Insurance news

• Pro Global wins RI permit for legacy transfer deals

  28-03-2017 23:05
  ProTucket Insurance has received a license to provide legacy
  transfer services in Rhode Island, giving insurers and reinsurers a
  way to cede run-off commercial books with court-sanctioned finality
  in the US for the first time.
  "It's a process that allows people to cede a book of
  business, but has to be led by the receiving company," Artur
  Niemczewski, CEO of London-based Pro Global Insurance Solutions,
  told The Insurance Insider.
  Under the UK's similar Part VII of the Financial Services
  and...
  
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• Lloyd's gains reinsurance licence for Nicaragua

  28-03-2017 18:56
  Lloyd's has obtained a licence to operate as a foreign
  reinsurer in Nicaragua, the Corporation announced today.
  The Nicaraguan regulator, Superintendencia de Bancos y Otras
  Instituciones Financieras (SIBOIF), first approved Lloyd's
  application in February this year.
  It follows a regulatory change SIBOIF made in 2015, which
  mandated that insurers could only transact with registered
  intermediaries and reinsurers.
  The rules had allowed Lloyd's coverholders to individually
  register with SIBOIF in or
  
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• Elseco adds energy capacity from Travelers

  28-03-2017 18:56
  Expansive Dubai-based managing general agency Elseco has secured
  support from Travelers to help it increase its line size to $80mn
  for its upstream energy book, The Insurance
  Insider understands.
  Elseco, which is also about to launch an airline portfolio, has
  written upstream with a maximum of $50mn for some time, but has
  grown its line following the hire of Beazley's head of energy
  Matthew Holmes.
  It has also continued to write downstream risks and, as of
  March, commenced writing power...
  
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• FCA slams poor practices around motor insurance fees and charges

  28-03-2017 17:39
  
  A study has found some insurers and brokers are not disclosing motor insurance fees and charges properly
  
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• PRA plans fee for Solvency II internal model approval

  28-03-2017 16:38
  
  The Prudential Regulation Authority has announced a proposal to introduce a fee for Solvency II full and partial internal model approvals.
  
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• Howden goes for further regional expansion in Bristol

  28-03-2017 16:31
  
  New branch will initially focus on professions, SME and corporate clients.
  
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• Hyperion unveils regional broking expansion plans with new office

  28-03-2017 15:59
  
  The broker has also made a senior hire as Hyperion unveils regional broking expansion plans
  
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• Willis Re Specialty to prune headcount

  28-03-2017 14:46
  Willis Re Specialty could make around 10 staff redundant as part
  of a broader efficiency drive within Graeme Moore's unit,
  The Insurance Insider understands.Sources said that there was also likely to be some salary
  recalibration as Willis Re looks to free up resources in specialty
  to fund heavier investment in data and analytics.Among the changes is the retirement of Adrian Stewart, a former
  head of retro at Guy Carpenter. Stewart joined Willis Re after the
  big three broker...
  
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• USI deal may prompt further PE exits

  28-03-2017 14:46
  Onex Group's agreement to sell its stake in USI Insurance
  Services, reportedly at a healthy 12.2x Ebitda, could spur more
  private equity (PE) funds to take American brokers to the auction
  block.
  Amid attractive valuations, PE investors have the added
  incentive that the favourable tax treatment might be lost for
  so-called "carried interest" that keeps the tax bite on
  profits lighter than for ordinary income or even for capital
  gains.
  During his election campaign last year, President Donald Trump
  
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• Travelers mints general aviation consortium

  28-03-2017 14:46
  Travelers has established a new general aviation (GA) consortium
  in London with a maximum liability line of $165mn, The
  Insurance Insider understands.
  Aviation market sources said that Travelers has a 30 percent
  lead line.
  The supporting lines come from Axis (20 percent), Hiscox (20
  percent), Endurance (15 percent) and Faraday (15 percent).
  In addition to its chunky liability line, the GA consortium will
  be able to put down a maximum hull line of $8mn.
  It will write business on either...
  
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• Stock markets fall amid US tax uncertainty

  28-03-2017 14:46
  Increasing uncertainty around the Trump administration's
  ability to pass the promised tax cuts and deregulation depressed US
  stock markets last week.
  The S&P 500 ended the week 1.5 percent
  down, and dropped by 1.3 percent last Tuesday (21 March) due to
  Wall Street worries.
  And on Friday (24 March), the administration's new
  healthcare bill failed to pass through Congress, which heightened
  market scepticism over the promised financial reforms.
  The pressure fed through international markets as
  
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• ProSight looks to ride wave of Lloyd's M&A interest

  28-03-2017 14:46
  ProSight is attempting to catch a late window of opportunity by
  spinning off its Lloyd's business, as the market reaches the
  latter stages of the M&A cycle.
  Hot on the heels of the sale of fellow
  managing agent Argenta to Hannover Re, ProSight has appointed GC
  Securities to sell its managing agency and £300mn-stamp
  ($377mn) Syndicate 1110.
  As this publication revealed yesterday, the carrier's
  private equity owners GS Capital Partners and TPG Capital have
  called off efforts to auction t
  
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• Malta makes strides as post-Brexit destination

  28-03-2017 14:46
  Malta has emerged as an unexpectedly strong contender among UK
  carriers looking for EU hubs in order to retain market access
  rights in the bloc after Brexit, advisers said.
  Geographically isolated and nearer to Algiers than Amsterdam,
  the tiny island is not the obvious location for Brexit migrants.
  But it is already home to about 60, mainly international, insurers
  and reinsurers and has several key tax and regulatory selling
  points.
  International insurance business now accounts for about 80
  perc
  
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• London market MGAs steal limelight with CFC deal

  28-03-2017 14:46
  The increasingly pivotal role played by London-based managing
  general agents (MGAs) has taken centre stage following
  Vitruvian's agreement last week to buy into cyber-focused MGA
  CFC Underwriting at a 15x valuation.
  MGAs offer a fee-and-profit commission model that is non-capital
  intensive, cash-generative and debt-friendly - all tied together
  with entrepreneurial leadership teams operating in putatively
  defensible specialty classes with high barriers to entry.
  All of which helped to secure CFC'
  
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• Kilhams and Hannan top political risk and political violence rankings

  28-03-2017 14:46
  Chaucer's Nick Kilhams has been voted the best political
  risk underwriter in the London market, according to a poll by
  The Insurance Insider's standalone
  rankings team.
  The carrier's political violence team also scored highly in
  a parallel survey of the political violence market.
  The Political
  Risk and Political Violence Rankings Survey 2017 is a league table
  of underwriters and brokers generated by experienced research staff
  operating independently of The Insurance
  Insider's editorial team.
  The
  
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• JLT Re poised to halve fac energy team

  28-03-2017 14:46
  JLT Re has placed a number of brokers in its facultative energy
  team under consultation, with the team expected to downsize from 12
  to five, The Insurance Insider can
  reveal.
  The unit, which places both upstream and downstream energy, is
  led by Jeremy Colletta, who is believed to be among the brokers at
  risk of redundancy.
  Sources said that the team has been hit on two fronts,
  necessitating the cost-cutting exercise.
  JLT Re has lost business over the last year...
  
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• IUA calls for Ogden rate reform

  28-03-2017 14:46
  The International Underwriters Association (IUA) has called for
  the UK government to break the tie between the Ogden rate and
  inflation-linked gilts.
  The IUA, which represents London's company market carriers,
  wrote to Liz Truss, the Lord Chancellor, to express its dismay at
  the recent change to the UK discount rate, which is used to
  calculate compensation payments.
  IUA CEO David Matcham said in a statement today: "It is
  clear that the process to review and amend the discount rate is...
  
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• Insider View: Lower returns won't stymie growth

  28-03-2017 14:46
  Mortgage risk assumed under Freddie and Fannie's ACIS and
  CIRT programmes has been one of the fastest top line growth areas
  for reinsurers otherwise stunted by soft market pressures.
  The bottom line, with returns in the region of 20 percent, has
  naturally also proved a draw for a raft of insurers.
  According to sources, there are now as many as 34 insurers and
  reinsurers writing mortgage reinsurance deals for the GSEs and the
  private mortgage insurance market.
  That's an astounding...
  
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• Insider View: In the dark on AIG CEO

  28-03-2017 14:46
  Perhaps unsurprisingly AIG management had little to say on the
  search for a new CEO when they met sell-side analysts last
  week.
  And according to Macquarie analyst Amit Kumar, the executives
  present indicated that any potential candidates had not been
  meeting with the C-suite, leaving them in the dark on the
  process.
  That was a "bit surprising", he suggested, adding that
  it suggests an internal candidate for the role is unlikely.
  Meanwhile, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Meyer Shields
  noted.
  
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• Court takes PII claims aggregation rules back to basics

  28-03-2017 14:46
  Lawyers have welcomed a closely watched UK Supreme Court ruling
  involving solicitors' professional indemnity insurance (PII) as
  a "back-to-basics" verdict after the judgment removed
  recent lower court embellishments to claims aggregation rules.
  However, the verdict won't stem aggregation disputes in
  future, legal experts predicted, as the higher court insisted the
  rules were determined objectively based on the facts of the
  individual case.
  The ruling stemmed from a conveyancing claim brought aga
  
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• CEO issue looms over AIG sell-side meeting

  28-03-2017 14:46
  For all the confidence on show from AIG's management team as
  they fronted up to sell-side analysts last week, it was hard to
  look past the absence of Peter Hancock and any news about his
  likely replacement.
  Analysts present highlighted the bullishness of CFO Sid
  Sankaran, head of commercial insurance Rob Schimek and head of
  consumer insurance Kevin Hogan.
  But most also wondered whether such confidence in hitting
  targets and executing the turnaround strategy launched a little
  over a year...
  
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• Athene shareholders reduce stake in secondary sale

  28-03-2017 14:46
  Existing shareholders in Bermuda life insurer Athene Holding are to
  sell at least $1.27bn-worth of stock less than four months after
  private equity owner Apollo began its retreat through a New York
  IPO.
  Athene said shareholders will hold a secondary offer for 25
  million Class A shares, with another 3.75 million of shares
  available to the underwriters in the case of strong investor
  demand.
  Based on Monday's closing price for Athene in New York of
  $50.71 the "base" offer would...
  
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• AM Best mortgage reinsurance charge set to hit RoEs

  28-03-2017 14:46
  A new ratings methodology from AM Best for assessing mortgage
  reinsurance risk is expected to increase the capital that
  underwriters will need to hold against the business, which could
  reduce its returns on equity (RoE).
  However, underwriting and broking sources surveyed by
  The Insurance Insider have suggested that
  the return profile of the fast-growing class of business will
  remain attractive for reinsurers relative to other lines, despite
  the hit to deal economics.
  The draft criteria, released
  
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• Blog: The future of CMCs

  28-03-2017 14:07
  
  Listening to the entirety of the Second Reading debate on the Prisons and Courts Bill last week, I was reminded once again of the pitfalls of short-sighted and ill-thought-out policy changes in the claims sector.
  
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• AA profits hit by greater aggregator spend

  28-03-2017 13:28
  
  AA saw profits dip by 2.6% last year due to a higher marketing spend on aggregator sites.
  
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• Global insured disaster losses hit $54bn in 2016: Swiss Re

  28-03-2017 13:12
  
  Natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in 2016 resulted in insured losses of $54bn (£43bn), an increase of 46%, according to Swiss Re's latest Sigma study.
  
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• Competition watchdog updates investigation into price comparison sites

  28-03-2017 13:04
  
  The competition watchdog will look into whether price comparison sites could be more transparent.
  
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• Competition watchdog launches fresh probe into price comparison sites

  28-03-2017 13:04
  
  The competition watchdog has launched a fresh probe into whether price comparison sites could be more transparent.
  
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• InsurTech Futures: Synechron launches InsureBOT in the UK

  28-03-2017 12:47
  
  Firm says new AI offering will be able to do some of the tasks traditionally performed by brokers.
  
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• IUA calls for reform on the discount rate as increase in premiums are becoming 'sizeable'

  28-03-2017 12:31
  
  The International Underwriting Association has joined insurers and called for a reform of the discount rate and the way in which personal injuries are analysed and settled.
  
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• Alan Boswell adds risk management arm

  28-03-2017 12:18
  
  Broker launches Alan Boswell Risk Management with three new hires.
  
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• CMA renews investigation into aggregators

  28-03-2017 11:56
  
  Further study into four areas follows previous research last year.
  
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• Six out of 10 insurers have signed up to fraud database

  28-03-2017 11:41
  
  Six out of ten general insurers have signed up to the Insurance Fraud Register, new figures reveal.
  
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• Legal Protection Group partners with Stride

  28-03-2017 11:41 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  Stride has chosen Hannover-backed LPG to provide landlord legal expenses and rent protection cover.
  
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• Trundle gathering capacity for Starr airline MGA

  28-03-2017 11:12
  AIG's former head of airlines Andy Trundle is looking to
  line up paper providers to support a London-based managing general
  agent (MGA) that he has established with backing from Starr,
  The Insurance Insider has learned.
  This publication had previously reported thatTrundle would join Starr in a senior aviation underwriting
  role. It is now understood that he has co-founded an MGA -
  Morefar - with the Hank Greenberg-led insurer.
  Market sources suggested that Trundle has a 2.5 percent lead
  line...
  
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• Paulson AIG activist dies after fall

  28-03-2017 11:12
  A hedge fund executive at Paulson & Co. fell to his death
  from a New York hotel yesterday evening, according to media
  reports.Charles Murphy had been a partner at Paulson & Co. since
  2011 and was involved in the firm's activist investment in AIG.Police have opened an investigation into the suspected suicide
  at the Sofitel in Manhattan.John Paulson, the founder Paulson & Co., described Murphy in
  a statement as "a brilliant man, a great partner and a...
  
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• Opinion: ProSight sale

  28-03-2017 11:12
  That ProSight still sees value in spinning off its Lloyd's
  business is surely a ringing endorsement of the legacy the market
  has built for itself.
  Yesterday, this publication revealed the US specialty carrier
  hadopted to sell off its managing agency and Syndicate 1110,
  instead of a whole group sale, which had been the original
  plan.
  Of course there is a degree to which ProSight is being
  opportunistic here.
  Its sales process for the whole group did not look as...
  
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• ICA declares Cyclone Debbie a catastrophe

  28-03-2017 11:12
  The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) designated Cyclone Debbie
  a catastrophe, noting that insurers are anticipating thousands of
  claims.
  The cyclone hit north Queensland earlier on Tuesday and was
  subsequently downgraded to Category 3 from Category 4.
  It brought winds of up to about 143 miles an hour and is
  expected to move southwest before curving to the south in the
  coming hours, potentially bringing flash flooding, according to
  local reports.
  The ICA said Cyclone Yasi, which struck less p
  
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• Global insured disaster losses up 42% in 2016: Swiss Re

  28-03-2017 11:12
  A combination of quakes, storms and wildfires caused global insured
  disaster losses to rise by 42 percent to $54bn in 2016, according
  to Swiss Re's latest Sigma study.
  The losses were the highest since 2012 and reversed the downward
  trend of the past four years.
  Globally there were 327 disaster events in 2016, of which 191
  were natural catastrophes and 136 were man-made. In total, the
  disasters resulted in economic losses of $175bn, almost double the
  level in 2015.
  Many...
  
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• Competition watchdog launches 2nd aggregator probe amid concerns

  28-03-2017 11:04
  
  Aggregator users think tools work well but competition watchdog has identified four areas of possible concern
  
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• Competition regulator launches second study into aggregators amid concerns

  28-03-2017 11:04
  
  Aggregator users think tools work well but competition regulator has identified four areas of possible concern
  
  Read more

• AA posts first growth in motor policies since 2008

  28-03-2017 10:48
  
  Results for 2016 show flat revenue and trading Ebitda for insurance services.
  
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• Aggregator costs eat into AA broking profit

  28-03-2017 10:14
  
  New in-house underwriter performs ‘ahead of expectations’ as AA broking profit falls
  
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• Trade voice: Navigating the new legal landscape

  28-03-2017 08:50
  
  The legal landscape around the insurance industry and the claims sector is approaching a period of unprecedented change.
  
  Read more

• Risk Strategies buys Terrell agency in Dallas

  28-03-2017 02:53
  Risk Strategies acquired Terrell Insurance Services to beef up its
  Dallas operations, less than a year after entering the Texas
  market.
  Terrell specialises in offering tailored insurance and employee
  benefits plans for commercial clients, as well as providing cover
  to successful families and individuals with custom-tailored
  policies that can include homes, cars, boats, jewellery and
  artworks.
  The company says its high-touch service model focuses on
  streamlining the complexity of private risk man
  
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• K2 launches affinity venture with Star & Shield buy

  28-03-2017 02:53
  K2 Insurance Services plans to step out of its wholesale space and
  develop a national retail programme for first-responders built on a
  model created by Star & Shield Insurance, which it has
  acquired.
  The agency's affinity model prompted K2's interest in
  acquiring the business, CEO Bob Kimmel told The
  Insurance Insider. He said Star & Shield has
  $25mn in annual premiums. It is based in Alpharetta, Georgia, near
  Atlanta.
  "We're going to take that concept nationally," Kimmel
  said.
  Kimmel li
  
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• Covered Agreement remains uncompleted in Washington

  28-03-2017 02:53
  The "Covered Agreement" negotiated by American and
  European Union regulators to govern insurer and reinsurer
  operations in both markets got no overt support from a US Treasury
  official in a recent letter to a key congressman.
  Writing in regard to concerns that have been raised about the
  deal, Treasury's Luke Ballman, deputy assistant secretary in
  the office of Legislative Affairs, assured US Representative Sean
  Duffy on 16 March that he welcomed the chance to hear from those
  potentially affected
  
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