Insurance news

• Global rate softening moderates in Q3: Marsh

  10-11-2016 23:37
  Global insurance rate decreases moderated for the third quarter in
  a row, according to data from brokerage giant Marsh.
  The firm said that its global insurance market index for Q3 2016
  shows prices fell 3.2 percent on average, compared to a 3.6 percent
  drop in the second quarter and 3.8 percent in the first three
  months of this year.
  The period of moderation comes after a run of accelerated
  softening since Q2 2013 that peaked at an average 5.0 percent...
  
  Read more

• Willis and Marsh beef up share buyback programmes

  10-11-2016 19:32
  Marsh & McLennan Companies and Willis Towers Watson have
  signalled further capital repatriation to investors with expanded
  share buyback programmes.
  The brokerage parents both said they were adding to existing
  share repurchase programmes.
  At Marsh, owner of reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter, the board
  of directors authorised $2.5bn to be added to its existing buyback
  plan, according to a statement from the New York-based company.
  The parent of insurance broker Marsh had repurchased 10 million
  
  Read more

• Hannover puts Matthew loss at close to EUR100mn

  10-11-2016 19:32
  Hannover Re expects losses related to Hurricane Matthew to be
  "slightly below EUR100mn," CFO Roland Vogel said today on
  a conference call with securities analysts.
  "Based on a recent conservative but of course still uncertain
  first calculation, Hurricane Matthew led to a loss of slightly
  below EUR100mn ($109mn)," Vogel said.
  Combined with losses from events in Italy and Germany, Vogel
  said the reinsurer's large-loss budget still has about EUR300mn
  remaining for this year.
  He said the remaining b
  
  Read more

• Profitable period is time to modernise: Horton

  10-11-2016 17:31
  The London market must seize the opportunity offered by sustained
  profitability to invest in its future capabilities, Beazley CEO
  Andrew Horton has said.
  Speaking at the Xchanging London Market Conference today, Horton
  urged the London insurance industry to invest in technology and
  promote the market abroad now, rather than vacillate and miss the
  opportunity.
  "Now is a good time to get on with it rather than worry
  about what is going to happen in the future," he
  commented.
  Horton warned...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• SSP users suffer new disruption

  10-11-2016 16:41
  
  The disruption follows the major outage of the software house’s pure platform earlier this year.
  
  Read more

• XL Catlin appoints president of global excess casualty

  10-11-2016 14:24
  XL Catlin has promoted Barbara Luck to become the new president of
  its global excess casualty business, it said yesterday.
  Luck is CUO of XL Catlin's global risk management business,
  and will move to her new role on 1 December.
  She will report to Joe Tocco, CEO of XL Catlin's Americas
  region.
  XL Catlin announced
  a revamp of its management structure late last month that moved
  the organisation further towards a line-of-business focus and away
  from a hub-based approach.
  In...
  
  Read more

• Hannover Re climbs 5% despite P&C profit slip

  10-11-2016 14:24
  Markets have reacted positively to Hannover Re's Q3 results as
  the reinsurer's shares surged 5 percent despite a fall in
  P&C profits.
  The stock was trading up 4.83 percent at EUR105.30 as of 12.22
  GMT, as investors signalled their approval of the company's
  improved underwriting result, despite the decline in the P&C
  business.
  Operating profits in Hannover Re's P&C reinsurance
  business crept down by 5.9 percent in the third quarter to EUR332mn
  ($366mn), but its underwriting result imp
  
  Read more

• Operating profit shoots up 44% for Zurich

  10-11-2016 12:50 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  GWP falls as the insurer notes focus on pricing and underwriting discipline.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Waiting on change will doom London: Khoury-Haq

  10-11-2016 12:44
  Failure to embrace the Target Operating Model (Tom) could leave
  the London market vulnerable to "stagnation and failure",
  Lloyd's director of operations Shirine Khoury-Haq has
  claimed.
  Speaking at the Xchanging London Market Conference today,
  Khoury-Haq said the Tom had delivered the components of the
  modernisation required by the market, but that the sector must now
  act collectively for it to succeed.
  Khoury-Haq acknowledged collective action was incredibly
  difficult to generate, but urged EC3
  
  Read more

• Market needs transitional Brexit arrangements: LMG

  10-11-2016 12:44
  The London Market Group (LMG) is lobbying against a "hard
  Brexit" for the insurance industry as the UK government enters
  negotiations with the EU, Malcolm Newman, CEO of Scor's
  Paris-London hub, has said.
  Speaking at the Xchanging London Market Conference today, Newman
  said the LMG was pushing for transitional arrangements as the UK
  separates itself from the EU, in the interest of business
  continuity and policyholder protection.
  "Our request is to have transitional arrangements for at
  least five
  
  Read more

• Mapfre non-life GWP drops 2.3%

  10-11-2016 12:44
  Spanish carrier Mapfre has reported a 2.3 percent decline in
  nine-month gross written premiums (GWP) to EUR13.5bn in its
  non-life business.
  The insurance unit's top line dropped by 1.6 percent to
  EUR14.0bn year-on-year, while the assistance, services and
  specialty risks division reported a 5.6 percent fall in premiums to
  EUR889mn.
  This was driven by the Brazil and Latin America segments, which
  experienced top line erosions compared to the year before.
  The Brazil segment, which generates 17.9 per
  
  Read more

• Heritage share gain leads most Floridians higher

  10-11-2016 12:44
  Heritage Insurance Holdings led most other Florida P&C
  carriers higher in New York trading today as its shares jumped as
  much as 12.7 percent in response to lower hurricane-related losses
  than expected.
  In its third quarter earnings release yesterday, the Clearwater,
  Florida-based company said that Hurricane Hermine losses are
  expected to be about $4mn.
  The estimate was equivalent to just a third of the $12mn
  forecast by Keefe Bruyette & Woods analyst Arash Soleimani.
  In a note to invest
  
  Read more

• Insurance stocks rally after Trump slump

  10-11-2016 12:11
  
  Insurance stocks outstrip wider market gains
  
  Read more

• Broker Apprentice 2016: The insurance treasure hunt - episode two

  10-11-2016 12:10
  The apprentices face their first full challenge – deciphering riddles and clues in a timed insurance-themed treasure hunt.
  
  Read more

• Video: TT Club discusses commoditisation

  10-11-2016 12:00
  
  Is freight impacted by digitisation? TT Club explores the issue.
  
  Read more

• Zurich UK reports 44% profit following restructure

  10-11-2016 11:16
  
  Zurich’s UK general insurance division saw business operating profit rise by 44.5% in the third quarter of 2016, despite an 8% drop in gross written premiums.
  
  Read more

• Zurich UK GI profit boosted by lower claims costs

  10-11-2016 11:16
  
  Chief executive Conor Brennan hails “solid” results
  
  Read more

• Zurich Global Corporate returns to profitability

  10-11-2016 11:05
  Zurich Global Corporate swung to an $86mn business operating profit
  in the third quarter following favourable reserve development and a
  lower level of catastrophes.
  In the same period last year, the unit had posted a $478mn loss,
  as under-reserving and losses from Tianjin and other catastrophes
  drove the combined ratio up to 116.1 percent.
  The improved performance in Zurich's big ticket business was
  mirrored more broadly as its general insurance arm reported a
  business operating profit of $618mn
  
  Read more

• Specialty lines drive top line growth at Beazley

  10-11-2016 11:05
  Beazley today reported a 10 percent yearly rise in specialty gross
  written premiums (GWP), boosting its overall top line growth to 2
  percent for the nine months to 30 September.
  In a third quarter interim management statement, the company
  reported group GWP of $1.7bn, after its specialty lines division
  booked premiums of $824mn.
  However, this represented a deceleration in GWP growth as
  Beazley recorded a 6 percent year-on-year top line increase in the
  comparable period in 2015, compared to just.
  
  Read more

• Shares rise as insurers seen benefiting from Trump win

  10-11-2016 11:05
  Investors turned broadly positive on US insurers and related
  shares following Donald Trump's surprising victory in the US
  presidential election, as prices rose for most of those tracked by
  the Insider 30.
  Only a few carriers remained down, including national P&C
  insurer Travelers. But the Hartford, Connecticut-based company had
  erased much of its loss by midday.
  XL Catlin, Navigators and AmTrust Financial joined AIG among the
  biggest gainers, with the three carriers rising nearly 2 percent
  w
  
  Read more

• Profits slip in Hannover Re's P&C business

  10-11-2016 11:05
  Hannover Re's operating profits in its P&C reinsurance
  business crept down by 5.9 percent in the third quarter to EUR332mn
  ($366mn), but its underwriting result improved.
  The business comfortably outpaced the analyst consensus, with
  the P&C result 10 percent ahead and group earnings 16 percent
  better than predicted at EUR444mn.
  The continental reinsurer reported a 94.4 percent headline
  combined ratio, down 1.4 percentage points year-on-year.
  Hannover Re reported an exceptionally benign t
  
  Read more

• Generali profits slide 5.6%

  10-11-2016 11:05
  Operating profits at Italian carrier Generali fell 5.6 percent
  for the year-to-date to reach EUR3.6bn ($3.9bn) despite an improved
  P&C underwriting performance.
  Profits in the P&C segment deteriorated 3.6 percent to EUR1.5bn
  in the first nine months of 2016, despite a 20 basis point
  improvement in the combined ratio to 92.4 percent.
  Generali said that year-to-date cat losses totalled EUR200mn, or
  1.3 percentage points on the combined ratio, and included EUR10mn
  related to the earthquake
  
  Read more

• Broker Apprentice 2016 episode two: The insurance treasure hunt

  10-11-2016 10:30
  The apprentices face their first full challenge – deciphering riddles and clues in a timed insurance-themed treasure hunt.
  
  Read more

• Live blog: Broker Expo 2016

  10-11-2016 10:20
  
  Insurance Age's team of award-winning journalists are on the road again - this time they are headed to the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, for the 2016 Broker Expo.
  
  Read more

• Catch up on Broker Expo 2016

  10-11-2016 10:20
  
  Insurance Age's team of award-winning journalists hit the road again - this time they headed to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry for the 2016 Broker Expo.
  
  Read more

• Gallagher wins broking contract for major UK university

  10-11-2016 09:56
  
  Gallagher secures eight-year appointment
  
  Read more

• Zurich's Q3 global profits bounce back to $1.2bn

  10-11-2016 09:35
  
  Global insurer Zurich registered 2016 third quarter operating profits of $1.2bn compared with $256m in Q3 2015.
  
  Read more

• Beazley continues growth despite rate drop

  10-11-2016 09:34
  
  Lloyd’s insurer issued nine-month update
  
  Read more

• Zurich group GI profit surges in first nine months

  10-11-2016 09:03
  
  Overall Zurich group profit also improves
  
  Read more

• Gallagher buys UK benefits consultancy

  10-11-2016 08:58
  
   Broking group Gallagher adds to growing UK employee benefits unit
  
  Read more

• State National grows top and bottom line

  10-11-2016 01:07
  Fronting specialist State National reported strong top- and
  bottom-line growth for the third quarter and upped targets for the
  full year.
  The Texas-based company, which fronts for giant ILS fund
  Nephila, generated total revenues that climbed 13 percent to
  $57.9mn.
  Revenues included premiums earned that increased by 12 percent
  to $33.7mn and ceding fees that were up 2 percent to $19.3mn.
  Net income jumped 24 percent to $15.3mn, with earnings per share
  of $0.37 (Q3 2015: $0.28) and EBITDA that...
  
  Read more

• Insurers outpace market gains on Trump win

  10-11-2016 01:07
  Insurers outpaced broader gains in US financial markets today in
  the wake of Donald Trump's surprising US presidential election
  victory, with investors clinging to the carriers as havens against
  potential market volatility ahead.
  While the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.4
  percent, the top gainers among the Insider 30 collection
  of P&C insurers and reinsurers advanced nearly 4 percent in
  spirited New York trading. The KBW Insurance Index, which includes
  life as well as P&C
  
  Read more

Follow @Insurance_UKnws on Twitter!