client and business development.
  As part of her new role King will join Marsh's UK and
  Ireland executive committee and become a director of Marsh Ltd,
  subject to regulatory approval. She is expected to join the company
  in the second quarter of 2017....
  
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• Hamilton USA appoints Garceau COO

  11-10-2016 19:21
  Hamilton has hired AIG's Michael Garceau as chief operating
  officer (COO) of its US insurance operation.
  Garceau was most recently COO of the Europe, Middle East and
  Africa region at AIG. Prior to this he worked at XL, where he was
  CFO of global insurance.
  The executive will join the Bermuda-based insurer's Hamilton
  USA unit on 17 October and report to CEO Seraina Macia. He will
  have responsibility for the platform's operations, IT and
  finance functions.
  Macia said: "Having worked...
  
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• Florida's Fed National pegs Matthew losses at $18.5mn

  11-10-2016 19:21
  Federated National Insurance anticipates losses related to
  Hurricane Matthew will be no more than $18.45mn and may be as low
  as $8mn, depending on reinsurance coverage.
  The Sunrise, Florida-based carrier estimated gross liabilities
  from Matthew at $77mn and said a portion of that may come from
  outside Florida which would see the claims fall under a separate
  reinsurance cover.
  "The combined effect of this additional separate
  reinsurance agreement to Federated National's reinsurance
  program could
  
  Read more

• Bupa appoints Alex Perry as CEO

  11-10-2016 18:20
  
  Alex Perry has been appointed CEO of Bupa Insurance.
  
  Read more

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• FM Global enhances cyber cover in all-risk policy

  11-10-2016 18:11
  
  Product designed for customers that have bought or intend to buy a stand-alone cyber policy
  
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• Aon acquires cyber risk management specialist

  11-10-2016 17:31
  Aon Risk Solutions has agreed to acquire cyber specialist risk
  management firm Stroz Friedberg, it announced today.
  The combination of the two businesses will create a
  comprehensive cyber risk management advisory group offering cyber
  assessments and industry-leading risk transfer solutions, Aon
  said.
  Stroz Friedberg will bring additional cyber security governance
  and advisory services, including penetration testing, incident
  response, digital forensics, eDiscovery and due diligence
  capabilities.
  
  Read more

• Building Block unveils homebuyer product

  11-10-2016 17:09
  
  Policy to protect homebuyers if a sale falls through.
  
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• Final approval for 14.5% workers' comp hike

  11-10-2016 16:07
  The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has granted final
  approval to an average state-wide increase of 14.5 percent for
  workers' compensation policies.
  The increase will become effective from 1 December for all new
  and renewal business, with no change for policies currently in
  force.
  The move follows an initial request in May by industry
  representative body the National Council on Compensation Insurance
  for a 19.6 percent rate increase to address issues raised by a
  series of legal cases in t
  
  Read more

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• Everest given restraining order against Rockhill

  11-10-2016 16:07
  Everest National has been granted a temporary restraining order
  against Rockhill after it accused the State Auto subsidiary of
  stealing trade secrets and employees.
  According to court documents filed on 5 October, US District
  Judge Mary Scriven ordered Rockhill and co-defendant Tracy Upton to
  return confidential information belonging to Everest, and also
  prohibited the defendants from using the information or contacting
  Everest policyholders.
  Upton established Everest National's wholesale proper
  
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• Emerging economy premium growth to outpace advanced markets: JLT Re

  11-10-2016 16:07
  Emerging economies are expected to outperform advanced markets in
  terms of non-life premium growth over the next five years,
  according to a report by JLT Re.
  The report entitled "Emerging Markets: Moving Ahead",
  examined the significant opportunities for the (re)insurance
  industry in emerging markets over the next five years, with a
  specific focus on China, India, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Kenya and
  South Africa.
  China, India and Kenya in particular are expected to see average
  premium growth rat
  
  Read more

• Catalina completes AGF acquisition

  11-10-2016 16:07
  Catalina Holdings UK has completed its acquisition of AGF Insurance
  Limited from a subsidiary of Allianz SE, following approval from
  the Prudential Regulation Authority, it announced today.
  AGF is an insurance company incorporated in 1960 that
  predominantly wrote direct employers and public liability insurance
  in the UK.
  It ceased writing new business and went into run-off in
  1999.
  At 31 December 2015 AGF had total assets of £270mn
  ($389mn), undiscounted gross reserves of £185mn, and
  
  Read more

• Cat bond market suffers Matthew drop

  11-10-2016 16:07
  The cat bond market experienced its largest one-week drop since
  Superstorm Sandy, sister publication Trading
  Risk reported, with some of the insurance-linked
  securities transactions that benefit Florida takeout insurers among
  those written down.
  The Swiss Re cat bond price return index fell 1.57 percent to
  reach a value of 94.0 on Friday 7 October, compared to a 2.6
  percent fall the week after Sandy.
  Secondary pricing sheets obtained by Trading Risk showed there
  were several cat bond tranches th
  
  Read more

• Esure shareholders to vote on Gocompare demerger

  11-10-2016 15:30
  
  Approval of the demerger depends on a meeting to be held next month.
  
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• Gocompare heading for London Stock Exchange

  11-10-2016 15:13
  
  Esure sets out timetable for disposal of Gocompare.com
  
  Read more

• Sompo to bring international units together after deal

  11-10-2016 14:26
  Endurance will be fully integrated into the Sompo group alongside
  the Japanese firm's other international subsidiaries following
  its acquisition.
  Sompo Holdings CEO Kengo Sakurada said at a press conference
  last week (7 October) that the new enlarged group will take a
  "fully integrated" approach where staff, skills and
  expertise are shared throughout the company.
  "We will be a truly global insurance company," he
  said. "We will integrate in terms of capital and in terms of
  people."
  Sakurada expla
  
  Read more

• Reinsurers to face Bahamas losses from Matthew

  11-10-2016 14:26
  Reinsurers are likely to pick up losses via Bahamian carriers
  following the devastation caused in the region by Hurricane
  Matthew.
  Matthew ripped through the islands as a Category 4 hurricane on
  Thursday (6 October), causing considerable damage to the high-end
  resorts of Freeport and Nassau.
  Catastrophe modelling agency RMS said on Saturday (8 October)
  the modelled scenario in wind-only claims for the Bahamas could
  reach $5bn.
  The firm said the smallest modelled Bahamas scenario stood at
  less th
  
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• Novae closes international liability unit

  11-10-2016 14:26
  Novae has pulled out of international liability, The
  Insurance Insider has learned.
  The move is said to be in response to difficult market
  conditions, which were limiting profitability.
  Sources said Novae's international liability book was worth
  around £10mn ($12.4mn) in gross written premium.
  In a statement to The Insurance Insider, Novae confirmed the
  withdrawal and said it is no longer writing international casualty
  business.
  The firm said: "Novae has decided to close its
  international
  
  Read more

• Matthew draws 'livecat' trading volumes

  11-10-2016 14:26
  "Livecat" trading of industry loss warranties (ILWs)
  ahead of Hurricane Matthew could have topped $100mn of volume,
  sources told sister title Trading Risk,
  making it the most active "livecat" market since
  Superstorm Sandy.
  Volumes in the livecat market are opaque, with more interest
  than actual trading, but ahead of the storm's landfall on 5
  October sources estimated that cleared deals were approaching
  $100mn of limit - with one suggesting the total could be even
  higher.
  This compares to perhaps
  
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• Endurance: three years, three deals, one CEO

  11-10-2016 14:26
  In just three short years Endurance chairman and CEO John
  Charman has implemented a schedule of change that has encompassed
  three rounds of M&A discussions and a near trebling of the
  Bermudian's group income.
  The Axis founder took the helm in May 2013, when Endurance was a
  middle-of-the-pack (re)insurer earning $2.5bn in gross written
  premium (GWP) and generating full-year net income of $129.8mn.
  In the month immediately after his appointment, the
  executive told this publication in an exclus
  
  Read more

• Endurance deal ramps up Sompo ILS platform

  11-10-2016 14:26
  Sompo's acquisition of Endurance will give it a bigger
  foothold in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) management
  business, with the legacy Montpelier Re platform Blue Capital
  Management controlling $670mn of assets under management, according
  to half-year 2016 records from sister publication
  Trading Risk.
  All of the big three Japanese carriers already run
  cat bond funds through their own domestic asset management
  divisions, although for Sompo and Mitsui the recently launched
  funds are still s
  
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• Charman to pocket $325mn from Endurance sale

  11-10-2016 14:26
  Endurance chairman and CEO John Charman will receive gross
  proceeds of $325mn as a result of the sale of his company to Sompo,
  with an estimated net gain of $213.6mn.
  According to analysis by The Insurance
  Insider, Charman's 4.9 percent stake in Endurance
  equates to around $311mn at the sale price of $93 per share -
  equivalent to 1.36x trailing book value (see table).
  The executive also has 283,556 unvested share options, half of
  which are set to vest in...
  
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• Cat bond market takes Matthew drop

  11-10-2016 14:26
  The cat bond market experienced its largest one-week drop since
  Superstorm Sandy, sister publication Trading
  Risk reported, with some of the insurance-linked
  securities transactions that benefit Florida takeout insurers among
  those written down.
  The Swiss Re cat bond price return index fell 1.57 percent to
  reach a value of 94.0 on Friday 7 October, compared to a 2.6
  percent fall the week after Sandy.
  Secondary pricing sheets obtained by Trading Risk showed there
  were several cat bond tranches th
  
  Read more

• Tide of Chinese money held back by regulatory delays

  11-10-2016 14:26
  A formidable pipeline of Chinese reinsurance start-ups is being
  held in check by the lengthy approval process imposed by the China
  Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC).
  Local press has reported that 25 companies have applied to the
  CIRC to set up reinsurance companies, as Chinese capital keen to
  enter the insurance space looks for an area with low barriers to
  entry.
  But that perception has been belied by the deliberate pace that
  the regulator has taken with applications.
  Reinsurers looking to.
  
  Read more

• Sompo gives Charman scale and a long-term view

  11-10-2016 14:26
  With its sale to Sompo, John Charman's Endurance has secured
  itself the privileged role of becoming the global specialty
  (re)insurance arm of a vast insurer with an unshakeable cornerstone
  domestic market position, a long-term perspective and a commitment
  to fund international growth.
  The $6.3bn sale of the business at a 43 percent premium to the
  three-month average share price represents a coup for shareholders,
  who will be able to cash out at a point when returns and valuations
  are widely...
  
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• Matthew will not disturb soft market drift

  11-10-2016 14:26
  After causing a stir last week as a possible $20bn+ loss,
  Hurricane Matthew's impact looks unlikely to extend beyond a
  quarter's worth of earnings damage or have any meaningful
  impact on reinsurance rates.
  Significant uncertainty surrounds the ultimate size of the loss
  as work begins to modify modelled results for the specific
  elements, and efforts to disentangle flood and wind losses
  commence.
  Industry sources are preparing themselves for losses of
  $5bn-$10bn, with some on the bullish side of t
  
  Read more

• LMG chairman calls for support for regulators

  11-10-2016 14:26
  The London market should reciprocate the support given to it by
  UK regulators, according to Nicolas Aubert, chairman of the London
  Market Group (LMG).
  Speaking at an Insurance Institute of London lecture in the
  Lloyd's Old Library last week (4 October), Aubert noted that
  the two regulatory authorities were marketing the industry
  vigorously.
  "The regulators are actively promoting the marketplace. We
  need to give the same support," he urged.
  "It's rare for an industry to want its regulator to be..
  
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• Insider View: Sompo's international ambitions

  11-10-2016 14:26
  Sompo will be back. Without a shadow of a doubt. As deftly as group
  CEO Kengo Sakurada evaded questions about future M&A, steering
  attention instead towards the acquisition of Endurance, it was
  clear that this is the beginning rather than the end.
  "In terms of profits, our overseas share is 30 percent, and
  I am going to increase it to probably 50 percent," the
  executive said. "To be a truly global integrated company, 30
  percent is not good enough.&quo...
  
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• Endurance surges

  11-10-2016 14:26
  Endurance stole the headlines last week
  after announcing that it had agreed a $6.3bn deal to be acquired by
  Sompo Holdings.
  But it wasn't just the Bermudian's CEO John Charman that
  favoured the deal, which earned him $325mn. Investors jumped on the
  stock, which sent the share price soaring by 40.18 percent over the
  week to $91.75, just below Sompo's $93 offer price.
  Meanwhile, Florida-centric United Insurance
  Holdings saw its stock price fall by 12.3 percent to
  $14.27 when markets...
  
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• Charman: the $6bn dollar man

  11-10-2016 14:26
  The acquisition of John Charman and his management team was the
  most important factor in the decision to pay $6.3bn for Endurance,
  Sompo Holdings CEO Kengo Sakurada has said.
  Giving the rationale for the transaction during a press
  conference held last week (7 October), Sakurada said there was an
  "abundance of experience and excellence" at Endurance
  that could benefit the international aspirations of his firm.
  "I must talk about the acquisition of the skill," he
  said. "The most important point...
  
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• Asian market heads for another competitive 1.1 renewal

  11-10-2016 14:26
  Asian reinsurers look set to endure another challenging renewal at
  1 January, but other markets' resistance to further swingeing
  rate cuts looks to be growing.
  In a canvass ahead of the East Asian Insurance Conference, The
  Insurance Insider was told that reinsurers are struggling across
  the board to find good margin in Asian reinsurance business, as
  most carriers in Singapore fell to an underwriting loss in
  2015.
  "Margins are wafer-thin on most business," one
  reinsurer said. "We just can't affor
  
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• ArgoGlobal enters livestock market

  11-10-2016 14:26
  Lloyd's carrier ArgoGlobal has appointed Louisa Honeybun
  from MS Amlin as a senior underwriter to lead its new livestock
  business.
  Honeybun takes up her role with immediate effect, reporting to John
  Moffatt, ArgoGlobal's head of specialty.
  At MS Amlin Honeybun served as a livestock underwriter.Prior to MS Amlin, she served as assistant underwriter at Crowe
  Livestock, the specialist underwriter that was subsequently
  acquired by the Japanese-owned Lloyd's carrier.
  Commenting on the hire, Moffatt s
  
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• Swinton chooses new headquarters in Manchester city centre location

  11-10-2016 13:53
  
  Swinton Group has moved its Manchester headquarters and customer contact centre to a new city centre location.
  
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• Esure releases timeline for Go Compare demerger

  11-10-2016 13:52
  
  Go Compare will be floated on the stock exchange by November, parent group Esure told investors.
  
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• Cornish Mutual expands with new Devon Office

  11-10-2016 13:52
  
  Cornish Mutual has opened a new Devon office in order to help service its growing membership in East Devon, Somerset and Dorset.
  
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• Blog: Compensating child abuse

  11-10-2016 13:10
  
  Part of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse will focus on how adequate reparation can be achieved and what role insurers can play.
  
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• Heritage drops Matthew loss estimate to $100mn

  11-10-2016 12:51
  Floridian insurer Heritage said that latest modelled estimates
  showed its Hurricane Matthew losses would fall under $100mn, after
  previously saying the carrier could take $500mn of claims from the
  storm.
  CEO Bruce Lucas mooted the $500mn figure last week during an
  interview with CNBC - however, this estimate was made before
  Matthew weakened and swerved further from the coastline.
  A loss of less than $100mn would limit the impact on
  Heritage's reinsurance programme to $60mn and put its Citrus Re.
  
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• Biba meeting: SSP makes pledge to brokers during 'frank discussion'

  11-10-2016 12:47
  
  Biba is planning to review six of the biggest software houses
  
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• Former insurer bosses set up new investor business

  11-10-2016 12:27
  
  Investments in software and technology firms have already started 
  
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• Biba: Regulation and Brexit at the Tory Party Conference

  11-10-2016 12:03
  
  Biba executive director Graeme Trudgill was there lobbying for brokers
  
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• Claims Club Summit - live feed

  11-10-2016 11:29
  
  The Claims Club Summit is bringing the claims community together this Wednesday in London to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the sector, from whiplash reforms to technological innovations.
  
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• Catalina buys run-off Allianz book

  11-10-2016 11:26
  
  Bermuda-based Catalina Holdings has purchased AGF Insurance Limited.
  
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• Biba hosts “full and frank” meeting with SSP

  11-10-2016 11:22
  
  The meeting took place between brokers and SSP and the software house promised to visit affected brokers within a month.
  
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• Simon Henderson on developing distribution, technology and Brexit

  11-10-2016 11:08
  
  Darwin Clayton's managing director tells Insurance Age why the broker is focusing on organic growth and explains how technology and Brexit will have a big impact on the business.
  
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• Haugh to leave Aspen Insurance

  11-10-2016 10:54
  Ann Haugh is set to leave her position as COO of Aspen Insurance
  and president of the Bermudian's international insurance
  division, The Insurance Insider can
  reveal.
  The executive joined Aspen from Zurich just under three years
  ago, initially as COO and CUO of its insurance business, under then
  CEO of the unit Mario Vitale.
  An Aspen spokesperson confirmed Haugh would be leaving the
  Bermudian "to pursue other opportunities".
  They added that after Steve Postlewhite took over as CEO of
  Aspen...
  
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• Axa and Allianz are still the only insurers on Interbrand's Best Global Brands list

  11-10-2016 10:45
  
  Axa is the number one insurer on Interbrand’s Best Global Brands list for the eighth year running with an increased value of 14% to $10,579m.
  
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• Swinton relocates Manchester HQ

  11-10-2016 10:15
  
  Broker chooses city centre location as part of wider investment strategy.
  
  Read more

• Allianz UK completes employers' liability run-off sale

  11-10-2016 10:09
  
  Run-off buyer Catalina acquires AGF Insurance Limited
  
  Read more

• InsurTech Futures: Aviva to use HomeServe LeakBot

  11-10-2016 10:00
  
  A smart connected water leak detector is set to be offered by Aviva to customers.
  
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• InsurTech Futures: Aviva offers HomeServe LeakBot to industry

  11-10-2016 10:00
  
  A smart connected water leak detector is set to be offered by Aviva to insurance industry and customers.
  
  Read more

• Markel appoints head of reinsurance claims

  11-10-2016 09:55
  
  Chris O’Shea joins the insurer from Ariel Syndicate 1910
  
  Read more

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