Insurance news

• Sompo Canopius exploring management buyout

  16-02-2017 22:25
  The Sompo Canopius management team, led by Michael Watson, is
  actively engaged in discussions around a buyout of the $1bn+
  premium Lloyd's business, The Insurance
  Insider can reveal.
  It is understood that parent company Sompo is potentially open to
  agreeing such a transaction following its $6.3bn acquisition of
  Endurance, although the Japanese insurer's willingness proceed
  with a deal is far from assured at this stage.
  Work on the management buyout (MBO) is in its relatively early
  stages, with W
  
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• Oroville Dam flood concerns remain as more rain falls

  16-02-2017 22:25
  Worries that part of a 770-foot dam in northern California might
  fail have receded enough to lift a mandatory evacuation order that
  displaced nearly 200,000 people but fresh rains kept authorities on
  edge as crews rushed to repair damaged spillways.
  As helicopters dropped sacks of rocks into a gaping rent that
  opened last week in the Oroville Dam's 3,000-foot main
  spillway, trucks piled 1,200 tons of boulders an hour into eroded
  parts of an earthen slope used as an emergency...
  
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• Allianz profit jumps 9.3% as P&C strengthens

  16-02-2017 22:25
  Allianz posted a 9.3 percent gain in fourth-quarter operating
  profit as its P&C combined ratio strengthened to 94.0 percent
  and asset-management results improved, the company said late
  today.
  Profit rose to EUR2.8bn ($2.46bn) from EUR2.6bn in the
  year-earlier period, the Munich-based company said today, citing
  preliminary results. The company said final figures would be
  available next month.
  The giant insurer and money manager also announced a EUR3bn
  stock buyback, targeting about 19mn share
  
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• Aegis earns £56mn profit despite tough 2016

  16-02-2017 22:25
  Aegis London Lloyd's Syndicate 1225 earned a profit of
  £56mn in 2016, a year tinged by risk losses, the company said
  today.
  The carrier had a combined ratio of 87 percent for the year, and
  delivered a return on capital of 30 percent, according to a short
  statement. The Aegis syndicate did not provide comparative data for
  2015.
  Aegis said the year was marked by several large market risk
  losses and a generally higher loss frequency compared with 2015,
  without...
  
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• Investment slump hits Allianz’s group GI profit

  16-02-2017 20:59
  
  Allianz’s group GI profit falls despite underwriting improvement
  
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• Investment slump hits Allianz group GI profit

  16-02-2017 20:59
  
  Allianz group GI profit falls despite underwriting improvement
  
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• Allianz returns capital in huge share buy-back

  16-02-2017 20:29
  
  Speculation ends as Allianz unveils huge share buy-back
  
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• Carnegie-Brown to be nominated as Lloyd's chairman

  16-02-2017 19:14
  Former Marsh Europe CEO Bruce Carnegie-Brown will be recommended
  to the Lloyd's Council for approval as the market's next
  chairman, The Insurance Insider can
  reveal.
  Sources said that XL Catlin deputy executive chairman Stephen
  Catlin and former trade minister Lord Davies, among the other
  shortlisted candidates for the role, had not found favour with the
  Nominations Committee.
  A Council meeting is expected to be convened shortly, probably
  one day early next week, to ratify the decision.
  The Coun
  
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• UK commercial rates show signs of recovery

  16-02-2017 18:34
  
  Global pricing declines narrow for fourth successive quarter
  
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• UK commercial rates decline slows

  16-02-2017 18:34
  
  Premium content: UK commercial rates decline slows
  
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• Saudi insurers face lull as profits recover: AM Best

  16-02-2017 16:35
  Saudi Arabia's insurance sector recovered profitability in 2016
  but faces market stagnation this year, according to AM Best.
  The ratings agency said that while company disclosures suggested
  the market had "turned the corner" in terms of earnings,
  it expanded by only 1 percent last year. Growth was driven by
  higher rates for motor insurance, with gross premiums for the line
  rising by 12 percent.
  But premiums from property and engineering insurance declined by
  about 9 percent from the previous yea
  
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• Marsh merges Jelf and Bluefin management teams

  16-02-2017 16:35
  Marsh today provided more details on the merged management team
  for recent acquisitions Jelf and Bluefin.
  As previously announced, Jelf CEO Phil Barton will be CEO of the
  operations, which Marsh is combining after closing the £295mn
  ($367.2mn) purchase of Bluefin in early January.
  Former Bluefin CEO Rob Organ will leave the business.
  Oranye Emembolu will be chief financial officer, having held the
  same role at Jelf since last May. He was previously CFO of the
  Nordic region for Marsh,...
  
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• TMK syndicates meet 2014 YoA forecasts

  16-02-2017 14:00
  Tokio Marine Kiln (TMK)'s flagship Lloyd's Syndicate 510
  has posted a profit of £167.0mn ($208.9mn) for the now closed
  2014 year of account (YoA).
  In the carrier's latest set of Lloyd's syndicate results
  and forecasts, released this morning, it reported a positive result
  of 15.7 percent of Syndicate 510's £1.06bn capacity - in
  line with previous forecasts of between 11.2 percent and 16.2
  percent.
  Results for syndicates 557 and 308 came in at the top end of
  forecasts, as they...
  
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• Primary rate declines moderated in 2016: Marsh

  16-02-2017 14:00
  Global insurance rate declines slowed throughout 2016 as the
  market demonstrated early signs of capacity withdrawal and combined
  ratios rose, according to Marsh.
  In its Global Insurance Market Index report released today, the
  broker said average rates fell by 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter
  of 2016 compared with a decline of 3.8 percent in the first three
  months of the year.
  The four straight quarters of moderating declines marked the
  first whole year of slowing rate cuts since Marsh...
  
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• Opinion: AIG's second 'kitchen sink' quarter

  16-02-2017 14:00
  A second consecutive set of "kitchen sink" fourth
  quarter results will have done little to strengthen the fragile
  confidence in AIG's management among the investment
  community.
  The insurer's mammoth $5.6bn reserve charge was revealed
  just over a year on from a $3.6bn strengthening that also sent it
  to a big Q4 operating loss.
  At the time the company was able to point to its strategic plan
  to turn around the business, which it unveiled the same day.
  While management didn...
  
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• Lloyd's chairman must be industry insider: Clarke

  16-02-2017 14:00
  Lloyd's and the London market needs a market practitioner as
  the next Lloyd's chairman if it is to take on the multiple
  challenges it faces, Miller chairman Graham Clarke told
  The Insurance Insider.
  The industry heavyweight told this publication Lloyd's
  needed a new chairman who could "hit the ground running"
  in negotiating challenges such as Brexit, market modernisation and
  the soft rating environment.
  "We don't have the luxury in having that year or two
  for [an outsider] to find the...
  
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• James River beats consensus as top line balloons by 60%

  16-02-2017 14:00
  James River surpassed the expectations of analysts in the fourth
  quarter as it reported operating profit of $23.2mn and a top line
  that increased by almost 60 percent.
  The $0.77 per share operating result marked a notable
  improvement on the $0.65 per share consensus estimate of five Wall
  Street analysts surveyed by MarketWatch.com.
  The bottom line swelled by almost 30 percent, boosted by a $9mn
  reserve release - more than five times the $1.7mn in reserves it
  announced for the...
  
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• Charles Taylor appoints Wood CEO for Americas management services

  16-02-2017 14:00
  The insurance services company Charles Taylor has named Richard
  Wood CEO of its Americas management services division.
  Wood replaced Joe Roach in the position on 1 January after Roach
  retired, Charles Taylor said today.
  Wood first joined Charles Taylor from Richard Hogg International
  in 2001, becoming vice president of marketing and underwriting for
  Signal Mutual in Houston.
  He was appointed chief operating officer at Signal Mutual in
  2005, moving to Wilton, Connecticut, and was promoted to pres
  
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• Bishopsgate to enter international binders space

  16-02-2017 14:00
  Towergate's London market arm, Bishopsgate, is to enter the
  international binders market after hiring Simon Allport from James
  Hampden International, the company said today.
  The decision to enter the new line was announced along with two
  other senior hires at the recently rebranded broker.
  Allport, who will lead the new international binders division,
  led James Hampden International's delegated authority division,
  which operated across a number of different lines.
  Dan Dunlop, another new hire, w
  
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• Management changes at Marsh following Bluefin buy

  16-02-2017 11:55
  
  As part of the management shift Bluefin's former CEO Robert Organ will depart from the broker.
  
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• Zurich paid out almost £2bn in claims in 2016

  16-02-2017 11:16
  
  Zurich paid out almost £2bn in UK claims payments over the course of last year, the group has revealed.
  
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• Qatar Re promotes two to CUO

  16-02-2017 11:15
  Qatar Re has promoted Luke Roden and Michael van der Straaten to
  chief underwriting officer (CUO) positions after the resignation of
  Alastair Speare-Cole.
  This publication revealed earlier this month that CUO
  Speare-Cole was to leave
  the firm.Speare-Cole joined Qatar Re in January 2015 after three years at
  JLT Re as CEO. Prior to that, he spent almost 20 years at Aon
  Benfield.
  His next destination is not known.
  Roden and van der Straaten were both previously deputy CUOs,
  reporting...
  
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• Opinion: Lloyd's chairman search

  16-02-2017 11:15
  The search for the next Lloyd's chairman is in its final
  days. It is hard to see a set of circumstances in which we do not
  know who will be succeeding John Nelson within the next couple of
  weeks.
  No decision has yet been taken, a number of well-placed sources
  told me yesterday.
  It emerged this week thatMervyn Davies is one of the figures shortlisted for the
  chairman's role.
  Davies is a former CEO and chairman of Standard Chartered,...
  
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• Lancashire shares surge on Q4 results

  16-02-2017 11:15
  Shares in Lancashire were up more than 8 percent in early
  trading in London after the insurer raced past profit expectations
  in the fourth quarter as reserve releases rose.
  Pre-tax profits at London-listed carrier Lancashire rose 1.4
  percent to $50.9mn. Bernstein analyst Thomas Seidl said the result
  was 64 percent more than the consensus estimate and 44 percent
  above his own forecast.
  Lancashire shares were up 8.5 percent at 738.5 pence as of 9 am
  in London.Group gross written...
  
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• Watchstone issues claim against Aviva Canada

  16-02-2017 10:55
  
  Watchstone Group’s Canadian subsidiary Hubio Solutions has issued a claim in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against Aviva Canada.
  
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• Lancashire Holdings reports unchanged return on equity despite a 'turbulent' 2016

  16-02-2017 10:44
  
  Bermuda insurer Lancashire Holdings reported unchanged return on equity despite a ‘turbulent’ 2016 but has predicted difficulties within the market for the foreseeable future.
  
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• Junction partners with SunLife

  16-02-2017 10:41
  
  Five-year partnership includes home and motor policies.
  
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• Marsh unveils Jelf/Bluefin top team amid senior departure

  16-02-2017 10:35
  
  Marsh has also outlined the strategic focus for the new Jelf/Bluefin top team
  
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• Marsh unveils Jelf Bluefin top team amid senior departure

  16-02-2017 10:35
  
  Marsh has also outlined the strategic focus for the new Jelf Bluefin top team
  
  Read more

• Life insurer enters motor market in deal with Compare the Market owner

  16-02-2017 10:15
  
  The five-year deal with Compare the market owner BGL sees life insurer enter motor market
  
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• Crash for cash gang caught in large fraud against 16 insurers

  16-02-2017 09:25
  
  Over 100 claims were also connected to the gang in the large fraud against 16 insurers
  
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• Junction’s Gary Duggan on how the data revolution can benefit consumers

  16-02-2017 08:05
  
  The vast amount of data available to insurance providers in an increasingly digital world offers extraordinary potential for our industry, allowing us to understand our customers better, to refine our pricing and to improve and personalise the relationships customers have with brands.
  
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• The Polish insurance market and its prospects

  16-02-2017 08:01
  
  Price wars in the motor sector have contributed to poor results for Polish insurers, but the market could be shaken up by upcoming distribution rules and potentially growing demand for property, liability and cyber policies.
  
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• Six insurtech start-ups to watch in 2017

  16-02-2017 08:00
  
  To celebrate the return of the Post Digital Insurance Collective, I thought I would take another of my periodic looks at some of the newer start-ups in the insurtech space with some connection to the UK.
  
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• Half of insurers to acquire digital assets, says Willis Towers Watson

  16-02-2017 04:37
  
  Global advisory firm Willis Towers Watson is expecting almost half (49%) of global insurers to acquire digital technologies in the next three years.
  
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• AIG results shake investor confidence in management

  16-02-2017 04:07
  AIG's reserve charge led to a 9 percent drop in its shares
  while also raising questions among investors and analysts as to the
  capability of management to guide the company to the goals
  they've outlined over the past year.
  As Ryan Tunis of Credit Suisse pointed out in a note just after
  AIG posted its surprising operating loss of nearly $2.8bn for the
  fourth quarter: "How much hit to credibility does this
  management team now need to overcome?"
  The loss,...
  
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• James River beats as top line balloons by 60%

  16-02-2017 02:01
  James River surpassed the expectations of analysts in the fourth
  quarter reporting operating profit of $23.2mn and a top line that
  increased by almost 60 percent.
  The $0.77 per share operating result marked a notable
  improvement on the $0.65 per share consensus estimate of five Wall
  Street analysts surveyed by MarketWatch.com.
  The bottom line swelled by almost 30 percent, boosted by a $9mn
  reserve release, more than five times the $1.7mn it announced for
  the same period last year. Most...
  
  Read more

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