Insurance news

• Artificial Intelligence and IoT dominate Insurtech funding: Accenture

  30-03-2017 23:52
  
  Transformational technologies now comprise 70% of total value of raises
  
  Read more

• Artificial Intelligence and IoT dominate Insurtech funding

  30-03-2017 23:52
  
  Transformational technologies including artificial intelligence now comprise 70% of total value of raises
  
  Read more

• WCMA rebranded as Willis Towers Watson Securities

  30-03-2017 22:10
  The broking giant Willis Towers Watson has rebranded its
  investment banking division, the company said in a statement
  today.
  Willis Capital Markets and Advisory has changed its name to
  Willis Towers Watson Securities. The newly named investment banking
  boutique will link together all the broker-dealers in the Willis
  Towers Watson group.
  Services offered by Willis Towers Watson Securities include
  advising on M&A deals and structuring insurance-linked
  securities. The unit will also advise on c
  
  Read more

• UK government opens Ogden consultation

  30-03-2017 17:45
  The UK government has opened a six-week consultation on the reform
  of the Ogden discount rate for personal injury compensation.
  It also said it would review any changes made between three and
  five years of a new regime becoming law.
  The Justice Ministry is conducting the consultation in
  conjunction with the Scottish government.
  Its launch comes just over a month after Lord Chancellor Liz
  Truss shocked insurers by slashing the discount rate by 3.25
  percentage points to minus 0.75 percent,...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Tooker named head of middle market at The Hartford

  30-03-2017 17:45
  Morris "Mo" Tooker, chief underwriting officer for The
  Hartford's P&C businesses, will add running the firm's
  middle market business to his responsibilities, the insurer
  announced today.
  The Hartford's middle market segment provides multi-line
  commercial insurance coverage for mid-sized and larger businesses,
  associations and organisations.
  Its core offerings include property, general liability,
  workers' compensation, auto, umbrella liability and marine
  protection, as well as specialty cover
  
  Read more

• National General executives buy $1.7mn of stock

  30-03-2017 17:45
  National General's CEO and chief marketing officer have
  bought about $1.7mn of stock in a show of support after the company
  delayed the filing of its 2016 accounts.
  The stock acquisition also followed parent AmTrust's warning
  that it would restate three years' worth of accounts following
  an audit error.
  National General CEO Barry Karfunkel on Monday (27 March) bought
  4,197 shares at a weighted average price of $22.8644, which equates
  to a total lay-out of $95,961, a Securities and Exchange...
  
  Read more

• Lloyd's Brussels to cost market tens of millions: CFO

  30-03-2017 17:45
  Setting up an EU subsidiary in Brussels will cost the
  Lloyd's market "tens rather than hundreds" of
  millions of pounds, CFO John Parry has said.
  Lloyd's today confirmedearlier reports by this publication that it would open an
  insurance company in Brussels to navigate the post-Brexit
  landscape.In a press conference in London this morning, Parry said the
  additional costs would be levied across the circa £30bn
  ($37bn) of premium Lloyd's writes as a market.
  This upfront cost would be...
  
  Read more

• HSB on SME energy efficiency premium drive

  30-03-2017 17:45
  Munich Re's HSB Engineering Insurance plans to expand its
  energy efficiency cover through a new EU-backed portal that aims to
  unite energy service companies, or Escos, with financial backers.
  The Escos that HSB is targeting through the project are
  typically divisions of utility or construction companies. They kit
  out commercial properties with energy-saving equipment such as LED
  lighting or heating and air-conditioning controls and then supply
  their power.
  The Munich Re unit insures both the equ
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Despite the rhetoric, sexism is alive and well in the insurance industry

  30-03-2017 16:39
  
  Working in the insurance industry, you hear a lot of talk about diversifying the workforce and attracting young people to the market.
  
  Read more

• Ceta delivers £2.2m pre-tax profits for 2016

  30-03-2017 16:25
  
  Turnover at the company rises by 10%.
  
  Read more

• Half of insurtech investment is in artificial intelligence and IoT

  30-03-2017 13:33
  
  Investment into insurtech increased by more than 50% globally to nearly £15m last year, with the majority of deals involving artificial intelligence, a report found.
  
  Read more

• Regulator reputation drove Lloyd's to Brussels: Beale

  30-03-2017 13:27
  Lloyd's decision to locate its post-Brexit EU subsidiary in
  Belgium reflected the market's need for a regulator that had a
  high standing, as well as a location that would be able to attract
  staff with crucial expertise.
  Earlier today the Corporation of Lloyd's confirmed thispublication's story on Tuesday (28 March) that it had
  chosen Brussels as the home for the subsidiary after a selection
  process that lasted months.Speaking on BBC Radio 4's The Today Programme,
  Lloyd's CEO Inga...
  
  Read more

• Opinion: Lloyd's Brussels

  30-03-2017 13:27
  Lloyd's has shunned the status quo option with thesurprise choice of Brussels as the hub for its new EU
  subsidiary.
  The Corporation toyed with the idea of choosing Luxembourg,
  whose selling points include useful claims equalisation reserves
  rules that permit tax deferrals, and staffing flexibility that may
  have allowed Lloyd's to carry on pretty much as before.
  Instead, it's plumped for a jurisdiction that is grappling
  with a legacy high-tax structure, but one with a better-established
  insurance
  
  Read more

• Insurance CIOs embrace investment complexity

  30-03-2017 13:27
  UK insurers plan to invest in more complex securities over the next
  year, according to an Axa Investment Management (Axa IM) survey of
  investment decision-makers.
  Chief investment officers (CIOs) are grappling with low interest
  rates and the impact of Solvency II.
  The poll by Axa IM shows that 71 percent of insurance investment
  executives in the UK felt the Solvency II regime was encouraging
  them to use more derivatives.
  Two fifths of the CIOs surveyed said that managing their
  Solvency...
  
  Read more

• Defective products top cause of liability claims: AGCS

  30-03-2017 13:27
  Defective products or work were the largest trigger for corporate
  liability losses in the past five years, as product recalls
  increased in frequency, according to a report by Allianz Global
  Corporate & Specialty (AGCS).
  AGCS analysed 100,000 claims from between 2011 and 2016 with a
  total value of EUR8.85bn ($9.3bn) for its Global Claims Review.
  It found 23 percent of corporate losses, as measured by the
  value of claims, arose from product or work defects. Transport
  collisions or crashes acco
  
  Read more

• Insurers to be hit with transparency rules from this weekend

  30-03-2017 13:08
  
  Insurers will be forced from this weekend to conform to tough transparency rules over policy renewals.
  
  Read more

• Consultation on discount rate launched

  30-03-2017 12:51
  
  Insurance industry says the release of the paper is an important step forward in helping get a fair, modern way to set the rate.
  
  Read more

• Truss launches Ogden rate consultation

  30-03-2017 12:05
  
  Elizabeth Truss, Secretary of State for Justice, has launched a six-week consultation on the discount rate.
  
  Read more

• Insurance Cares: A broker tells his story

  30-03-2017 11:29
  
  Howard Burgess of RJ Langman outlines the issued faced by his elderly, vulnerable parents when they wanted to claim on their insurance and points out that even he, chartered with ACII, had issues understanding the policies.
  
  Read more

• Lloyd’s chair urges cost cuts as underwriting profit dives

  30-03-2017 11:00
  
  Lloyd’s underwriting profit dives as big claims hit
  
  Read more

• Lloyd’s pre-tax profit flat at £2.1bn in 2016

  30-03-2017 10:32
  
  Market’s COR deteriorates to 97.9% as GWP rises.
  
  Read more

• Lloyd’s confirms location for post-Brexit EU unit

  30-03-2017 10:28
  
  Insurance market moves to preserve post-Brexit EU access
  
  Read more

• Thompson named Chubb's international A&H president

  30-03-2017 09:46
  John Thompson has become Chubb's new divisional president
  for international accident and health (A&H), the carrier
  announced yesterday.
  Thompson previously held the role of chief underwriting officer
  for personal insurance at Chubb Overseas General.
  In his new role, Thompson will be responsible for Chubb's
  international personal accident, supplemental health and travel
  insurance business in 51 countries, and report to Juan Andrade,
  Chubb Group's president of overseas general insurance, and E
  
  Read more

• Investments prop up Lloyd's 2016 profit

  30-03-2017 09:46
  Lloyd's posted a pre-tax profit of £2.1bn ($2.6bn) for
  2016, unchanged from the previous year, as an improved investment
  result offset a deteriorating underwriting performance.
  The Corporation also confirmed a Tuesday report by this
  publication that it would opena subsidiary in Brussels to allow it to retain EU market access
  after Brexit. The new company is expected to be ready to write
  business for the 1 January 2019 renewal season.Lloyd's reported a combined ratio of 97.9 percent for...
  
  Read more

• Ex-MS Amlin duo launch Yachtpod through Castel

  30-03-2017 09:46
  A brace of superyacht specialists have broken away from MS Amlin
  to launch a venture through Castel Underwriting Agencies,
  The Insurance Insider can reveal.
  Yachtpod Risk Partners will provide a one-stop shop for
  superyacht owners, captains and managers on specialist coverages
  including hull and machinery, increased value, war, medical
  expenses, mortgagees interest and loss of charter hire risks.
  The cell will be led by Iain Cotton and Vladimir
  Mirosevic-Sorgo, previously the director and class
  
  Read more

• Lloyd’s announces Brussels Brexit move

  30-03-2017 09:43
  
  The business will open a subsidiary in Belgium which will be its EU base.
  
  Read more

• Climate change: insurers feeling the heat

  30-03-2017 08:50
  
  The global risk landscape is currently dominated by environmental upheavals caused by climate change. The resulting catastrophes are of concern to people in general and insurers, in particular, tasked as they are with underwriting and managing ever evolving risks.
  
  Read more

• Insurers face data protection timebomb

  30-03-2017 08:00
  
  Incoming GDPR legislation from Brussels could leave 75% of insurers exposed to fines and fraud
  
  Read more

• Zurich investors approve $12.7bn share-issue plan

  30-03-2017 03:44
  Zurich management won shareholder approval today to raise as much
  as CHF12.685bn ($12.685bn) in capital by selling new shares in the
  Swiss insurer to provide more flexibility, including seizing
  M&A opportunities or dealing with "times of stress".
  More than 81 percent of the votes cast by those attending the
  company's annual meeting and their proxies favoured the
  authorisation, according to a statement released late today in
  Zurich. The company's shares closed today at CHF281.90.
  The authoris
  
  Read more

• Wells Fargo names Prichard insurance head as Schupbach moves

  30-03-2017 03:44
  Wells Fargo has named Tim Prichard to lead its insurance
  business, replacing Laura Schupbach after she moved to its dealer
  services unit, The Insurance Insider can
  reveal.
  According to an internal announcement seen by this publication,
  Prichard, who heads up the employee benefits national practice and
  west region for Wells Fargo Insurance (WFI), will start the new job
  next week.
  Schupbach took over as chief of the insurance unit in 2011 after
  a 19-year career with the San Francisco-based bank,..
  
  Read more

• NN Group's EUR2.5bn Delta Lloyd bid passes key test

  30-03-2017 03:44
  Netherlands carrier Delta Lloyd's shareholders
  overwhelmingly approved a EUR2.5bn ($2.7bn) takeover bid by NN
  Group at a special meeting today, moving the combination a step
  closer to completion.
  The scale of the favourable vote reduced the threshold at which
  NN Group can declare the offer unconditional, the company based in
  The Hague said in a statement. It can now take that step once it
  controls 67 percent of Delta Lloyd shares instead of 95
  percent.
  The deal would let NN...
  
  Read more

• Bermudians struggle to meet cost of capital: AM Best

  30-03-2017 03:44
  Despite the biggest top-line increase in the past five years,
  the Bermuda (re)insurance market generated 2016 returns on equity
  (ROE) that shrank to their lowest level in that period, according
  to an AM Best analysis.
  The ratings company noted that its Bermuda market composite is
  fluid, as companies move in and out of the sector - in part because
  of the impact of M&A.
  Nevertheless, AM Best said that negative trends have become
  "increasingly evident" for the companies, even as...
  
  Read more

• Aspen sets $30mn reserve increase on Ogden rate

  30-03-2017 03:44
  Aspen joined the lengthening roster of (re)insurers - many of
  them US-based - in reducing first-quarter earnings expectations
  after the UK Ministry of Justice cut the Ogden discount rate,
  announcing late today that it will have a $30mn pre-tax impact.
  The amount will take the form of increased reserves for a number
  of its insurance and reinsurance segments, primarily UK employer
  and public liability, the Bermudian said.
  But about half relates to lines that the company has either
  exited and...
  
  Read more

Follow @Insurance_UKnws on Twitter!