Insurance news

• XL Innovate helps seed GeoQuant political risk startup

  15-06-2017 23:06
  XL Innovate is among the seed investors in GeoQuant, a platform
  for measuring geopolitical risk in real time.
  GeoQuant said a seed round of $4mn closed with participants that
  included Menlo Park, California-based XL Innovate and early stage
  venture investment fund Aleph, located in Tel Aviv, Israel.
  XL Innovate partner Martha Notaras and Aleph equal partner
  Michael Eisenberg will join the startup platform's board.
  GeoQuant plans to use the funds to develop its flagship software
  product, expand c
  
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• AIG and Standard Chartered test IBM blockchain ledger

  15-06-2017 23:06
  AIG has successfully tested a blockchain-based multinational
  controlled master policy written in London and involving local
  policies in the US, Kenya and Singapore that was converted into a
  "smart contract", the company said today.
  Working with Standard Chartered Bank and International Business
  Machines Corporation, AIG said that under the pilot project the
  complex multinational coverage became more transparent and provided
  shared views of documents and data in real time.
  The IBM technology used
  
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• Allstate hit by $403mn pretax May cat losses

  15-06-2017 20:42
  US insurer Allstate's pretax catastrophe losses of $403mn in
  May stemmed largely from a single hailstorm that struck along
  Colorado's Front Range, the company said today.
  Allstate, which gives monthly updates on catastrophe claims,
  said 14 cat events occurred last month, most prominently the
  hailstorm that struck the Denver area and other communities along
  the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains on 8 May. The storm
  accounted for more than half of May losses.
  The record hailstorm pelted the regio
  
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• Allianz and Dual insure Grenfell Tower cladding firm

  15-06-2017 20:42
  Allianz and Dual respectively provide product liability and
  professional indemnity (PI) cover for Harley Facades, which
  installed the exterior cladding on the Grenfell Tower destroyed in
  a fire in London yesterday.
  Policy documents on the Harley Facades website show the joint
  public and product liability cover, which is in force until 7 April
  2018, provides £5.0mn ($6.4mn) of limit for any one occurrence
  and in the aggregate.
  The retention on the policy is £350 for each and every
  cla
  
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• Ogden to cost (re)insurers £3.5bn: EY

  15-06-2017 18:17
  The change to the UK's discount rate for personal injury
  compensation is to cost the (re)insurance industry £3.5bn
  ($4.5bn), according to a report from consultants EY.
  The government's 3.25 percentage-point cut to the Ogden rate
  took it down to minus 0.75 percent from 20 March. The cut has
  already elicited loss disclosures by insurers and reinsurers
  totalling £2.4bn, EY said, which used its own calculations to
  produce the higher £3.5bn loss prediction.
  Motor (re)insurance makes
  
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• Brokers will benefit from claims changes, says Allianz

  15-06-2017 17:00
  
  Allianz chief claims officer Gibson says "significant downside" of redundancies doesn't outweigh the benefits of bringing teams together.
  
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• Das finds itself at centre of deer drama

  15-06-2017 16:57
  
  A rogue deer startled staff in the Das Bristol office and is believed to have closed roads in the local area.
  
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• AIG partners to deliver Blockchain-driven policy

  15-06-2017 16:24
  
  AIG has partnered with IBM and Standard Chartered to deliver the first multinational insurance policy using Blockchain.
  
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• Willis Re's chief risk officer leaves for Guy Carp

  15-06-2017 16:21
  Willis Re's longstanding chief risk officer Pete Thomas is set
  to depart for reinsurance broking rival Guy Carpenter,
  The Insurance Insider can reveal.
  Unusually for a person in Thomas's position, he is
  understood to lead for Willis Re with one of its clients - the
  privately held specialty player IFG Companies.
  He joined Willis Re in 2004 as a senior vice president in 2005
  but was promoted to become a managing director within a year.
  Thomas is making a return...
  
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• Majority of losses from Grenfell Tower to be borne by reinsurance

  15-06-2017 13:10
  
  The Norwegian company responsible for insuring the Grenfell Tower, which burned down yesterday, said reinsurers will bear the majority of the claims costs.
  
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• Majority of insured losses from Grenfell Tower to be borne by reinsurance

  15-06-2017 13:10
  
  The Norwegian company responsible for insuring the Grenfell Tower, which burned down yesterday, said reinsurers will bear the majority of the claims costs.
  
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• Five insurtech firms to begin testing in second round of FCA's sandbox

  15-06-2017 13:09
  
  Five insurtech firms are set to begin testing in the second cohort of the Financial Conduct Authority’s sandbox after successful applications.
  
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• InsurTech Futures: Four insurance companies in FCA's second innovation sandbox cohort

  15-06-2017 12:22
  
  Twenty four firms selected by the regulator.
  
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• InsurTech Futures: Five insurance companies in FCA's second innovation sandbox cohort

  15-06-2017 12:22
  
  Twenty four firms selected by the regulator.
  
  Read more

• Opinion: Brexit boy scouts

  15-06-2017 11:51
  "Be prepared" is a mantra that has served generations of
  boy scouts and girl guides well, and is one that the insurance
  industry should take to its heart as a damaged UK government
  staggers towards the start of Brexit talks.
  It's stating the obvious, of course. But it's worth
  repeating because Theresa May's devastating electoral own goal
  has revived inert hopes that Brexit will be softer, Britain will
  remain part of the single market and that financial services
  companies will...
  
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• Carnegie-Brown starts as Lloyd's chairman

  15-06-2017 11:51
  Bruce Carnegie-Brown formally took up the role of Lloyd's
  chairman today, following the retirement of John Nelson.
  This publicationrevealed in February that the Moneysupermarket Group chairman
  had been nominated to the Lloyd's Council to become the next
  chairman. Lloyd's confirmed the appointment later the same
  week.
  In a statement today, Carnegie-Brown said: "In the months
  since my appointment was announced, I have been meeting with people
  in the market to hear from them about the challenges th
  
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• Henderson appoints head for new unit

  15-06-2017 11:22
  
  New Henderson venture appoints MD
  
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• Ogden change to cost industry £3.5bn

  15-06-2017 11:18
  
  The change to the Ogden discount rate from 2.5% to negative 0.75% is predicted to cost the market £3.5bn across all lines of business.
  
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• Huge Ogden hit pushes UK motor market to underwriting loss

  15-06-2017 10:43
  
  EY predicts a further loss for 2017 and rate hikes after huge Ogden hit in 2016
  
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• Markel launches creative and media professions policy

  15-06-2017 10:37
  
  Product targets freelance professionals and start-ups, as well as larger media businesses.
  
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• AIG sets up blockchain policy for Standard Chartered

  15-06-2017 10:05
  Fans of the technology say it will cut costs and reduce the scope for disputes
  
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• Insurers and reinsurers face £3.5bn Ogden hit, says EY

  15-06-2017 09:59 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  Net combined ratio for motor insurance industry deteriorates to 109% in 2016.
  
  Read more

• InsurTech Sure raises $8mn

  15-06-2017 09:39
  The InsurTech startup Sure has raised $8mn in a series A funding
  round led by New York-based investment firm IA Capital, the company
  said yesterday.The funding round included participation from venture funds
  Menlo Ventures and ff Venture Capital and insurers Nationwide,
  Assurant and AmTrust. The Nationwide investment was fed through the
  carrier's technology investment platform, Nationwide Ventures.Sure offers on-demand personal insurance via an app.
  The new investment comes as Sure enters the sm
  
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• Will insurers Wanna Cry? On the legal repercussions of the global cyber attack

  15-06-2017 08:00
  
  The Wanna Cry ransomware attack is going to bring into light cyber wordings and terrorism exclusions, explains Hermes Marangos, partner at Signature Litigation.
  
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• Trade Voice: Apil's Brett Dixon on preventing whiplash claims

  15-06-2017 08:00
  
  With some of the most congested roads in Europe and tailgating a major cause of low speed accidents in the UK, Brett Dixon, Association of Personal Injury Lawyers president, urges insurers to join his member in supporting Injury Prevention Day.
  
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• UK car insurers saw losses of £3.5bn in 2016 due to new compensation rules

  15-06-2017 07:01
  
  Cut in the Ogden rate, which affects compensation for serious injuries, will see insurance premiums rise, with young drivers the worst hit, says a reportBritain’s car insurers suffered combined losses of £3.5bn last year due to controversial new compensation rules for serious injuries, according to a report which predicts further sharp rises in insurance premiums, especially for young drivers.Consultancy EY said the new Ogden formula led to significant underwriting losses for the mot
  
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• Is your wealth manager prepared for Brexit?

  15-06-2017 06:01
  Expat Britons may no longer be served by UK firms after EU departure
  
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• UPC Q2 losses exhaust cat agg retention

  15-06-2017 02:06
  United Insurance Holdings estimates it has now hit the retention
  on its 1 January-placed catastrophe aggregate reinsurance programme
  after a series of events in the second quarter.
  Late today, the carrier preannounced $20mn in pre-tax
  catastrophe losses as well as $7mn in merger-related expenses for
  the second quarter.
  Most of the cat losses stemmed from hailstorms, tornadoes and
  other severe weather events in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and
  Texas.
  The losses mean it has met the $30mn retention
  
  Read more

• XL Innovate raises backing of IoT startup Notion

  15-06-2017 00:20
  XL Group's venture finance arm raised its investment in
  Notion, an Internet of Things (IoT) startup, contributing to a
  "series A" funding round that delivered about $10mn to
  the producer of remote home monitoring systems.
  The funding round was led by Draper Nexus and TransLink Capital,
  with Menlo Park, California-basedXL Innovate listed among the
  previous investors that also participated in the funding round. XL
  was among the initial investors last year in Denver-based
  Notion.
  The money raised w
  
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• Mango leaves Guy Carpenter

  15-06-2017 00:20
  Guy Carpenter's head of innovation and product development
  Don Mango is leaving the reinsurance broker, The
  Insurance Insider can reveal.
  Although the circumstances of his departure are unknown, it is
  not thought that the executive is exiting the Marsh & McLennan
  subsidiary with another role lined up.
  Sources have suggested he is likely to re-emerge at another
  reinsurance broker or consulting firm, however.
  Mango joined Guy Carpenter's quantitative analysis and
  modelling unit Instrat in 2006
  
  Read more

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