Insurance news

• Maison owner 1347 Property studies strategic options

  18-10-2016 20:45
  The owner of Louisiana-focused homeowners carrier Maison Insurance
  is reviewing its operations in a process that could result in a
  sale of the business.
  Gordon G. Pratt, chairman of Maison owner 1347 Property
  Insurance Holdings in Tampa, Florida, cited "recent events in
  coastal- and wind-exposed property markets" where Maison
  operates, in a statement announcing the review.
  The company, which went public in 2014 in an IPO, said the
  process could also lead to an expansion of its market footprint t
  
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• Cobalt gets green light from Lloyd's

  18-10-2016 20:45
  Shariah-compliant managing general agency Cobalt has been granted
  in-principle approval to launch a full syndicate at Lloyd's,
  The Insurance Insider can reveal.
  Sources told this publication that Cobalt syndicate 1438 had
  been given the green light by Lloyd's at a meeting of the
  Franchise Board this morning.
  The proposed syndicate, which will be managed by third-party
  managing agency Capita, will look to launch as soon as it can
  successfully navigate the so-called "Making It Happen"
  phase.
  Howev
  
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• Applegate joins Hamilton as marine liability head

  18-10-2016 20:45
  Lloyd's managing agency Hamilton Underwriting has hired Mark
  Appleton to lead its marine liability business.
  Appleton will report to Trevor Carvey, active underwriter and
  head of treaty, Hamilton said in a statement today.
  Previously, Appleton was a marine liability class underwriter
  and an energy liability underwriter with the Navigators Group,
  which he joined in 2007.
  Prior to that he served as a protection and indemnity (P&I)
  underwriter at the carrier, having previously worked at broker
  
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• Godwin joins Aspen as marine hull chief

  18-10-2016 18:42
  Aspen International Insurance has hired Ralph Godwin as head of
  marine hull.
  Godwin has more than 30 years' experience in the sector. He
  joins from RSA, where he has worked for the past eight years,
  during the last six of which he headed up the London hull
  operation.
  Before that Godwin spent 22 years working as a broker, most
  recently at JLT.
  In his new role Godwin will report to Christopher Wildee, head
  of international marine and international upstream energy...
  
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• Brexit threatens £7bn of London premium: IUA

  18-10-2016 18:42
  The potential end to passporting services for UK-based companies
  in the wake of Brexit puts £7.34bn ($8.96bn) of London premium
  at risk, according to the International Underwriting Association
  (IUA).
  In its annual statistics report on the London company market,
  released today, the IUA said the potential business at risk
  included £1.36bn of European premium written in London by
  firms either headquartered in the UK or based in a non-EU country
  and using London to access EU business.
  Th
  
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• Rentguard launches property owners product

  18-10-2016 16:29
  
  XL Catlin to underwrite the non-standard risk product which offers blanket cover of £1m.
  
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• AIG to sell LatAm and CEE operations

  18-10-2016 16:28
  AIG has agreed to sell its Latin American and central and
  eastern Europe (CEE) operations to Fairfax Financial for a cash
  consideration of $240mn.
  As part of the agreement, AIG will sell its local commercial and
  consumer insurance operations in Argentina, Chile, Colombia,
  Uruguay, Venezuela and Turkey to Fairfax.
  Fairfax will also acquire renewal rights for the portfolio of
  local business written by AIG's CEE operations in Bulgaria, the
  Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, and
  
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• AIG in £195m sale of assets to Fairfax

  18-10-2016 16:17
  
  AIG will sell its Latin American and Central and Eastern European operations to Fairfax for £195m.
  
  Read more

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• AIG sells Latin American and CEE operations to Fairfax Financial for $240m

  18-10-2016 16:15 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  Insurer says sales are part of focusing on major economies with greatest profitable growth potential.
  
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• Samsung uninsured for mobile phone recall

  18-10-2016 14:30
  Samsung has no product recall cover in place for the faulty
  batteries in its Galaxy Note 7 phones, which look set to cost the
  South Korean technology giant $2.3bn.
  While Samsung had bought the cover across its range of products
  in previous years, it had no such cover in place for small
  batteries at the time of its mass recall of the $885 smartphone,
  after hundreds of units suffered critical failures worldwide.
  In the initial recall notice, Samsung cited a...
  
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• Nine Merchants Re the latest Chinese reinsurer

  18-10-2016 14:30
  Nine Merchants Re, a $500mn start-up led by former Aon Benfield
  Greater China CEO Steve Warwick, has become the latest in a wave of
  Chinese reinsurance start-ups.Warwick's venture, which has been at least a year in the
  making, has now found a cornerstone backer in Chinese investment
  group First Seafront Financial and is targeting a 1 April
  inception.The start-up, which is subject to approval from the
  Hong Kong regulator, is also in discussions with AM Best about
  securing...
  
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• National Lloyds put up for sale

  18-10-2016 14:30
  Homeowners' specialist National Lloyds Insurance Company has
  been put up for sale by its New York-listed parent Hilltop
  Holdings, The Insurance Insider can
  reveal.
  It is understood that investment bank Sandler O'Neill has
  been instructed to handle the sale of the insurer, which is based
  in Waco, Texas.
  National Lloyds predominantly writes personal fire and extended
  coverage for affordable properties such as mobile homes.
  But in recent years the carrier has broadened its focus to
  include commerci
  
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• Matthew passes by with limited impact

  18-10-2016 14:30
  As loss estimates for Hurricane Matthew continue to be revised
  down, it is becoming increasingly clear the storm's impact will
  amount to little more than a manageable dent in Q3 earnings for
  (re)insurers.Initial fears of a $20bn+ industry loss have long since
  subsided, with the total insured loss now estimated to be in the
  single-digit billions.Matthew made landfall near McClellanville in South Carolina on 8
  October as a Category 1 storm, having significantly weakened after
  skirting the Florida.
  
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• Manchester Underwriting brings in bank for capital raise

  18-10-2016 14:30
  Managing general agency (MGA)-cum-broker Manchester Underwriting
  Management has appointed an investment banker to assist in a
  capital raise of roughly £5mn ($6mn), The
  Insurance Insider can reveal.
  Sources told this publication that the business,
  majority owned by CEO Charles Manchester, has hired Hines
  Associates to handle a combined equity and debt raise.
  The restricted process is still in its early stages, but Hines
  Associates has produced a confidential investor memorandum and
  distribu
  
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• London MGA boom best answer to InsurTech challenge

  18-10-2016 14:30
  The proliferation of managing general underwriter businesses
  looking to enable and incubate smaller entrepreneurial underwriting
  outfits are the best chance that London has to rise to the cultural
  challenge posed by the current boom in insurance technology
  investment.
  This was the view heard by a group of senior London market
  executives at a London 100 roundtable hosted by law firm RPC last
  week (13 October).
  The emergence of the new tier of niche entrepreneurial
  underwriters was a direct respon
  
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• Insider View: Nine Merchants Re

  18-10-2016 14:30
  There are many compelling reasons to found an Asia-focused
  reinsurer.
  China will one day be the biggest reinsurance market in the
  world and India too is going to be huge in time. Japan and South
  Korea have sizeable premium pots already, and Australasia - as some
  Bermudians have already recognised - is easier to service from the
  Far East than from other geographies.
  Singapore and Hong Kong are stable jurisdictions and global
  financial centres with relatively congenial regulators. And
  investor...
  
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• Foo Fighters settle suit with Lloyd's carriers and broker

  18-10-2016 14:30
  US rock band the Foo Fighters has agreed to settle its suit with
  entertainment insurance broker Robertson Taylor and a number of
  Lloyd's insurers for an undisclosed sum.
  On 7 October, the court for the Central District of California
  granted a stipulation to dismiss the complaint with prejudice, as
  agreed by all of the parties to the suit. All parties would bear
  their own costs, the filing said.
  The suit related to the insurers' refusal to pay out under a...
  
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• Florida falls

  18-10-2016 14:30
  Two of the listed Floridian carriers were the worst
  performers last week as claims began pouring in after Hurricane
  Matthew.
  News of the storm, which made landfall on 7 October, initially
  sent investors scattering and the share prices of listed regional
  homeowners' carriers into freefall.
  Stocks then recovered once it was discovered that the
  storm's severity had been overestimated, before both
  Heritage and United's share
  prices tumbled again last week.
  Heritage was down 4.32 percent by close of
  
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• Downstream carriers on notice for BASF loss

  18-10-2016 14:30
  An explosion at one of BASF's major chemical plants in
  Germany on 17 October could result in a loss for the downstream
  energy market.
  The incident occurred at the company's plant in
  Ludwigshafen, western Germany, on a supply line connecting a
  harbour and a tank depot, according to Reuters.
  Two people are thought to have died and several more are
  missing.
  According to a BBC news story, there have also been reports that
  some residents living close to the port...
  
  Read more

• CCRIF makes $20mn payout to Haiti

  18-10-2016 14:30
  The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) has
  made a number of payouts following Hurricane Matthew, including its
  largest payment to date of $20mn to Haiti.
  The facility provides parametric insurance that triggers
  according to measurements of the The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk
  Insurance Facility (CCRIF) has made a number of payouts following
  Hurricane Matthew, including its largest payment to date of $20mn
  to Haiti. physical characteristics of a disaster. Its reinsurance
  provisio
  
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• Cat bonds spring back after Matthew scare

  18-10-2016 14:30
  The Swiss Re cat bond index rose 1.57 percent to reach 95.53
  points on 14 October, clawing back the value that was lost while
  Hurricane Matthew made its way up the Florida coastline.
  In the wake of the storm, which was less destructive than
  expected, the secondary trading index dropped by 1.57 percent on 7
  October from 95.50 to 94.00 points. This was the market's
  largest one-week fall since Superstorm Sandy in November 2012.
  After Sandy the index fell 2.63...
  
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• Bermuda shrugs off Nicole with slight insured losses

  18-10-2016 14:30
  Bermuda was left sodden but largely intact following its
  encounter with Hurricane Nicole late last week, with insured losses
  expected to be relatively slight, despite 120mph winds.
  The Category 3 storm blew over the island territory on 13
  October, knocking out power for about 90 percent of residents and
  causing flooding in some areas. Dozens of boats were either
  beached, sunk or broken into pieces, while wind damage included
  downed trees, utility poles and wires.
  While damage was still being...
  
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• Beazley energy head Holmes leaves

  18-10-2016 14:30
  Beazley's head of energy Matthew Holmes has left the company,
  The Insurance Insider has learned.
  Sources told this publication that Holmes had exited the
  London-listed insurer and was now considering his next move.
  It is understood that the blue-chip carrier's deputy head of
  energy Alex Barnes will be promoted to replace Holmes.
  New entrants to the energy space have slowed over the last year
  or two, with most business now being underwritten below technical
  levels, but Holmes is expected to...
  
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• Arch hires Maries to advance legacy vehicle

  18-10-2016 14:30
  Investment banker Scott Maries is to join Arch to work on its
  run-off vehicle, The Insurance Insider
  has learned.Maries will join the firm from Validus, where he has been in a
  corporate development role for a matter of months.As this publication reported in August, Arch has already flown
  in former Chubb chief reinsurance officer Bill O'Farrell to
  lead its legacy initiative, and private equity backers are
  understood to have been lined up already.Details of the business plan...
  
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• RSA names Richard Read group underwriting director

  18-10-2016 14:12
  
  RSA has appointed Richard Read as group pricing director.
  
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• RSA names Richard Read group pricing director

  18-10-2016 14:12
  
  RSA has appointed Richard Read as group pricing director.
  
  Read more

• RSA names group underwriting director

  18-10-2016 14:12
  RSA has appointed Richard Read as group pricing director.
  
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• Neos raises seed funding to help customers protect their home

  18-10-2016 13:43
  
  The start-up is combining connected home technology, 24/7 monitoring and emergency assistance, alongside comprehensive home insurance.
  
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• Gary Lineker invests in connected home provider Neos

  18-10-2016 13:43 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  Former Ageas chief executive officer Barry Smith also joined the board of Neos as chairman.
  
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• Disrupter So-sure launches with 80% money back claim

  18-10-2016 13:40
  
  A new form of 'social insurance' has been launched today aimed at attracting mobile phone insurance buyers.
  
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• Digital Insurance World 2016: Connected home offers insurers huge opportunity to tap

  18-10-2016 12:59
  
  There is a huge opportunity for connected home insurance with three-quarters of consumers being interested in monitoring their home via a mobile app, according to a survey by Consumer Intelligence.
  
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• Autonet to expand in affinity, home and SME

  18-10-2016 12:58
  
  MD Ian Donaldson says broker will add over 200 jobs in the next two years.
  
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• BP Marsh profits up on unrealised gains

  18-10-2016 12:38
  Profits at BP Marsh rose 16.9 percent year-on-year in the first
  half of 2016 to £4.8mn ($5.9mn).
  The majority of the profit was attributable to £4mn of
  unrealised gains in the UK-based insurance venture capital
  fund's investment portfolio.
  It also reported a dividend of 3.76p per share - up 10 percent
  from the 2016 year-end figure - which the group said it would aim
  to maintain for at least two years. Net asset value (NAV) climbed
  12.7 percent to £73.8mn,...
  
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• Barry Smith and soccer legend join Hiscox-backed disruptor

  18-10-2016 12:21
  
  Disruptor aims to deliver a hugely-improved service to home insuance customers. 
  
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• ABI sets out plans to reduce motor insurance premiums

  18-10-2016 11:52
  
  Insurers have outlined steps to reduce motor premiums in the wake of a "perfect storm" that has seen prices rise for car owners.
  
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• BP Marsh considers Besso sale

  18-10-2016 11:25
  
  Results for 2015 show Besso has seen a 16% increase in revenues and Ebitda of £4.2m.
  
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• Typhoon Sarika makes landfall as Category 3 storm

  18-10-2016 10:59
  Typhoon Sarika struck the Philippines on 16 October as a
  Category 3 storm, according to catastrophe modelling firm AIR
  Worldwide.
  Winds of up to 209km/h were recorded in the town of Baler in
  eastern Manila, where the storm made landfall.
  Typhoon and flood damage are usually covered together in the
  Philippines and are offered under separate fire policies with named
  perils extensions.
  However, given that insurance penetration is typically no more
  than 10-20 percent, insured losses from the storm a
  
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• Irdai shelves mandatory listing plans

  18-10-2016 10:59
  The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India
  (Irdai) has rolled back on plans to force insurance companies to
  list their shares on the stock market.
  An Irdai white paper, released in August, had proposed that
  general insurers in the country be forced to list after eight years
  of operation, while life companies would be required to go public
  after 10 years.
  Irdai chairman T S Vijayan told Business Standard that
  the watchdog had received a number of comments on...
  
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• Insurers on watch for BASF chemical plant loss

  18-10-2016 10:59
  Two people have died and several are missing following an
  explosion at a major chemical plant belonging to German industrial
  manufacturer BASF yesterday.
  The incident occurred at the company's plant in
  Ludwigshafen, western Germany, on a supply line connecting a
  harbour and a tank depot, according to Reuters.
  The BASF plant is said to be the world's biggest chemical
  complex.
  Sources told sister publication Inside FAC the incident was
  unlikely to be a major loss for BASF or its insurers,...
  
  Read more

• 17

  18-10-2016 10:59
  17...
  
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• ABI reveals plan to reduce motor insurance cost

  18-10-2016 10:37
  
  Lifting the Bonnet report outlines five key points to tackle higher insurance premiums including capping IPT.
  
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• Autonet to create 260 new jobs

  18-10-2016 09:27
  
  Van broker boosting HQ workforce
  
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• ABI sets out 5-point car insurance plan

  18-10-2016 09:14
  
  Recommendations to government to help bring down car insurance premiums
  
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• Lloyd's broker in sale talks

  18-10-2016 08:53
  
  Investor  says talks may lead to sale of Lloyd’s broker
  
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• Top 50 broking boss to retire

  18-10-2016 08:30
  
  Decision is driven by desire to make room for next generation of insurance professionals
  
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• LV's Steve Treloar on why the commercial lines market must decide on its future direction

  18-10-2016 08:00
  The commercial lines market finds itself at a crossroads: does it stick to the tried and trusted road of face-to-face interaction and relationships or does it follow personal lines down a digital highway?
  
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• Blog: Whiplash reform requires unified push

  18-10-2016 08:00
  
  The status quo on whiplash claims is detrimental to innocent motorists and the personal injury market needs to speak with one voice to push for reform.
  
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• Matthew claims rise in Florida but remain manageable

  18-10-2016 01:36
  Claims totaling $454mn from Hurricane Matthew's glancing blow
  to Florida's east coast have been recorded by state
  authorities, according to a running tally posted by regulators.
  Roughly two-thirds of the 75,215 claims are from homeowners, the
  data shows. Most of the rest cover dwellings and mobile homes,
  while 1,660 are for commercial property. Out of 3,188 flood
  insurance claims, only 84 are against private coverage with the
  rest coming under federal programs.
  Claims were concentrated in severa
  
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