Insurance news

• Miller hires Blick from Integro

  02-05-2017 20:34
  Broker Miller has hired Ian Blick to lead its facultative energy
  team, the company announced today.
  Blick joins the company from Integro Insurance Brokers, where he
  led the facultative reinsurance team.
  Before that he spent four years at Guy Carpenter, having started
  his career at Aon.
  At Miller, Blick will work predominantly with Neil Higgins, who
  is head of facultative reinsurance in London.
  Miller said the appointment builds on recent hires in its
  facultative operation, including the February
  
  Read more

• Hiscox hires Szakmary as Bermuda underwriting director

  02-05-2017 20:34
  Hiscox has appointed Adam Szakmary as director of underwriting at
  its Bermuda insurance unit, the carrier announced today.
  Szakmary will join the board of Hiscox Insurance Company Bermuda
  as well as the Hiscox Re executive team and the underwriting
  leadership team.
  He fills a vacancy left by the return of
  Damien Smith to London to become head of specialty for Hiscox
  Re.As reported earlier today, Smith takes up the head of specialty
  role following the departure of Rob Ashton,...
  
  Read more

• Enstar M&A chief Rocke set to step down

  02-05-2017 20:34
  Enstar's most senior dealmaker David Rocke is set to leave
  the firm in a move that will see Jonathan Zisaruk return to the
  legacy giant to replace him, The Insurance
  Insider understands.
  Rocke, who has been with Enstar for more than two decades, is an
  executive vice president and has responsibility for mergers and
  acquisitions.
  He is set to step down at the end of September and will be
  replaced by Zisaruk who will rejoin the legacy-to-live carrier to
  take...
  
  Read more

• AmTrust falls 5% after analysts flag reserve concerns

  02-05-2017 20:34
  AmTrust has suffered another torrid morning of trading in New York,
  with the stock falling more than 5 percent after Keefe, Bruyette
  & Woods (KBW) analysts said it may require "hundreds of
  millions" of additional reserves.
  The shares were trading down 4.8 percent at $15.40 as of 10.49am
  in New York as investors heaped further misery on the beleaguered
  carrier, whose stock value has dropped over 40 percent since the
  beginning of the year.
  In a research note released earlier...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Willis Re A&H trio resign

  02-05-2017 17:12
  Bob Ikin and Tim Mullis have resigned from the Willis Re
  accident and health (A&H) team and will join rival broker Ed,
  The Insurance Insider can reveal.
  Jeremy Mander, executive director and head of London and
  International A&H at Willis Re, is also understood to have
  resigned, but his next position is not yet known.
  Mander, Ikin and Mullis were both part of Miller when Willis
  Towers Watson bought into the company in 2015.
  London and international head Mander had...
  
  Read more

• US data breaches could cost insurers $5bn a year: RMS

  02-05-2017 17:12
  Insurers could pay out $5bn in cyber losses a year as a result of
  data breaches to US firms, according to the latest RMS cyber model.
  The $5bn figure was calculated on the basis that all US
  companies had cyber insurance and only accounts for data breaches,
  the most common form of cyber-attack.
  The risk modelling and analytics firm estimated the figure using
  its updated Cyber Accumulation Management System, which enables
  firms to calculate attritional annual losses across cyber
  portfolios,...
  
  Read more

• The Insider 50 rises as earnings season kicks off

  02-05-2017 17:12
  The first week of the first quarter results season provided a
  boost to P&C stocks in The Insider 50, with the index
  growing by 2.4 percent to 1,053.6 points.
  Some of the largest increases emanated
  from positive market reactions to first quarter results and the
  management discussions that followed.
  Everest Re took the crown last week with a 7.8
  percent share price rise to $251.71, after posting a big earnings
  beat for Q1.
  Meanwhile, RLI recovered after a heavy drop...
  
  Read more

• State Auto posts $9.2mn Q1 loss

  02-05-2017 17:12
  Ohio-headquartered carrier State Auto Financial Corporation
  reported a worse-than-expected $9.2mn net operating loss in the
  first quarter as increased catastrophe activity took its toll.
  The result translated to a net operating loss of $0.22 per
  diluted share, which was below the consensus analyst expectation of
  a $0.06 operating loss per share, according to MarketWatch. The
  first-quarter loss compared with a net profit from operations of
  $2.1mn in the same period of last year, when it made $0.0
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Startupbootcamp portfolio companies tout their wares

  02-05-2017 17:12
  Start-up accelerator Startupbootcamp held its annual InsurTech demo
  day event in London last week, with the latest cohort of new
  companies strutting their stuff for a packed hall of industry
  professionals and investors.
  In a series of quick-fire presentations each start-up presented
  its product to the room in the hope of securing further investment
  from the myriad venture capitalists and industry investors
  present.
  The accelerator's InsurTech London managing director, Sabine
  VanderLinden, said i
  
  Read more

• Q1 reveals higher cats, Ogden charges and claims inflation

  02-05-2017 17:12
  The first quarter earnings season has been characterised by a
  higher number of moving pieces than normal, as one-off Ogden
  charges and unexpectedly high cat losses at the end of the
  reporting period combined with recurrent reserve challenges
  These elements all contributed to a mixed bag of beats and
  misses for early reporters as analysts were taken by surprise by
  higher cat loss ratios or elevated underlying loss ratios, offset
  by better-than-expected expense ratios.
  Loss ratios were pressured f
  
  Read more

• ProSight-Everest talks fail as Lloyd's pressure grows

  02-05-2017 17:12
  Serious talks about Everest Re's proposed purchase of
  ProSight's Lloyd's platform broke down late last week amid
  mounting regulatory pressure from the Corporation, The
  Insurance Insider understands.
  Sources explained that ProSight's decision to pull
  £200mn+ ($259mn) of US programme business out of the
  syndicate, as well as future uncertainty over ownership, had
  prompted Lloyd's to place the firm under careful watch.
  It is understood that KPMG has been invited in to audit the
  business to pr
  
  Read more

• Insurers prepare for $1tn infrastructure boom

  02-05-2017 17:12
  The construction insurance sector could be in line for billions
  of dollars of additional premium over the next decade if the Trump
  administration makes good on a $1tn infrastructure plan due to be
  unveiled later this year.
  With Republican politicians pushing public-private partnerships
  - or P3s - the consensus from Washington DC appears to be that
  around $200bn could come from public funds over the period via an
  infrastructure bank or similar vehicle.
  Those funds would then by leveraged to...
  
  Read more

• Generali Lloyd's project remains on ice

  02-05-2017 17:12
  Generali's Lloyd's start-up shows no signs of being revived
  12 months after the project was suspended following a leadership
  change at the carrier, but it still has not been definitively
  cancelled, The Insurance Insider
  understands.
  Sources explained that no work on the syndicate, which had
  looked set to launch in 2016, is actively going on.
  Nevertheless, there has been no formal conclusion from a review
  launched last year by then in-coming CEO Philippe Donnet on whether
  Generali's big-ticket in
  
  Read more

• Game-changing tech the focus of Acord Forum

  02-05-2017 17:12
  The urgency in incorporating cutting-edge technologies and changing
  processes was the central focus of Acord's London Forum for
  (re)insurance tech and transformation professionals last week.
  Themes ranging from how to improve information sharing to the
  potential uses of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning
  in the underwriting process were debated by executives from
  carriers, brokers, and investment and consulting firms.
  Australian broker Steadfast Group's managing director and
  CEO R
  
  Read more

• Flood of cat bond deals in April

  02-05-2017 17:12
  April has brought forth more cat bond transactions than the
  whole of first quarter of 2017, with $3.08bn of new deals,
  according to data collated by sister publication
  Trading Risk.
  Despite the avalanche of transactions, investor demand has kept
  pace with the new volumes and sponsors have continued to expand the
  size of their deals even as they pushed insurance premiums down
  below targets.
  Upsizing added more than 50 percent to the original size of
  bonds launched in April, from...
  
  Read more

• Fewer fools at reinsurers, says O'Kane

  02-05-2017 17:12
  Aspen CEO Chris O'Kane has dismissed suggestions that insurers
  are offloading unprofitable books onto "foolish"
  reinsurers, stating that his panel partners today are "smart
  and sophisticated".
  Speaking to analysts on Aspen's first quarter earnings call
  last week, O'Kane explained that the company had increased its
  cession rate in recent years in response to a change in market
  conditions.
  While four or five years ago Aspen sought to retain as much as
  90 percent of its business, these days the fig
  
  Read more

• Ex-Validus team focus on tech potential at Ventus MGA

  02-05-2017 17:12
  Start-up MGA Ventus Risk Management, led by former Validus Re
  executives Stuart Mercer and George Reeth, is preparing to separate
  the firm's technology platform from its MGA entity with a view
  to monetising its technology.
  The news was reported by sister publication Trading
  Risk last week, as it revealed that the MGA had
  signed up a top five insurance-linked securities (ILS) manager to
  provide it with capacity for its portfolio of small-to-medium-size
  enterprise commercial US insurance business.
  
  Read more

• Credit insurance market exposed to Mozambique default

  02-05-2017 17:12
  Credit insurers have hundreds of millions of dollars in exposure
  to a recent debt default in Mozambique, amid restructuring talks
  between the country and its creditors.
  XL Catlin and Liberty Mutual Insurance Europe are the two
  insurers with the largest lines on $350mn-$400mn of Mozambique
  government-guaranteed credit insurance policies taken out by Credit
  Suisse and VTB in the 2013-14 year of account, according to
  sources.
  Loan notes were packaged by Credit Suisse and VTB and sold to
  investors i
  
  Read more

• Ashton joins Fidelis ahead of MGA launch

  02-05-2017 17:12
  Rob Ashton, the former head of specialty at Hiscox Re Specialty,
  has left to join Fidelis Insurance with a view to setting up his
  own MGA next year.
  The MGA will operate through the Nexus Underwriting platform and
  is expected to open for business in January 2018. In the interim,
  Ashton will join Fidelis as a specialty reinsurance underwriter
  when his notice period from Hiscox ends in July.
  The move fits into a developing trend of carriers helping
  entrepreneurs to...
  
  Read more

• Career Development: A-One looking for new apprentices after a successful six months

  02-05-2017 16:52
  
  A-One Insurance’s in-house apprenticeship scheme A-One Academy has been lauded as a success six months after launch.
  
  Read more

• Broking success: David Newman, CEO, Carole Nash

  02-05-2017 16:38
  
  Bike boom: Carole Nash CEO David Newman explains why bikers make brilliant customers, addresses Ogden rate problems and reveals what plans the broker has for Brexit
  
  Read more

• Markerstudy will not exhibit at Biba in 2017

  02-05-2017 16:36
  
  Insurer says it will not have a stand at the Biba conference this year in order to focus on other projects.
  
  Read more

• Biba launches environmental contractors scheme

  02-05-2017 16:26
  
  Scheme was arranged by Biba member Direct Insurance London Market.
  
  Read more

• Carole Nash appoints ex-Google employee to chief digital officer

  02-05-2017 16:16
  
  Carole Nash has appointed ex-Google employee Hein Kuiper to the newly created role of chief digital officer.
  
  Read more

• Insurers nail abusive and fraudulent DJ who bullied their staff

  02-05-2017 15:22
  
  Fraudulent DJ Norman Blakey has been jailed for fraud after IFED’s cross-industry checks uncovered his activities
  
  Read more

• Global insurtech investment expected to rebound after slow Q1

  02-05-2017 14:15
  
  Insurtech investment from incumbents and in the UK remains robust despite sluggish start to 2017
  
  Read more

• Price comparison websites lack clarity over pricing, report shows

  02-05-2017 13:45
  
  Price comparison sites are not giving enough clarity over pricing, with premium prices differing between each site for the same insurer.
  
  Read more

• StarStone hires Herman to lead global A&H

  02-05-2017 13:41
  Jeff Herman, global head of accident and health (A&H) at Starr
  Companies, has joined StarStone Insurance in the same role.
  Herman, who will be based in New York, will report to US CEO
  Norman Brown and group CUO David Message, according to an
  announcement from the company.
  The in-coming underwriter, a market heavyweight, will work
  closely with StarStone's existing A&H teams in London and
  Brussels.
  Prior to his new role, Herman had worked at Starr for two years.
  Before that...
  
  Read more

• Opinion: InsurTech demo day

  02-05-2017 13:41
  Start-up demo days are a time-honoured tradition in the tech
  industry.
  A cohort of fledgling companies out to variously disrupt,
  revolutionise and otherwise alter their chosen industry
  successively get up on stage in front of a room full of investors
  and pitch their product, in the hope of bagging some cash to propel
  their offering into the market.
  For the insurance industry this is a rather novel approach.
  The great and the good of the InsurTech community gathered at
  Startupbootcamp...
  
  Read more

• InsurTech venture funding slides in first quarter

  02-05-2017 13:41
  Funding for InsurTech ventures fell 64 percent to $283mn in the
  first three months of 2017 as transaction numbers dropped by over a
  third, according to a report from Willis Towers Watson.
  The collapse in value and volume was more reflective of the
  investing cycle than a drop in investor interest, one of the
  study's authors told The Insurance
  Insider.
  Funding for new tech innovations in the insurance space had
  climbed to its second-highest level in five years at $783mn...
  
  Read more

• Axa confirms £600mn RiverStone legacy deal

  02-05-2017 13:41
  Axa has begun the transfer of £600mn ($775mn) of UK disease
  liabilities to run-off specialist RiverStone.
  In a statement, Axa said its UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man
  employers' liability (EL) and public liability policies issued
  by Axa prior to 1 January 2002 will transfer to RiverStone via Part
  VII transfer.
  Meanwhile, all disease claims related to policies issued between
  the same date and 31 December 2014 will be reinsured by
  RiverStone.
  Axa said it had started to transfer...
  
  Read more

• ACR confirms regulatory clearance

  02-05-2017 13:41
  ACR Capital Holdings has confirmed that the Chinese regulator
  has provided clearance for its acquisition by Shenzhen Qianhai
  Financial Holdings and Shenzhen Investment Holdings.
  The Insurance Insider first broke the
  news of theNational Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of the
  People's Republic of China's green light on 26 April.ACR group CEO Hans-Peter Gerhardt said: "The clearance from
  NDRC is a key step forward towards completion. All parties involved
  are now focused on the final comple
  
  Read more

• News analysis: Open GI promises “something truly new” to the market after Transactor deal

  02-05-2017 12:44
  
  Market reacts as software house buys rival and promises investment in technology
  
  Read more

• Sector pays respects to LV's Guy Hedger

  02-05-2017 11:52
  
  The former LV and Direct Line man passed away at the weekend.
  
  Read more

• LV= pays tribute to exec killed in burglary

  02-05-2017 11:09
  
  LV= pays tribute to exec Guy Hedger who died from his injuries after the break-in on Sunday
  
  Read more

• FCA’s Simon Green takes industry role

  02-05-2017 11:04
  
  High profile NED position for FCA’s Simon Green
  
  Read more

• Video: Stoke-on-Trent Regional Review Part 2

  02-05-2017 10:53
  
  In our second video from Stoke, Insurance Age senior reporter Judith Ugwumadu continues to investigate what the local insurance market is like.
  
  Read more

• Broker Network buys second ‘regional powerhouse’

  02-05-2017 10:37
  
  Broker Network sets ambitious target for new acquisition
  
  Read more

• #Insagepeople: 01 - 07 May 2017

  02-05-2017 10:29
  
  Keep up to date with all the latest people moves.
  
  Read more

• Ex FCA GI boss Simon Green joins Arthur J Gallagher

  02-05-2017 10:22
  
  The former FCA director signs up as an independent non executive director.
  
  Read more

• Willis Re veteran Ridge to exit

  02-05-2017 10:15
  Willis Re's chairman of global specialty, Jerry Ridge, is
  set to leave after a career with the firm that has spanned four
  decades, The Insurance Insider can
  reveal.
  Ridge, a member of the Willis Re executive committee, has been
  in his role since 2015. Prior to that he spent two years as co-CEO
  of global specialty.
  The broking executive, who was for a long-time the number two of
  now-retired global specialty chairman Chris Clark, is a respected
  figure in the...
  
  Read more

• Third Point Re returns beat S&P 500 in April

  02-05-2017 10:15
  Third Point Re's investment manager Third Point LLC posted a
  1.6 percent return in April, beating the S&P 500 index's
  monthly return and analyst expectations.
  The S&P 500 climbed by 0.9 percent during the month, while
  Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Meyer Shield had forecasted a
  1.05 percent return for Third Point LLC.
  The investment result was higher than the 0.9 percent Third
  Point posted last month, which was its lowest of the year so
  far.
  The latest monthly result...
  
  Read more

• Liberty Mutual completes Ironshore acquisition

  02-05-2017 10:15
  Liberty Mutual Insurance has completed its $2.9bn purchase of
  Ironshore from Chinese conglomerate Fosun.
  In a statement Liberty said it had received the relevant
  regulatory approvals for the transaction as well as achieving
  "satisfaction of customary closing conditions".
  In a separate statement Fosun said the cash payment for the
  transaction had been completed upon closing.
  Both parties struck a deal for the sale of 100 percent of
  Ironshore last December at 1.45x tangible book value. The
  transac
  
  Read more

• Aon closes $4.8bn sale of benefits operation

  02-05-2017 10:15
  Aon's $4.8bn deal with private-equity firm Blackstone for
  the Aon Hewitt benefits administration and HR business process
  outsourcing platform has closed, according to the global
  broker.
  Blackstone had previously agreed to pay $4.3bn at closing and an
  additional payment of up to $500mn based on future performance.
  Total after-tax cash proceeds from the transaction will be about
  $3bn, Aon said yesterday.
  "The completion of this transaction reinforces our position
  as the leading global professional
  
  Read more

• AmTrust reserves may need 'hundreds of millions': KBW

  02-05-2017 10:15
  AmTrust's shares are likely to remain in the doldrums unless
  the company can provide a more robust justification for its
  reserves or takes a potential nine-digit reserve hit, according to
  KBW analysts.
  In a research note released yesterday KBW analyst Meyer Shields
  expressed discomfort with the carrier's stated reserves, and
  warned that a sizeable reserve charge had become increasingly
  likely.
  The analyst said the reserves were difficult to defend given the
  dissonance between management rhetoric
  
  Read more

• Broker Network buys Boyd Insurance

  02-05-2017 10:03
  
  The network plans to take Boyd’s GWP from £12m to £20m in three years and called the broker a regional powerhouse.
  
  Read more

• Post People: 02 - 05 May

  02-05-2017 09:42
  
  The latest people moves in the insurance industry.
  
  Read more

• Insurance Census 2017: Diversity isn't coming quick enough

  02-05-2017 08:00
  
  The Chartered Insurance Institute responds to the Insurance Census 2017. Research conducted by Post and published in the March issue showed a profession getting older, paying men more than women, with boardrooms remaining rather pale.
  
  Read more

• Investment in insurance tech start-ups drop sharply

  02-05-2017 05:00 via ft.com
  Fall may be down to a growing maturity in the ‘insurtech’ world
  
  Read more

• Validus wraps up $127.5mn CRS crop deal with ADM

  02-05-2017 01:52
  Validus Holdings took formal control of Crop Risk Services
  (CRS), a primary agricultural insurer with $555mn in gross premiums
  last year, from ag giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) to complete a
  $127.5mn transaction announced in January.
  Operating as part of the Bermuda-based buyer's Western World
  Insurance Group in New Jersey, the unit will continue to offer a
  full range of crop cover and ADM grain marketing services through
  1,170 agents in 36 states, Validus said today.
  In a call with...
  
  Read more

Follow @Insurance_UKnws on Twitter!