Insurance news

• Greenberg loses battle over damages related to AIG bailout

  09-05-2017 22:27
  Legal reversal over the terms of the insurer’s bailout is an important win for the government
  
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• Standard Life Aberdeen deal to cost 800 jobs

  09-05-2017 21:24
  Money managers look to shed 10% of workforce to cut costs and gain scale
  
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• Markerstudy placed up for sale

  09-05-2017 20:37
  Gibraltarian motor insurer Markerstudy is exploring a sale as a
  tightening of the regulatory regime in the British overseas
  territory and the change to the Ogden rate put pressure on its
  model, The Insurance Insider can reveal.
  Sources told this publication that a bank has been appointed to
  advise Markerstudy on its options.
  Unrated Markerstudy is among the biggest UK motor insurers in
  Gibraltar. It employs over 4,000 people and is estimated by sources
  to write upwards of £500.0mn ($647.8m
  
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• Insurers are too willing to accept failure: Greenberg

  09-05-2017 20:37
  Former AIG chairman and CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg
  has issued a stern message to the upper echelons of the insurance
  industry, insisting that senior management are too quick to accept
  failure from their underwriters.
  Speaking today at The Insurance
  Insider's InsiderScope New York
  conference, the industry veteran, known for his fierce focus on
  underwriting profitability, said: "Boards of directors of
  insurance companies are too lenient and too willing to accept
  failure from their management.
  "C
  
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• Industry can find growth in uncovered risk: Andersen

  09-05-2017 20:37
  The insurance industry can use its existing capabilities to
  underwrite corporate and government-retained risk that has
  previously left the private market, generating tens of billions of
  new premium dollars in the process, according to Aon Benfield CEO
  Eric Andersen.
  It can also create growth opportunities by bringing capital and
  risk management to emerging pools of risk such as those related to
  the on-demand business model used by Uber and Airbnb, he added.
  Speaking at The Insurance
  Insider's In
  
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• Barbican hires Wiffen from XL Catlin for energy team

  09-05-2017 20:37
  Barbican is continuing to expand its energy team under the
  leadership of recently arrived divisional head Olivier
  Decombes.
  The insurer has appointed former XL Catlin underwriter
  Jacqueline Wiffen as class underwriter for upstream energy, with
  immediate effect.
  She will report to Decombes, who joined from Starrlast July as divisional head for energy, power and
  utilities.
  Wiffen has 12 years' experience in the energy sector, most
  recently as class underwriter for upstream energy at XL Catlin,
  whi
  
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• Markerstudy up for sale - report

  09-05-2017 17:58
  
  Gibraltar-based insurer Markerstudy appoints bank to explore sale, report says
  
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• Brokers invited to take part in unique 'play with a pro' golf experience

  09-05-2017 15:53
  
  Brokers from top firms get to ’play with a pro’, network and experience a beautiful golf course at the start of the summer 
  
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• Wells Fargo considers disposal of broking unit

  09-05-2017 15:45
  US bank Wells Fargo is mulling a sale of its insurance broking
  business in a deal which could net the bank around $2bn,
  The Insurance Insider understands.
  The mooted sale, first reported by Bloomberg today, would value
  Wells Fargo Insurance Services at around 10x Ebitda.
  Banking sources have been suggesting for weeks that Wells Fargo
  would move to dispose of the asset given the high levels of private
  equity interest in the space.
  The asset has long been considered the...
  
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• Twia cuts back core cat cover

  09-05-2017 15:45
  The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (Twia) has
  significantly pared back its core cat reinsurance ahead of the 2017
  hurricane season, The Insurance Insider
  can reveal.
  According to sources, the residual insurer has put out firm
  order terms to the market through broker Guy Carpenter to buy a
  single $1.4bn layer attaching at $2.8bn, with coverage priced at a
  4.5 percent rate-on-line (RoL).
  That means it has cut $600mn of coverage limit from last
  year's $2.0bn xs $2.7bn first layer, and...
  
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• Traditional limit up more than 50% on Citizens placement

  09-05-2017 15:45
  The traditional reinsurance limit purchased by Florida Citizens
  will rise by $370mn this year despite an overall reduction in its
  risk transfer programme, as the cover was restructured at the
  expense of the cat bond market.
  The Insurance Insider revealed on
  Friday (5 May) that firm order terms were sent to the market for a
  final structure that transfers $1.33bn to the insurance-linked
  securities market and to traditional reinsurers - down from the
  $1.34bn indicated in the state-backed insurer's
  
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• Swiss Re 'comfortable' with AIG reserves

  09-05-2017 15:45
  Swiss Re CFO David Cole has stressed that the reinsurer is
  comfortable with its reserving position after AIG reported a $5.6bn
  casualty-linked reserve charge in its Q4 results.
  Speaking to analysts on a Q1 results call, the executive said he
  wanted to "draw a line in the sand" over speculation that
  Swiss Re could be negatively impacted by AIG's higher loss
  picks via its $2bn quota share with the carrier, which was inked in
  March 2016.
  One analyst on the...
  
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• RenRe books Mozambique exposure

  09-05-2017 15:45
  The Bermudian reinsurer RenaissanceRe has
  reserved for the impact of potential credit losses in Mozambique,
  RenRe CEO Kevin O'Donnell said on an earnings call with
  analysts.
  The Insurance
  Insider reported on May 2 that soured loans to state
  owned companies in Mozambique were insured against
  default in the political risk market.
  Responding to a query from Bank of America
  Merrill Lynch analyst Jay Cohen about specialty losses,
  O'Donnell said: "I am going to give you a specific
  example. One of...
  
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• MTA looks to renew storm surge cat bond

  09-05-2017 15:45
  New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is
  looking to renew its cat bond cover after its previous
  insurance-linked securities (ILS) protection lapsed midway through
  2016, sister publication Trading Risk
  reported.
  The organisation is seeking $125mn of reinsurance protection
  from a new MetroCat Re 2017-1 cat bond, according to sources. The
  deal is being sponsored by the MTA's captive insurer First
  Mutual Transportation Assurance Company, in its second ILS deal
  following a 2013 cat b
  
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• Macron purchased cover against first round meltdown

  09-05-2017 15:45
  Newly elected French president Emmanuel Macron purchased a
  financial indemnity policy from Allianz against a first-round
  disaster scenario of failing to capture more than 5 percent of the
  vote, according to leaked documents.
  Documents from Macron's En Marche party, published on Friday
  (5 May) prior to the run-off against Marine Le Pen, show the
  president purchased a guaranty limit of EUR8.0mn ($8.8mn) from
  Allianz to reimburse the campaign's outgoings if he failed to
  meet the minimum number of v
  
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• London losing ground as reinsurance hub: LMG

  09-05-2017 15:45
  The London market is losing ground as a centre for global
  reinsurance, according to the latest incarnation of the London
  Matters report, released this week (9 May).
  The report, commissioned by the London Market Group (LMG),
  reaffirmed London's strengths as a world class commercial
  insurance market as the UK insurance industry gained market share
  in its "traditional heartlands" of specialty.
  However, reinsurance made up a smaller proportion of London
  market premiums in 2015 than five years before
  
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• London failing to fulfil its potential: BCG

  09-05-2017 15:45
  The London insurance market must compete better with its rivals
  if it is to avoid becoming a "profitable irrelevance",
  according to Paul Clark, the BCG partner behind the updated London
  Matters report.
  The report shows that the City's commercial insurance
  industry is losing out to fast-growing rival centres in Bermuda and
  Singapore. The issue is particularly acute in reinsurance.
  Asked if in the depths of a soft market it was inappropriate for
  London-based carriers to be scaling back their ambit
  
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• Live market pressures create run-off bonanza: O'Farrell

  09-05-2017 15:45
  The run-off market is entering a new era of opportunity as live
  companies confront market headwinds and the threat of disruption,
  Premia Holdings CEO Bill O'Farrell has said.
  Speaking at the Insurance and Reinsurance Legacy Association
  Congress in Brighton today, the former Chubb reinsurance officer
  said disruption in the live space was a positive for legacy
  companies.
  "Cyclical headwinds for the reinsurance industry are
  tailwinds for our business," he told the audience in a keynote
  address.
  Som
  
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• JP Morgan Chase buys AIG-led $600mn cyber policy

  09-05-2017 15:45
  AIG is the lead underwriter on what is thought to be the
  world's largest cyber insurance tower, which was placed by
  Willis Towers Watson for US banking giant JP Morgan Chase,
  The Insurance Insider can reveal.
  The broking powerhouse disclosed at RIMS last month that it had
  placed the $600mn standalone cover, but the name of the client and
  the lead insurer were kept under wraps.
  Sources told this publication that JP Morgan has a retention of
  $50mn, which is...
  
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• Jedraszak leaves Hiscox Re ILS

  09-05-2017 15:45
  One of the senior executives at Hiscox Re's insurance-linked
  securities (ILS) platform, Michael Jedraszak, has resigned four
  years after helping to establish the division, sister publication
  Trading Risk revealed last week.
  Meanwhile, the insurer has picked up former Blue Capital CEO
  Adam Szakmary as a director of underwriting in Bermuda, subject to
  immigration approvals.
  Sources said Jedraszak stood down from Hiscox earlier this month
  to pursue other interests in the ILS sector. He will be on
  g
  
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• Insider View: White Mountains' cash pile

  09-05-2017 15:45
  What do you do with $3bn of cash if assets are overpriced and
  you know the true value of money?
  That is exactly the predicament that White Mountains finds
  itself in.
  Here you have talented proponents of M&A who have just
  cleaned up on the sell side looking for opportunities to buy in at
  attractive valuations.
  The company made a round of visits to bankers on Wall Street in
  the autumn as it mulled over the deployment of the Sirius...
  
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• Insider View: PDvsa account move

  09-05-2017 15:45
  There is never a good time to lose a major account. But
  JLT's loss of PDvsa comes at the worst possible time.
  The energy market has been in freefall for three years and
  although attention has been focused on the plight of underwriters
  in London whose incomes have more than halved, the brokers are
  hurting too.
  With most of their costs fixed, energy intermediaries'
  margins have collapsed, and the squeeze of revenues on existing
  accounts has prompted brokers to aggressively...
  
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• First party cyber cover evolves in fragmented market

  09-05-2017 15:45
  As ever-bigger towers of cyber capacity are assembled to address
  the needs of an evolving client base, the product's longer-term
  future and where first party risk should be underwritten remains
  uncertain.
  At RIMS late last month, there was much discussion about growing
  demand from sectors beyond data-heavy financial institutions,
  retail and healthcare buyers.
  Awareness over potential first party exposures is driving
  manufacturers, power and utility, freight, hull and marine, and
  logistics compan
  
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• Faraday CUO Rayner to leave

  09-05-2017 15:45
  Faraday stalwart Mark Rayner has resigned after more than 25
  years with the Berkshire Hathaway-owned Lloyd's syndicate,
  The Insurance Insider can reveal.
  Rayner rose through the ranks to become chief underwriting
  officer after joining what is now Syndicate 435 as a property
  treaty underwriter in 1990.
  Almost 15 years later he was made joint chief underwriting
  officer of Gen Re's Lloyd's operations before taking on
  sole responsibility for the role in 2013.
  The change comes a year after long-servi
  
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• Cat bond issuance to hit $8bn in 2017: Aon

  09-05-2017 15:45
  Aon Securities reiterated its forecast for $8bn of new cat bond
  deals to be issued in 2017, which would make it the
  insurance-linked securities (ILS) market's biggest year since
  2014.
  Volumes for the first quarter reached $2.17bn, according to the
  firm's Q1 2017 update, with April deals set to take the
  year-to-date total to almost $6.0bn.
  This is keeping pace with a vast number of ILS maturities in the
  first half of the year, as $2.0bn rolled off risk in...
  
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• Aon confirms $100mn charge from headcount reduction

  09-05-2017 15:45
  Aon has reported a $103mn charge in the first quarter related to
  workforce reductions, 24 hours after The Insurance
  Insider revealed that Aon was planning to unveil a
  programme tocull its senior ranks .Total restructuring costs in Q1, including the staff severance
  component, amounted to $144mn, the professional services giant said
  today.
  The first-quarter results filing also revealed that another
  $104mn of charges were expected from through further headcount
  reductions.
  The redundancies and reti
  
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• AmTrust MGA network put up for sale

  09-05-2017 15:45
  Troubled US insurance giant AmTrust is looking to sell a 51
  percent stake in its MGA network and warranty administration
  business to a private equity buyer, according to CEO Barry
  Zyskind.
  Speaking on a call with analysts after market close yesterday,
  Zyskind said AmTrust was exploring a sale of a controlling stake in
  the business, with a view to raising more than $1bn in cash.
  Zyskind first mentioned the idea of exiting the MGA network in
  February on a call...
  
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• Markerstudy to launch commercial MGA Guild Business Insurance

  09-05-2017 14:09
  
  Markerstudy is set to launch a managing general agent, Guild Business Insurance, for rated commercial products.
  
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• Towergate moves to Acturis as tech supplier for its advisory business

  09-05-2017 14:00
  
  The CEO for insurance broking Janice Deakin revealed that some offices have already started migration to the new platform as Open GI stays on retail platform.
  
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• Markerstudy launches commercial MGA

  09-05-2017 13:04 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  Move follows its purchase of Chaucer's UK motor book and the new MGA will be led by group commercial director Martyn Holman.
  
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• Biba brokers offered help placing environmental contractors

  09-05-2017 12:27
  
  Direct Insurance London heads scheme for Biba brokers need to placing environmental contractors 
  
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• Majority of brokers concerned about Ogden rate decision

  09-05-2017 12:04
  
  More than 70% of brokers are concerned over the Ogden discount rate and the effect it could have on the number of people buying their policies, according to Covea’s latest broker survey.
  
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• Towergate posts Ebitda loss for Q1 2017

  09-05-2017 11:25
  
  Consolidator reports organic growth for the third quarter in a row.
  
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• Legal & General appoints Carol Hughes as head of regional broker

  09-05-2017 11:21
  
  Legal & General has appointed Carol Hughes as head of regional broker within its GI division.
  
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• Towergate backers add Price Forbes to new broker combo

  09-05-2017 11:18
  Private equity firms HPS Investment Partners and Madison
  Dearborn Partners are to merge their UK regional broking businesses
  into a single operation, setting Price Forbes alongside Towergate.The firms concerned also include Ryan Direct Group, health
  broker Chase Templeton and van insurance broker Autonet. They will
  continue to operate independently but they will be housed within a
  single holding company named KIRS, which will launch in Q3.
  Lloyd's broker Price Forbes and Autonet join the cohort
  
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• Perils projects $826mn of losses from Cyclone Debbie

  09-05-2017 11:18
  Catastrophe data aggregator Perils has estimated the Australian
  losses from Tropical Cyclone Debbie at A$1.12bn ($826mn).
  Debbie affected Queensland and New South Wales from 28 March
  until early April, causing significant wind and flood damage in the
  southeast and northeast of the states, respectively.
  The maximum gust during Tropical Cyclone Debbie was recorded on
  Hamilton Island at 263 km per hour.
  The estimate follows news from Swiss Re last week that Debbie
  losses pushed its first-quarter P&
  
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• Munich Re beats Q1 profit consensus despite P&C drag

  09-05-2017 11:18
  First-quarter operating profit at Munich Re beat analysts'
  expectations, with the carrier reporting a result of EUR952mn
  ($1.04bn).
  The operating result was ahead of the prior-year period's
  EUR726mn, and 2 percent above the consensus analyst forecast,
  according Citigroup's Andrius Budnikas.
  But results were held back by a worse-than-expected P&C
  reinsurance combined ratio, with Munich Re reporting a combined
  ratio of 97.1 percent, about 8.7 percentage points worse than the
  prior-year period
  
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• Hiscox names Luxembourg as post-Brexit hub

  09-05-2017 11:18
  Hiscox has announced plans to establish a new European
  subsidiary in Luxembourg in response to the UK's exit from the
  EU.
  In an interim management statement released this morning the
  carrier said the process of setting up the hub would begin
  immediately, with the restructuring efforts expected to complete
  before March 2019, subject to regulatory approvals.
  Hiscox said it chose Luxembourg for its "pro-business
  position, strong financial services experience and well-respected
  regulator", in additi
  
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• EC3's reinsurance market share continues to fall: LMG

  09-05-2017 11:18
  London's share of global reinsurance premiums has continued
  to decline as increased competition and protectionist trade
  policies stymie growth, according to the latest London Matters
  report, released today.
  The London Matters 2017 report, commissioned by the London
  Market Group (LMG), reaffirmed London's strengths as a world
  class commercial insurance market, with the UK insurance industry
  gaining market share in its "traditional heartlands" of
  specialty.
  But London's global share of reinsurance
  
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• Aussie MGA to launch in UK

  09-05-2017 11:18
  
  Ensurance is set to open in London and will deal wholesale to UK brokers.
  
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• Towergate backers bring together UK GI businesses

  09-05-2017 10:11
  
  Towergate, Autonet, Chase Templeton, Ryan Direct Group and Price Forbes to be combined by the third quarter of 2017.
  
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• Towergate posts profit and revenue growth in first quarter

  09-05-2017 10:07
  
  Towergate has delivered the third consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth as profit and revenue continue to climb in the first three months of 2017.
  
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• Editor's letter - May 2017

  09-05-2017 09:49
  
  Branching out: Swinton’s redundancy plans highlight the changing habits of customers
  
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• Biba 2017 preview: Manchester on the horizon

  09-05-2017 09:49
  
  With Brexit and a snap general election looming, there will be lots to discuss at the 2017 Biba conference
  
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• HPS and MDP create broking powerhouse with Towergate merger

  09-05-2017 08:33
  
  David Ross to head new enlarged holding company following Towergate merger with Nevada
  
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• Hiscox Retail goes from strenth to strength

  09-05-2017 08:31
  
  Hiscox Retail goes from strength to strength
  
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• Hiscox Retail goes from strength to strength in 2017

  09-05-2017 08:31
  
  Hiscox Retail goes from strength to strength as GWP increases and it is praised as a ’key success’ story of UK insurance
  
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• Hiscox GWP grew in first quarter

  09-05-2017 08:31
  
  Hiscox GWP rises
  
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• Towergate grows profit and revenue in Q1

  09-05-2017 08:29
  
  Towergate grew both its underlying profit and its revenue in the first quarter of 2017, continuing positive trends seen in the fourth quarter of 2016.
  
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• Hastings shareholder sells down stake

  09-05-2017 08:27
  
  Hastings shareholder sells shares in stock market placing
  
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