Insurance news

• Willis Re's Ingle to lead analytics in North America

  30-06-2017 21:44
  Willis Re's Brian Ingle has been promoted to lead the
  broker's analytics team for North America.
  Ingle will fill the role vacated by Alice Underwood, who was
  promoted to become global head of Willis Towers Watson's risk
  consulting and software business earlier this month.In his new role, Ingle will report to Willis Re's CEO of North
  America Jim Bradshaw.The newly-promoted executive joined Willis Re in 2006 and most
  recently led the reinsurance broker's actuarial practice.Before joining the...
  
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• FCA launches probe into with-profits insurance policies

  30-06-2017 19:41
  Billions of pounds invested in these products despite falling popularity
  
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• Robson joins Standard Syndicate as claims head

  30-06-2017 19:03
  Brit's former group head of claims Steve Robson has joined
  The Standard Syndicate 1884 as its new claims director.
  He will also join the syndicate's senior leadership team and
  will be involved in its broader strategic development.
  Robson's appointment follows the announcement that
  Christopher Smith, the former CEO of Chubb Managing Agent,is joining the syndicate as managing director.
  Active underwriter Robert Dorey commented: "In what remains
  difficult underwriting conditions in the Lloyd's mark
  
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• Property cat rates fall again at June, July: Willis Re

  30-06-2017 19:03
  Property catastrophe reinsurance rates continued their downward
  trajectory at the June and July renewals, with buyers generally
  securing rate reductions in the low-to-mid single digits, according
  to Willis Re.
  Loss-free US property cat rates renewed down by 2.5 to 7.5
  percent as the lack of major catastrophe loss activity and abundant
  capital continued to drive the soft market, the reinsurance broker
  said in its 1st View report, published today.
  The rate reductions achieved this year were genera
  
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• PRA's Rule warns on 'over-optimistic' views on pricing

  30-06-2017 19:03
  The director of insurance supervision at UK regulator the
  Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has warned that carriers
  could be taking an "over-optimistic view" of pricing and
  may not have correctly assessed the risks associated with a
  broadening of policy terms and conditions.
  PRA director David Rule issued the warning in a letter to
  insurance CEOs following the regulator's most recent market
  monitoring survey. The letter also gave an insight into the
  regulator's probe into broker facilities,
  
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• PRA reveals carrier worries on facilities

  30-06-2017 19:03
  The head of insurance supervision at UK regulator the Prudential
  Regulation Authority (PRA) has said the watchdog would probe deeper
  into the impact of facilities on carriers.
  The move came after participants in a recent survey expressed
  worries about a lack of transparency and the potential for
  conflicts of interest.
  In a 22 June letter to insurance CEOs, PRA director David Rule
  noted that most firms that took part in a recent market-monitoring
  exercise "had concerns about changing distribution
  
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• Merged Lark and Aston Scott to pursue further consolidation

  30-06-2017 16:47
  
  Aston Scott group CEO says management structure of the merged businesses is yet to be decided as he reveals more deals are in the pipeline.
  
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• World's largest insurtech Zhong An announces IPO

  30-06-2017 16:38
  
  The largest and best-funded insurtech in the world, Zhong An, has filed for an IPO in Hong Kong
  
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• Aston Scott and Lark merger has strengthened specialisms, says Blanc

  30-06-2017 16:38
  
  Peter Blanc lists HNW, renovation and motor trade are key strengths of the newly-merged organisation.
  
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• Unipol to streamline insurance operations

  30-06-2017 16:33
  Italian group to create internal bad bank to house €3bn of non-performing loans
  
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• Opinion: Hearts and minds

  30-06-2017 16:26
  Brian Duperreault is wasting no time in his efforts to win
  hearts and minds at AIG.
  The new CEO has already found favour with US staff by offering a
  bonus holiday on Monday to create a long 4 July weekend.
  The gesture, unveiled in a personal email to employees, was the
  first of its kind in memory, sources have suggested.
  But it is not just flagging staff morale that the former Ace and
  Marsh & McLennan Companies chief is set...
  
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• Irdai defers accounting rule implementation for insurers

  30-06-2017 16:26
  The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India
  (Irdai) has delayed the implementation date of new accounting rules
  for insurers from April 2018 to April 2020.
  The review was prompted by the International Accounting
  Standards Board, which last month unveiled the timetable for thelaunch of IFRS 17, an international accounting standard that
  will replace the existing IFRS 4 framework.
  At a meeting of board members last month, Irdai noted that the
  implementation of the Indian Accounting
  
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• Energy market 'on the cusp' of rate increases: JLT

  30-06-2017 16:26
  Poor underwriting results and worsening loss ratios suggest the
  energy market is "on the cusp" of a pricing shift,
  according to JLT.
  In its quarterly energy insurance newsletter, released today,
  the broker said further expense reductions were inevitable before
  the market "finds its level", but that the number of
  long-term deals struck recently suggested clients were bracing for
  a change.
  Despite the growing sense that market conditions are set to
  turn, JLT noted that the upstream energy sector h
  
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• Aston Scott confirms Lark acquisition

  30-06-2017 16:26
  Aston Scott, the broker consolidator led by erstwhile Oval CEO
  Peter Blanc, has agreed to buy Lark Group for an undisclosed sum,
  the firm announced today.
  The Insurance Insider first reported
  thatAston Scott was among the bidders for the business on 5 May,
  and revealed that it had beenawarded exclusivity in the sales process on 22 June.Bowmark Capital, which backs Blanc's broker, will become the
  majority shareholder of a new company which will acquire the entire
  share...
  
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• Italian bank debt: rough parenting

  30-06-2017 16:23
  Unipol’s unconventional deal does at least attempt to reduce bad debts
  
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• SSP launches SSP Broking

  30-06-2017 15:58
  
  Adrian Coupland says offering is the first of a number of new developments.
  
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• Medical insurer launches cover with "pioneering treatments"

  30-06-2017 15:40
  
  According to the insurer the policy offers treatments not available on the NHS or in the UK at international medical facilities.
  
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• AA left embarassed by self-inflicted DDoS attack

  30-06-2017 15:25
  
  Motor insurer AA crashed its own servers after mistakenly sending a 'password update' email to customers.
  
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• SSP Broking unveiled as powerful new platform for brokers

  30-06-2017 14:02
  
  SSP Broking strongly supported by brokers following in-depth product research on new platform 
  
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• Unipol restructures insurance operations

  30-06-2017 13:42
  Italian financial services provider Unipol is to transfer
  group-owned insurance businesses to its separately listed insurance
  division.
  It forms part of a wider restructuring that includes the
  creation of a "bad bank" to house soured loans.
  The plan was approved by the company's board yesterday. It
  also includes the transfer of a 98.5 percent stake in health
  insurer Unisalute for EUR715.0mn ($815.8mn), and of motor and
  non-life carrier Compagnia Assicuratrice Linear for EUR160.0mn to
  its 51 perc
  
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• R&Q founders trim share holdings

  30-06-2017 13:42
  Randall & Quilter (R&Q) co-founders Kenneth Randall and
  Alan Quilter have sold a combined £7.4mn ($8.4mn) of the
  company's shares in separate transactions.
  In a regulatory announcement yesterday the firm said Randall
  divested about 3.6 million shares worth £5.3mn, while Quilter
  sold 1.4 million shares valued at £2.1mn.
  Both transactions used a valuation of 147 pence per share. The
  sales leave the company's founders with stakes of 14.3 percent
  and 3.7 percent, respective
  
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• Ex-Dual exec Kilpatrick returns to market with Fidelis

  30-06-2017 13:42
  Russell Kilpatrick, who was one of the most senior staff at
  London's biggest MGA Dual for more than a decade, is set to
  rejoin the market with Richard Brindle's Fidelis,
  The Insurance Insider can reveal.
  Kilpatrick and long-time lieutenant Rinku Patel will start work
  as strategic consultants with Fidelis next week, sources said.
  It is understood that the pair will work with Fidelis on the
  development of its growing portfolio of MGA business, which
  currently forms around a quarter of...
  
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• Chinese InsurTech start-up files for IPO: reports

  30-06-2017 13:42
  Alibaba-backed Zhong An Online P&C Insurance has reportedly
  filed for a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in what could
  be the world's first InsurTech IPO.
  Zhong An, which is part-owned by fast-growing internet
  conglomerate Tencent, has reportedly submitted initial public
  offering documents.
  Alibaba's Ant Financial has a 16 percent stake in the
  business, while Tencent owns 12 percent. Chinese insurer Ping An
  also has a 12 percent holding in the group, according to equity
  ownership deta
  
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• Admiral exits E&S property

  30-06-2017 13:42
  WR Berkley subsidiary Admiral Insurance Group has pulled out of
  the excess and surplus lines (E&S) property market,
  The Insurance Insider can reveal.
  Although the carrier had written E&S property for many
  years, it had been viewed as a "niche business" alongside
  its main focus on casualty and professional liability lines,
  according to a market memo seen by this publication.
  "While this strategy served us well for a very long time,
  the property market has undergone many fundamental change
  
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• This Week in Post: Outdated and out of there

  30-06-2017 13:35
  
  I was recently lamenting shortage of space in my toy-cluttered flat and a (childless) colleague mentioned the baby cages Victorian households used to hang out of their windows. “There were mercifully few deaths,” he joked, as I gazed at an online image of the outdated devices, fascinated by their dangerous ingenuity.
  
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• Aston Scott and Lark Group to merge

  30-06-2017 13:16
  
  Bowmark Capital largest shareholder as new company is set up to buy both brokers.
  
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• Aston Scott and Lark merge to form new broking group

  30-06-2017 13:07
  
  Peter Blanc and Stephen Lark to be on board of new broking group
  
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• R&Q sells Norwegian Triton to Gabler

  30-06-2017 13:04
  
  R&Q has sold its Norwegian service company R&Q Triton AS to Gabler AS.
  
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• Nexus confirms plans for two more acquisitions with further to come

  30-06-2017 12:21 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  Firm describes MGA market as "red hot" for new starts and potential investor interest as it buys Vectura Underwriting.
  
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• Alps launches van bundle product

  30-06-2017 11:54
  
  Van Driver Plus is a combination of three current products Auto Replace, Tools in Transit and Sole Trader Legal expenses.
  
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• Quizzical questions: 30 June 2017

  30-06-2017 11:48
  
  Test your knowledge of the week's news with our topical quiz.
  
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• Apple to help businesses get discounts on cyber policies

  30-06-2017 11:40
  
  Apple is working with tech company Cisco Systems in order to help businesses to get discounts on their cyber security insurance policies.
  
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• Blog: Gumball - A Grid’s Eye View

  30-06-2017 11:24 via insuranceage.co.uk
  
  Jonny Smith shares his thoughts ahead of the start of the Gumball 3000 Rally
  
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• US weather losses top $100mn in a week: Impact

  30-06-2017 11:10
  Severe weather in the US in the past week is likely to generate
  insured and economic losses that will both exceed $100mn, according
  to Aon Benfield's Impact Forecasting unit.
  The Plains and the Midwest were the worst-affected regions, with
  the area hit by a slow-moving storm system between 27 June and 30
  June, the firm said in its weekly round-up report.
  Given the ongoing nature of the late June storm event, it
  remains too early to provide a specific economic...
  
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• Opinion: Playing the Trump card

  30-06-2017 11:10
  And there we have it.
  After a long and at times turbulent process Matt Fairfield's
  Exin haswon the race for Greek state-owned insurer Ethniki, beating out
  stiff competition from a determined cohort of Chinese rivals.
  Exin has gained an asset which may now propel the start-up's
  long-term growth, and cemented its position in the Greek market
  following its acquisition of AIG's operation in the country
  earlier this year.
  And that would be about all there would be to say...
  
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• Acturis buys broker software house

  30-06-2017 10:56
  
  Acturis follows up strong results by buying broker software house
  
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• Activist investor Icahn eases pressure on AIG – report

  30-06-2017 10:37
  
  Activist investor Icahn reportedly wants to give new chief executive a chance
  
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• Acturis buys German-based Lutronik

  30-06-2017 10:32
  
  Broker software company is located in Wesel.
  
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• Report: Zhong An files for IPO in Hong Kong

  30-06-2017 09:31
  
  Chinese internet only insurer Zhong An has filed for an IPO in Hong Kong according to reports.
  
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• Blog: Growing timber insurance, the essentials

  30-06-2017 08:00
  
  Growing timber insurance is a niche market that requires expertise, be it for underwriting or assessing fire or storm damages. Frank McGaffney, loss adjuster at Agrical, explains.
  
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• How the businesses of Brexit campaigner ‘King’ Arron Banks overlap

  30-06-2017 05:02
  FT investigation into the wealth of UK’s most prominent political donor 
  
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• JLT Specialty takes Aon's Schaeffer

  30-06-2017 01:08
  Jennifer Schaeffer has joined JLT Specialty from rival Aon where
  she focused on broking for technology, biotechnology, fintech and
  financial services firms.
  Based in JLT's San Francisco, Schaeffer will take up the
  role of senior vice president.
  She will be responsible for cultivating relationships with new
  clients and advising on a range of risk transfer projects for
  high-growth pre-IPO and Fortune 500 companies, the broker said in a
  statement.
  Before joining Aon, where she was for seven years a
  
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