Insurance news

• Kinsale falls after Q1 earnings miss

  05-05-2017 22:20
  Wall Street punished US specialty insurer Kinsale Capital today
  after the company posted a narrow earnings miss late yesterday.
  The company's shares fell almost 6 percent before paring
  losses by early afternoon in New York, trading about 4.3 percent
  lower at $35.00. The shares ended yesterday at $36.57.
  Kinsale reported a 19 percent gain in net income to $6.3mn
  thanks to rising underwriting profit and investment returns. But
  the $0.29 per share result fell just shy of the $0.21 consensus...
  
  Read more

• ERS active underwriter Bacon departs

  05-05-2017 18:32
  ERS Syndicate 218 active underwriter Mark Bacon has left the
  company after six years at the helm of its Lloyd's business.
  In a statement posted by the syndicate's managing agent
  Argenta today, ERS said the decision was made by mutual agreement,
  with current director of underwriting Gina Butterworth taking up
  the role on an interim basis.
  ERS said: "The motor market has been going through major
  change and has suffered significant disruption caused by the Ogden
  rate change, amongst other...
  
  Read more

• Blanc's Aston Scott among Lark bidders

  05-05-2017 18:32
  Aston Scott, the broker consolidator led by former Oval CEO Peter
  Blanc, is one of the final round bidders for Hiscox-backed broker
  Lark, The Insurance Insider can reveal.
  Sources said that around four parties had just submitted final
  round bids for the intermediary, with a number suggesting that the
  Bowmark Capital-backed firm was the likeliest acquirer at this
  stage.
  It is understood that one bidder is likely to be awarded
  exclusivity shortly in the process, which is being run by...
  
  Read more

• Succession planning: Find your funds

  05-05-2017 16:10
  
  The source of funding for an acquisition or buyout will dictate what shape any prospective deal can take, writes Sam Barrett
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Insurtech futures: Roundtable - Broking to the future

  05-05-2017 16:10
  
  With the rise of technology, are brokers ready for the InsurTech Future? Our expert panel discusses how the industry can exploit new ideas and prepare for disruptors entering the market
  
  Read more

• Anbang accused of wreaking market ‘havoc’ with insurance product

  05-05-2017 16:03
  Regulator bans acquisitive insurer from issuing new products for three months
  
  Read more

• This month in Post: Awards, acquisitions and a new Act

  05-05-2017 15:58
  
  It's been a challenging month here in Taunton. A new bridge has gone up on the main road, amid the gazes of many excited onlookers, and - equally exciting - a new fence is being erected on one side of my garden.
  
  Read more

• Post Claims Club: Travel sickness claims surge driven by claims farming

  05-05-2017 15:40
  
  Travel sickness claims have soared as legal firms push holidaymakers into making spurious claims, a Post event heard.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Insurance gets political

  05-05-2017 15:19
  
  Tulsi Naidu, UK chief executive at Zurich, has a message for the Prime Minister ahead of the snap General Election.
  
  Read more

• UK General chief risk officer resigns

  05-05-2017 15:10
  
  UK General chief risk officer Steve Blott has left the business.
  
  Read more

• Traditional reinsurers raise share on Citizens placement

  05-05-2017 14:38
  Florida's state-backed insurer Citizens has put out firm
  order terms for its 2017 cat programme that include a further
  reduction in the overall limit it is placing but an increase in
  traditional reinsurer participation, The Insurance
  Insider can reveal.
  The final structure trims back the commercial non-residential
  cover from 50 percent of a $301mn layer proposed in the carrier's original
  submission to 50 percent of a $200mn layer, at a rate-on-line
  (RoL) of 5 percent.That means total limit to...
  
  Read more

• ICA adds two board representatives

  05-05-2017 14:38
  The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has elected Lloyd's
  Australia's Chris Mackinnon and Zurich's Rajbir Nanra to
  its board.
  Both were appointed to serve 12-month terms as directors at the
  ICA's annual general meeting in Sydney yesterday, alongside
  nine other representatives who were re-elected to the board.
  Mackinnon is Lloyd's general representative and country
  manager for Australia, having previously served as chief executive
  of privately owned local intermediary Gow-Gates Insurance
  Broke
  
  Read more

• Will your travel insurance cover you if an airline goes out of business?

  05-05-2017 13:41
  
  The collapse of Alitalia has highlighted the need for travellers to have scheduled airline failure insurance cover in placeTravellers booking expensive flights for later in the year have been warned that too many insurers are still failing to offer scheduled airline failure (SAF) cover.Earlier this week the Italian airline Alitalia started bankruptcy proceedings, and while it continues to operate, the news it has entered administration has prompted a renewed focus on how many travellers are cove
  
  Read more

• Niche tech MGA Azur set to launch

  05-05-2017 11:48
  
  The MGA already manages HNW business for AIG and is looking to explore further niches including cyber.
  
  Read more

• Beazley launches financial lines product suite

  05-05-2017 11:03
  
  Insurer flags new offerings including for cyber and Brexit labour movement risks.
  
  Read more

• Willis broking unit profit grows in Q1

  05-05-2017 11:00
  
  Organic growth hits 3% at Willis broking unit
  
  Read more

• Quizzical Questions: 5 May 2017

  05-05-2017 10:39
  Test your knowledge of the week's news with our topical quiz.
  
  Read more

• Ryan Specialty Group recruits chief digital officer

  05-05-2017 10:23
  Ryan Specialty Group has hired Kathy Burns, the CEO of Ventiv
  Technology, as its chief digital officer.
  Burns has previously worked at Marsh, Crawford & Company and
  Aon.
  Ventiv Technology was called Aon eSolutions until the unit was
  taken over by private equity firm Symphony Technology Group in
  2014.
  In a statement yesterday Ryan Specialty founder, chairman and
  CEO Patrick Ryan said that Burns will "direct and further
  develop RSG's client-enabling technologies, the first of which
  is The Conn
  
  Read more

• Opinion: A better Brexit

  05-05-2017 10:23
  Like the embarrassed friends of a pair of divorcing Hampstead
  socialites, businesses have been politely averting their eyes from
  the unedifying break-up of the UK from the rest of the EU.
  Insurers too - the London Market Group's valiant efforts to
  help steer negotiations notwithstanding - have been largely
  battening down the hatches and focusing on their own individual
  contingency plans.
  But with the clock ticking and large queues of licence
  applicants forming at regulators' desks across the con
  
  Read more

• Munich Re leads $29mn funding round at Next Insurance

  05-05-2017 10:23
  California-based managing general agency (MGA) start-up Next
  Insurance has raised $29mn from investors led by Munich Re's
  InsurTech investment arm, HSB Ventures.
  Next Insurance sells cover directly to small businesses.Markel and Nationwide were among the other investors which
  participated in the funding round, Next Insurance said. Venture
  capital data provider Crunchbase named Munich Re as the lead
  investor in the round.
  Next Insurance, founded by Guy Goldstein, Nissim Tapiro, and
  Alon Huri last
  
  Read more

• AIG shares rise on earnings beat amid CEO hiatus

  05-05-2017 10:23
  AIG shares closed up 1.8 percent last night as investors reacted
  favourably to a welcome earnings beat and further progress towards
  its targeted $25bn capital return target by year-end.
  The company's conference call with analysts conveyed a sense
  of limbo, however, as management steered clear of the elephant in
  the room: who will replace outgoing CEO Peter Hancock.
  Hancock, who was on the call, left much of the talking to CFO
  Sid Sankaran, and the respective heads of commercial and...
  
  Read more

• Kennedys to merge with US insurance law firm

  05-05-2017 10:10
  
  Kennedys will be merging with US insurance law firm Carroll McNulty & Kull to create a global insurance practice. 
  
  Read more

• State Farm sets auto cutbacks following $7bn loss

  05-05-2017 05:51
  State Farm's auto segment plans to close offices in 11
  locations around the US, displacing 4,200 workers as the mutual
  giant reins in the operation following its $7bn underwriting loss
  last year.
  The carrier which serviced more than 81 million auto, fire, life
  and health policies last year listed locations from California to
  New Jersey that will be shut starting in 2018 and running into
  2021. About 6 percent of its 70,000 employees will be affected.
  Work will be transferred...
  
  Read more

• Mackinnon and Nanra join ICA's board

  05-05-2017 04:32
  
  The Insurance Council of Australia has appointed two senior members to its board.
  
  Read more

• Navigators beats estimates as earnings stall

  05-05-2017 01:16
  Navigators delivered net operating earnings of $20.4mn in the
  first quarter, just $200,000 more than it reported for the year-ago
  period.
  But the $0.68 per share result was just ahead of the $0.66 per
  share consensus estimate of five analysts surveyed by
  MarketWatch.
  The outperformance was achieved despite competitive headwinds.
  Navigators' president and CEO Stan Galanski said cost control
  remained a priority, pointing to a 3.7 percent reduction in
  expenses excluding net acquisition costs since
  
  Read more

• Kinsale profit climbs 19% but still misses expectations

  05-05-2017 01:16
  US specialty insurer Kinsale Capital reported first-quarter net
  income climbed about 19 percent to $6.3mn as investment gains
  surged and underwriting profit rose.
  But the $0.29 per share result fell just shy of the
  $0.21consensus estimate of 5 analysts surveyed by MarketWatch.
  The Richmond, Virginia-based group reported gross written
  premiums jumped almost 23 percent to $52.9mn while underwriting
  results rose almost 13 percent to $7mn.
  But underwriting profitability slipped as the combined ratio
  
  Read more

• Heritage gains after corralling Miami-area AOB claims

  05-05-2017 01:16
  Shares in Florida property insurer Heritage jumped almost 7.8
  percent after the company's first-quarter earnings beat
  forecasts amid a 30 percent drop in claims from the assignment of
  benefits-afflicted Tri-County region around Miami.
  After the markets closed yesterday, the insurer posted earnings
  of $0.21 per share, narrowly topping the $0.19 consensus forecast
  from six analysts compiled by MarketWatch.
  Shares in the Clearwater, Florida-based insurer surged over 10
  percent to $13.49 before givi
  
  Read more

• Bill merging Dodd-Frank insurance offices wins key vote

  05-05-2017 01:16
  The Federal Insurance Office created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall
  Street reform law would be eliminated under a bill passed today by
  the Financial Services Committee in US House of
  Representatives.
  The office, known by its acronym FIO, would be replaced by an
  independent insurance advocate within the Treasury Department with
  duties that include those performed currently by the Independent
  Member with Insurance Expertise who sits on the Financial Stability
  Oversight Council (FSOC), which determine
  
  Read more

• Third Point Re profit rebound falls short of estimates

  05-05-2017 01:16
  Third Point Re missed Wall Street estimates even as it rebounded
  from a year-earlier loss to post first-quarter net income of
  $104.2mn, driven by resurgent investment earnings.
  The Bermudian affiliated with the Third Point LLC New York hedge
  fund reported net income of $0.98 a share, short of the $1.02
  consensus view of six analysts compiled by MarketWatch.
  The total return reinsurer said net investment results swung to
  a $128.5mn gain from a net loss of $40.1mn a year earlier....
  
  Read more

• HCI slashes reinsurance costs as profits double

  05-05-2017 01:16
  Florida homeowners' insurer HCI Group reported net income of
  $12mn for the first quarter, almost double the $6.1mn it reported
  for the same period last year.
  The $1.15 per share result exceeded the $1.03 consensus estimate
  of five Wall Street analysts surveyed by MarketWatch.
  Gross written premiums slid by 5.6 percent to $71.4mn during the
  quarter. But the amount of premiums ceded to the group's
  reinsurers fell by 29.2 percent to $28.6mn.
  The insurer said the reduction was a result...
  
  Read more

• Alleghany misses as underwriting deteriorates

  05-05-2017 01:16
  Lower underwriting profits contributed to an earnings miss at
  Alleghany as the company reported operating profits down 22 percent
  to $112.5mn for the first quarter.
  At $7.29 a share, the performance was 55 cents short of the
  $7.84 consensus of Wall Street analysts, according to a poll by
  MarketWatch.
  Underwriting profits were down 32.5 percent to $101.3mn at the
  group, which houses reinsurer TransRe and excess and surplus lines
  (E&S) writer RSIU, among other insurance operations.
  Net investm
  
  Read more

Follow @Insurance_UKnws on Twitter!