Insurance news

• ProAssurance unit buys $13.3mn WC platform

  09-06-2017 21:25
  ProAssurance's Eastern Alliance unit is acquiring the
  operations of Great Falls Insurance Company to provide it with a
  platform to expand in New England.
  While technically Eastern is buying renewal rights to the
  workers' compensation book from Great Falls covering clients in
  Maine and New Hampshire, it is also taking on all the employees of
  the Auburn, Maine-based monoline carrier, Birmingham, Alabama-based
  ProAssurance said yesterday in regulatory filings.
  Led by President Gary Hall, all Great
  
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• AIG set to raise at least $590mn in Arch share sale

  09-06-2017 21:25
  American International Group will get about $590mn from selling
  almost 6.4 million shares in Arch Capital as AIG converts half of
  the preferred stock it received in the sale of its United Guaranty
  unit to the Bermudian.
  The deal priced at $92.50 a share, Arch said today.
  None of the proceeds of the secondary public offering will go to
  Arch, the (re)insurer said in an earlier regulatory filing. It
  details the sale by New York-based AIG and subsidiary National
  Union...
  
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• Opinion: Voices of dissent

  09-06-2017 18:13
  The voices of dissent in the carrier community against broker
  remuneration practices have been growing in number and increasing
  in volume in recent months.
  And after Tuesday's (6 June) revelation that UK regulators
  areinvestigating broker facilities in London, it was no surprise
  that the topic should feature heavily on this side of the Atlantic
  at Standard & Poor's (S&P's)annual insurance conference in New York this week.
  A panel of insurer CEOsdecried the practice as a "classic sign&
  
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• Mayo to leave Ariel following Argo buyout

  09-06-2017 18:13
  David Bull
  Excess and surplus lines (E&S) property executive Colin Mayo
  is parting company with Ariel Re just four months after its $235mn
  acquisition by Argo Group, The Insurance
  Insider can reveal.
  According to sources, Mayo has tendered his resignation and is
  currently serving his notice period.
  Ariel Re only launched its E&S property business in March
  2015 after securing the services of Mayo and his team of around 15
  underwriters from State Auto's Rockhill Insurance Company, in a
  mov
  
  Read more

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• Marsh bolsters Boeing facility with US Ex-Im bank hires

  09-06-2017 18:13
  Marsh has hired a duo of aircraft finance experts from the US
  Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), a government-backed export facilitator,
  to work on its newly established Boeing credit insurance
  facility.
  Robert Morin has joined Marsh from Ex-Im as transaction and
  business development leader in its Aircraft Finance Insurance
  Consortium (AFIC). Ex-Im's Gabriel Okolski also joined AFIC as
  a credit and financial analyst.
  Morin was most recently Ex-Im's senior vice president of
  business and product developm
  
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• Mapfre Global Risks to launch UK retail operation

  09-06-2017 18:13
  Mapfre Global Risks' (MGR) London hub is to build a UK
  retail business serving mainly upper-midmarket companies, according
  to Chris Smith, chief regions and markets officer for MGR's
  international business.
  Smith oversees MGR operations outside Iberia and Latin America
  from the London regional headquarters.
  "We had chosen not to develop the retail business
  immediately because we needed resources and lead capacity," he
  said in an interview during an MGR conference in Granada.
  MGR is currently loo
  
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• JLT recruits Aon consultant Purdy in Houston

  09-06-2017 18:13
  JLT Specialty USA has recruited senior risk management and
  claims consultant Mark Purdy from Aon's Houston office, as the
  broker continues to expand its US regional business.
  Purdy joins the broker as a senior vice president in its
  analytics and consulting arm, JLT said yesterday. Purdy was
  previously assistant director and consulting lead in Houston for
  rival broker Aon, where he has worked for the last 14 years.
  He began his career in a claims role at Liberty Mutual.
  JLT...
  
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• AmTrust sells $212mn stake in NatGen

  09-06-2017 18:13
  AmTrust has struck a deal to offload most of its 11.5 percent
  stake in US personal lines insurer National General Holdings Corp
  (NGHC), as the embattled insurer works to shore up its balance
  sheet.
  AmTrust has agreed to sell 10,586,000 common shares of sister
  company NGHC - equivalent to a 9.9 percent stake - for around
  $211.7mn to "unaffiliated third parties", it said in a
  statement today.
  The carrier's shares were trading down 4.47 percent at
  $13.38 in New York...
  
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• Insurance Marketing and PR Awards 2017: Winners

  09-06-2017 16:43
  
  Co-op Insurance picked up two awards for digital marketing and social media influence at the Insurance Marketing and PR Awards today.
  
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• ABI calls for industry to 'rigorously frame' policy positions following election result

  09-06-2017 16:32
  
  The Association of British Insurers has urged the industry to ensure its policy positions are “rigorously framed” around the needs of retail and business customers following the election result.
  
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• ABI: Insurers must focus on customers following election result

  09-06-2017 16:09
  
  Election result prompts ABI to urge customer focus
  
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• Towergate leverages sister companies to secure re-fi

  09-06-2017 15:48
  Towergate's holding company KIRS managed to price around
  £800mn ($1.02bn) of debt on Tuesday through the sale of two
  six-year notes, but the firm was forced to accept higher yields and
  structural tweaks to get the issuance away following investor
  pushback.
  KIRS is seeking to leverage the cash-generative companies that
  sit alongside Towergate under the newly formed holding company to
  repay £500mn of debt put in place during the broker's
  restructuring. This Towergate debt was trading a
  
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• Lloyd's issues market circular on ProSight run-off

  09-06-2017 15:48
  Lloyd's has formally notified the market of ProSight's
  decision to put Syndicate 1110 into run-off.
  In a market bulletin today, the Corporation said Syndicate 1110
  would continue to be fully able to meet all of its claims and added
  that ProSight would continue to service the syndicate's
  business.
  "While Syndicate 1110 will not be accepting any new
  business, all existing business brokers should continue to deal
  with their usual contacts at ProSight, who will be available to
  assist with any...
  
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• Brexit will trigger capital flight from London: JLT

  09-06-2017 15:48
  London will see rapid capital flight if the UK government is
  unable to swiftly secure passporting rights into the EU, according
  to JLT International Network managing director Rory MacLeay.
  At a Mapfre Global Risks conference in Granada, MacLeay said he
  believed the UK would experience a "shambolic"
  Brexit.
  "There's no chance that we will be able to come to
  landing on issues like passporting by 2019," he said during a
  roundtable discussion at the event.
  "There will be a flight...
  
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• Brexit is slightly on the back-burner, says Melanie Hampton

  09-06-2017 14:31
  
  The MD of Alexander Miller says a hung parliament makes Brexit negotiations more difficult.
  
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• Acturis passes Biba software house review

  09-06-2017 14:28
  
  Theo Duchen hails track record of resilience and investment in infrastructure.
  
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• US House passes bill to repeal Sifi designations

  09-06-2017 13:07
  The US House of Representatives has passed a bill that will end
  "too big to fail" designations for non-bank financial
  institutions and overhaul regulations created under the Dodd-Frank
  Act.
  The Financial Choice Act takes away the power of the Financial
  Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to decide if an insurer counts
  as a systemically important financial institution (Sifi), also on a
  retroactive basis.
  Insurers with non-bank Sifi status include AIG and US life
  insurer Prudential Financial.
  The b
  
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• Steadfast takes stake in unisonBrokers

  09-06-2017 13:07
  Australian insurance group Steadfast has expanded its global
  distribution capabilities after acquiring a non-controlling stake
  in unisonBrokers.
  The brokerage network, which has bases in Hamburg and Chicago,
  has more than 200 brokers across 130 countries, and $17bn of gross
  written premium.
  UnisonBrokers will be renamed unisonsteadfast as part of the
  transaction, with Steadfast managing director and CEO Robert Kelly
  and chief operating officer Samantha Hollman joining the
  unisonsteadfast supervi
  
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• Rising interest rates will hasten alternative capital retreat: Baeza

  09-06-2017 13:07
  Higher global interest rates will lure alternative capital away
  from the insurance sector, helping the industry to emerge from the
  prolonged soft market, according to Mapfre Global Risks CEO and
  chairman Ignacio Baeza.
  Speaking to journalists in Granada at Mapfre Global Risks'
  bi-annual international conference, Baeza said the flow of
  alternative capital into the sector was "not good for us or
  for the services we are planning".
  "As an insurer, I would rather those actors go to other
  profit centr
  
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• Opinion: ProSight at Lloyd's

  09-06-2017 13:07
  ProSight hascalled time on its Lloyd's business and has put Syndicate
  1110 into run-off.
  The Funds at Lloyd's are sitting within the syndicate. The
  run-off will no doubt be orderly. Policyholders will get their
  money. That is not in question.
  The move is an admission of defeat from ProSight, which had
  hoped to realise a gain by selling the platform on to a live
  bidder. And it is an embarrassment to Lloyd's that a firm has
  chosen to shutter...
  
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• Mayo to leave Ariel following Argo buy-out

  09-06-2017 13:07
  Excess and surplus lines (E&S) property executive Colin Mayo
  is parting company with Ariel Re just four months after its $235mn
  acquisition by Argo Group, The Insurance
  Insider can reveal.
  According to sources, Mayo has tendered his resignation and is
  currently serving his notice period.
  Ariel Re only launched its E&S property business in March
  2015 after securing the services of Mayo and his team of around 15
  underwriters from State Auto's Rockhill Insurance Company, in a
  movefirst repo
  
  Read more

• IAG buys $750mn cat cover after losses

  09-06-2017 13:07
  Australian carrier IAG has added a new A$1bn ($754mn) top layer to
  its A$7bn catastrophe reinsurance treaty, in an active year for
  local catastrophe losses.
  In a statement, the insurer said the new top layer included one
  prepaid reinstatement and would run for 19 months from 1 June 2017
  to 31 December 2018.
  It was placed at an 80 percent level, reflecting its 20 percent
  quota share agreement with Berkshire Hathaway.
  IAG's main reinsurance treaty runs for the calendar year...
  
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• Helios agrees to acquire Nottus No 51

  09-06-2017 13:07
  Aim-listed Lloyd's carrier Helios Underwriting has agreed to
  acquire Nottus No 51, a limited liability member of Lloyd's,
  for £964,500 ($1.2mn) in cash.
  Nottus' underwriting capacity for 2017 is £669,000.
  Prior to today's deal, Helios's 2017 capacity was
  £35mn.
  In the year ended 31 December 2015 Nottus made a profit before
  tax of £102,674 on gross premiums written of £550,000.
  Its net asset value at that date was £540,000.
  Nottus's 2015 year of account is fore
  
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• Charles Taylor and IBM final two in delegated authority bid

  09-06-2017 13:07
  Charles Taylor InsureTech and IBM are the final two bidders left
  on a shortlist to run a computer system that will radically
  modernise delegated authority processing,
  The Insurance Insider can
  reveal.
  The final shortlist has been whittled down from a previous list
  of five companies that also included
  Verisk, DXC and Accenture.The delegated authority project is a key component of the London
  market modernisation programme, known as the Target Operating Model
  (Tom). The tender relates to the data s
  
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• Week in Post: Mayhem, Brexit and PR

  09-06-2017 12:38
  
  It has been a year of political surprises, starting with Brexit, to Trump’s election and finally to today’s hung parliament.
  
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• Helios acquires Nottus for £964,500

  09-06-2017 12:18
  
  Helios has acquired Lloyd’s limited liability member, Nottus, as part of its strategy to increase underwriting capacity.
  
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• Quizzical questions: 9 June 2017

  09-06-2017 11:52
  
  Test your knowledge of the week's news with our topical quiz.
  
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• General Election 2017: The industry reacts

  09-06-2017 11:19
  
  The industry's reaction to the election result
  
  Read more

• Biba still hopeful on Brexit negotiations after hung parliament vote

  09-06-2017 11:17
  
  Executive director Graeme Trudgill says trade body is ready to greet the new ministers and get back to business.
  
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• Insurance Island Risks - Action 365 and Pukka's Sam White

  09-06-2017 11:10
  
  Sam White is the founder of Action 365 and Pukka. She reveals how a broken leg led to development of her first business and tells all about how she persuaded Robbie Williams to sing at her wedding.
  
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• Hung parliament spells fresh uncertainty for insurance industry, experts say

  09-06-2017 10:27
  
  The result of yesterday’s general election is likely to cause fresh uncertainty for the insurance sector, industry leaders have said.
  
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• Insurance Cares: Insurance training academy launched

  09-06-2017 09:59
  
  The academy is set up by director of broker Prospero to help disabled and disadvantaged people get into the insurance sector.
  
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• Blog: The top 10 things insurers need to innovate

  09-06-2017 08:00
  
  There is no single recipe for innovation but Carrie Robinson, head of innovation at Ageas, reveals her top 10 ingredients.
  
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• Blog: How artificial intelligence will simplify insurance

  09-06-2017 08:00
  
  While insurance is becoming ever more complex, insurers are being disrupted by digitally-led start-ups simplifying what insurers do for customers. Mike Downing, chief technology officer for the WPA Group, envisages long and complex policies with drawn-out claims processes becoming history in the not-too-distant future.
  
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• Maiden charts $150mn preferred stock sale

  09-06-2017 03:52
  Bermudian reinsurer Maiden Holdings plans to sell $150mn in
  preferred shares at $25 each in a public offering, the firm said
  today in regulatory filings.
  Maiden will use some of the funds raised to redeem its $100mn of
  8 percent notes which mature in 2042, according to statements
  submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
  The company, whose biggest source of revenue comes from
  providing reinsurance to New York-based sister company AmTrust,
  said it expects to net about $145.3mn in...
  
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• Broker CEOs counter facility and commission critics

  09-06-2017 03:52
  Insurance broker CEOs have rallied against criticism from senior
  carrier executives over the growing use of facilities and broader
  remuneration practices.
  Marsh & McLennan Companies president and CEO Dan Glaser took
  issue with comments made yesterday at an S&P Global Ratings
  conference in New York, speaking at the continuing event today.
  Tokio Marine HCC CEO Chris Williams had said broker facilities were a "classic
  sign" of the soft market, adding that handing over
  underwriting authority
  
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• AIG plans Arch preferred sale to raise over $600mn

  09-06-2017 03:52
  American International Group plans to sell almost 6.4 million
  shares in Arch Capital valued at more than $600mn as AIG converts
  half of the preferred stock it received in the sale of its United
  Guaranty unit to the Bermudian.
  None of the proceeds of the secondary public offering will go to
  Arch, the (re)insurer said in a regulatory filing late today. It
  details the sale by New York-based AIG and subsidiary National
  Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh.
  Arch shares...
  
  Read more

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