Insurance news

• Foreign banks in UK to follow new rules on whistleblowers

  03-05-2017 19:19
  FCA pushes ahead with new regulations to try to clean up the City after scandals
  
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• Why Next's $29m raise proves it is still open season on insurtech

  03-05-2017 17:23
  
  Investment in insurtech remains buoyant even if headline figures do not reflect it
  
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• Starr hires management liability and PI heads

  03-05-2017 16:34
  Starr Companies has hired Danielle Wilson as its new head of
  management liability and brought in Robert McTaggart as head of
  professional indemnity, the firm announced today.
  In a statement the carrier said both new hires will be based in
  its London office and will focus on the European market.
  Wilson and McTaggart will report to Starr's chief
  underwriting officer for financial lines Liz Ilott.
  Ilott moved to the company last year from PartnerRe to spearhead
  Starr's expansion in financial...
  
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• Property treaty head Stubbs leaves Acappella

  03-05-2017 16:34
  Acappella head of property treaty Toby Stubbs has resigned from the
  Lloyd's insurer, The Insurance
  Insider can reveal.
  Stubbs helped found Acappella, a joint venture between Willis
  Towers Watson and Pembroke, in 2012 alongside Hiscox veteran David
  Bruce.
  The executive joined Acappella from Brit Insurance, where he ran
  the property reinsurance book. He joined Brit in 2002.
  His departure comes after a challenging run of results for
  Acappella's Syndicate 2014, which is managed on a turnkey basis
  by
  
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• OneBeacon sale signals payday for management

  03-05-2017 16:34
  OneBeacon's management team is set for handsome payouts from
  the $1.7bn sale of the company to Canada's Intact, with
  president and CEO Mike Miller in line for the richest award.
  Intact is paying $18.10 per share for all the outstanding stock.
  That values Miller's existing stock at close to $4.62mn,
  according to information OneBeacon provided as of 29 March. This
  translates into about $7.58mn, including unvested awards owned by
  Miller.
  The CEO and other members of the OneBeacon
  team are...
  
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• OneBeacon another lucrative exit for White Mountains

  03-05-2017 16:34
  The 1.65x sale multiple White Mountains secured for OneBeacon
  has once again demonstrated the holding company's prowess in
  selling on insurance assets at a profit.
  Last night, the Hanover, New Hampshire-based firm announced that
  it had agreed to sell its controlling stake in OneBeacon to
  Canada's largest P&C carrier Intact Financial for $1.7bn,
  equivalent to $18.10 per share.
  The deal also represented a 15 percent uplift to the
  insurer's $15.70 closing share price yesterday in New York, and
  
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• In-depth - Complex risks: Guiding clients

  03-05-2017 15:03
  
  It’s not just large companies that face complex risks, there are a range of measures brokers can take to ensure clients of all sizes and budgets can find the correct cover, writes Sam Barrett. Additional reporting by Judith Ugwumadu
  
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• Anbang hits back against claims of financial deception

  03-05-2017 12:43
  Acquisitive Chinese group denies $9bn capital injection in 2014 was ‘fake’
  
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• Willis Towers Watson hires ex-Hiscox political risk team

  03-05-2017 12:39
  Willis Towers Watson has hired former Hiscox political risk
  underwriters Claire Simpson and Victoria Padfield, according to a
  statement from the global broker.
  The duo will join its political risk and trade credit team, as
  part of a broader expansion of the financial solutions
  division.
  Simpson becomes global claims director for Willis financial
  solutions, while Padfield becomes an executive director at
  Willis.
  Simpson worked at Hiscox for 19 years and became its head of
  political risks and trad
  
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• Opinion: cyber modelling

  03-05-2017 12:39
  In the past few weeks, bothRMS andAIR Worldwide have released updates to their cyber models.
  Both claim to be able to assess the aggregation of cyber risk
  across a portfolio, even the much-feared "silent"
  exposures that can creep into any corner of a carrier's
  book.
  It's not news to anyone in this industry that cyber
  modelling is in its infancy compared to its well understood and
  extensively modelled property catastrophe counterpart.
  Sources in the cyber community point out...
  
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• Intact makes US and specialty play with OneBeacon deal

  03-05-2017 12:39
  Intact's $1.7bn acquisition of OneBeacon will create a North
  American specialty insurer with around C$2.3bn ($1.7bn) of premium,
  according to the acquirer.
  In a presentation outlining the deal
  rationale, the Canadian P&C heavyweight said the deal would
  almost quadruple its volume of specialty premium, which currently
  accounts for 8 percent of its C$8.3bn in group direct written
  premium.
  The Canadian insurer is thought to have been on the lookout for
  a specialty insurance acquisition for some
  
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• Insider View: Intact-OneBeacon

  03-05-2017 12:39
  Those sorcerers of M&A White Mountains have done it
  again.
  Pentagrams have been drawn, incantations intoned and a spell
  cast that has yielded a sale multiple that makes you wonder if
  White Mountains' management has supernatural powers.
  Canadian insurer Intact has agreed to acquire OneBeacon for
  $1.7bn in cash at a rich 1.65x multiple.
  The noise throughout the process almost from the get-go had been
  that sell-side banker Credit Suisse had an uphill struggle on its
  hands.
  Shares in the...
  
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• Enstar M&A chief Rocke to step down

  03-05-2017 12:39
  Enstar's most senior dealmaker David Rocke is set to leave
  the firm, with former vice president Jonathan Zisaruk returning 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 with responsibility for M&A.
  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
  after a career break.
  Zisaruk will return...
  
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• Direct Line raises average motor rates by 6.6%

  03-05-2017 12:39
  Listed UK motor insurer Direct Line increased its motor premium
  rates by 6.6 percent in the first quarter, following changes to the
  way the Ogden discount rate is calculated.
  Direct Line said in a trading update this morning that
  risk-adjusted prices had increased by significantly more than that,
  and were comfortably ahead of the group's current view of
  claims inflation.
  However, Bernstein analyst Thomas Seidl noted that the average
  rate increase was lower than the rest of the market, which...
  
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• BMS Group hires Hoare as marine MD

  03-05-2017 12:39
  BMS Group has appointed John Hoare as managing director of
  specialty marine division BMS Harris & Dixon Marine.
  Hoare was previously international marine director at HW Wood.
  He has also worked at Heath Lambert and Sedgwick, where he started
  his insurance career in 1985.
  The executive will replace Tony Pryce as managing director of
  the speciality marine business, with Pryce moving to become
  chairman of BMS Harris & Dixon Marine.
  In a statement, BMS said the pair would collaborate closely
  
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• Assurant Q1 profit rises as catastrophe losses shrink

  03-05-2017 12:39
  Specialty insurer Assurant reported a 5.7 percent rise in net
  operating profit to $105.9mn in the first quarter, thanks in part
  to lower reportable catastrophe losses and to reserve releases.
  The results, which translated into $1.87 per diluted share, also
  benefitted from a one-off client recoverables uplift and improved
  extended service contract profitability in Assurant's global
  lifestyle unit. This was partially offset by ongoing declines in
  lender-placed insurance in its global housing divis
  
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• Allianz P&C combined ratio worsens in Q1

  03-05-2017 12:39
  German insurance giant Allianz revealed a deterioration in its
  first-quarter P&C combined ratio in a quarterly results
  preview.
  The carrier said that claims stemming from large losses and
  natural catastrophes had caused the combined ratio for its P&C
  insurance segment to worsen by 2.3 percentage points, taking the
  total to 95.6 percent.
  The figures were released ahead of Allianz's AGM meeting
  later today and before the company's full first-quarter report
  on 12 May.
  Allianz said group ope
  
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• Direct Line Group grows motor but shrinks home in Q1

  03-05-2017 12:36
  
  Overall gross written premium rises at Direct Line Group
  
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• Towergate-backers buy Chase Templeton

  03-05-2017 11:14
  
  Broker says deal will allow it to continue buy-and-build strategy.
  
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• PIB appoints CRO and broking director

  03-05-2017 11:03
  
  Jon Stanley joins as chief risk officer and Andy Tedstone takes on the role of group broking placement director.
  
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• Towergate owners in new broker acquisition

  03-05-2017 10:55
  
  Towergate owners buy medical insurance broker
  
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• PIB senior hire from Gallagher to strengthen insurer relationships

  03-05-2017 10:50
  
  Jon Stanley has also been appointed as group risk officer in another PIB senior hire
  
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• Direct Line reports growth of its its motor book in Q1 despite Ogden cut

  03-05-2017 10:44
  
  Direct Line has grown its motor book by 11.2% in the first quarter, compared to the same period last year, despite taking a £230m blow from the discount rate reduction.
  
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• Local brokers championed at Independent's Day

  03-05-2017 10:42
  
  Allianz, Aviva, AXA, LV= and NIG team up with broking groups for Independent’s Day
  
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• Griffiths & Armour warns broker PI “not fit for purpose”

  03-05-2017 10:41
  
  The broker urged brokers to re-examine their own PI cover as it responded to the FCA thematic review into insurance intermediaries’ professional indemnity.
  
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• Allianz Group sees profit rise by 9%

  03-05-2017 10:05
  
  Allianz Group has seen operating profit rise by 9% in the first quarter, from the same period last year.
  
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• SME now and the future: Protecting your public face

  03-05-2017 09:52
  
  Reputations can be won or lost at tremendous speed in the social media world and brokers are a key part of the fight to help SME clients protect how they are perceived online, writes Edward Murray
  
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• Allianz group reports higher earnings

  03-05-2017 09:50
  
  Allianz group reports profits up, but COR worsens in first quarter
  
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• Roundtable: ADAS and the next step to driverless cars

  03-05-2017 08:00
  
  Autonomous vehicles, drones and cyber innovation have been hogging much of the discussions as to how insurers can prepare themselves for the technology of the future. What can easily be overlooked is the complex technology that already exists in the motor market
  
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• Interview: Brendan McCafferty, Axa

  03-05-2017 08:00
  
  Brendan McCafferty joined Axa as CEO, intermediated and direct, in February. He talks to Will Kirkman about his new role
  
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• Liberty rebrands specialty division following Ironshore purchase

  03-05-2017 05:32
  
  Liberty Mutual Insurance has completed the purchase of Bermuda-headquartered $2.2bn (£1.7bn) gross written premium specialty insurer Ironshore.
  
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• RenRe reports Q1 miss driven by Ogden hit

  03-05-2017 03:29
  RenaissanceRe posted operating earnings of $1.18 per share in
  the first quarter, well short of what equity analysts had predicted
  as the UK's Ogden rate change cut into profits for the
  period.
  According to MarketWatch.com, Wall Street's consensus view
  called for operating profit of $1.86 per share from the Bermudian
  for the first quarter.
  Compared with the 2016 first quarter, profit slid almost 22
  percent. In addition to the Ogden rate change, RenRe's CEO
  Kevin O'Donnell cited a rise in...
  
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• Allstate beats as $781mn cat loss fails to derail gain

  03-05-2017 03:29
  Personal lines giant Allstate reported operating income that
  nearly doubled in the first quarter as heavy hailstorm losses were
  offset by an otherwise light winter.
  The US insurer had preannounced a $781mn pre-tax catastrophe
  loss in the first three months of the year but said the effect on
  its bottom line was dampened by an otherwise gentle quarter.
  "Significant catastrophe losses from large hail storms were
  offset by favorable winter weather that reduced the number of auto
  accidents," said cha
  
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• Liberty merges US specialty group into Ironshore

  03-05-2017 00:10
  Liberty Mutual is set roll up its US specialty operation and
  fold it into Ironshore, a former rival newly acquired by the
  Boston-based carrier, creating the sixth-largest US excess and
  surplus lines player with about $6.5bn in annual net written
  premiums.
  The mutual is combining its Liberty International Underwriters
  US business with Ironshore, which was acquired from Fosun in a
  $2.9bn deal that officially closed yesterday.
  The new platform will carry the Ironshore brand and fall under
  the super
  
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• Intact snags OneBeacon in $1.7bn deal

  03-05-2017 00:10
  Canada's largest property and casualty carrier Intact
  Financial has sealed a deal to acquire OneBeacon from White
  Mountains for $1.7bn.
  The $18.10 per share bid represents a 1.65x multiple on
  OneBeacon's book value per share when markets closed on 31
  March.
  It is also a 15 percent uplift on the insurer's $15.70
  closing share price today in New York.
  If the deal goes ahead, it will create a North American
  specialty insurer that will generate more than $1.5bn in annual...
  
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• Greenlight Re misses as Q1 investment income drops

  03-05-2017 00:10
  Greenlight Re missed Wall Street estimates for the first quarter
  as investment returns shrivelled and reinsurance operations
  produced an underwriting loss.
  The total return reinsurer affiliated with David Einhorn's
  New York-based Greenlight Capital hedge fund said net investment
  income tumbled 59 percent to $11.6mn for the period.
  "The investment environment remains challenging for our
  value investing strategy," Einhorn, Greenlight Re's
  chairman, said about the results.
  "We continue to keep a co
  
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• 'Covered agreement' given a Senate airing

  03-05-2017 00:10
  A Senate hearing today on the proposed US-EU "covered
  agreement" dealing with insurance regulation provided a forum
  for advocates to urge acceptance of the accord while critics cited
  concerns about sections that they said should be clarified
  first.
  Thus far, the White House and Treasury have said little to
  suggest the fate of the agreement under President Donald Trump. A
  deadline passed last month for action on the proposed accord,
  reached in January, which was negotiated under auspices of the..
  
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