Insurance news

• Catlin: I'll be back

  04-07-2017 21:23
  Stephen Catlin, who stepped down from the board of XL Group on
  15 May, has hinted that he will return to the market after he
  leaves XL Catlin and will look to work on an InsurTech venture.
  Catlin's retirement from XL Catlin was announced in April
  2017, with the (re)insurer's outgoing executive deputy chairman
  continuing as a special advisor to group CEO Mike McGavick until
  year end and then as a consultant through to September 2018.
  Speaking at the Managing...
  
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• Munich Re Specialty draws Asia head from Euler Hermes

  04-07-2017 18:18
  Munich Re Specialty Group has appointed Celine Ang to the new
  position of head of Asia from Allianz-backed trade credit insurer
  Euler Hermes.
  Ang will start on 1 August and be responsible for Munich Re
  Syndicate offices across the region. She will be based in
  Singapore.
  A spokesperson said Munich Re Syndicate Singapore will become
  the central underwriting hub in the region under Ang.
  The representative said the hub will add further speciality
  lines to its existing range of niche...
  
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• Liberty confirms Luxembourg choice for EU hub

  04-07-2017 18:18
  Liberty Specialty Markets has confirmed it has picked Luxembourg
  for its EU base after Brexit.
  The carrier will seek approvals to set up a capitalised insurance
  company and insurance intermediary domiciled in the Grand Duchy to
  serve the Lloyd's and company market, it said today.
  Confirmation of its choice comes after The Insurance
  Insiderreported in May that Liberty would select Luxembourg for its
  new EU subsidiary.
  No jobs are expected to move from London to Luxembourg, with the
  carrier...
  
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• Insurance Times: Award-winning journalism

  04-07-2017 18:00
  
  Insurance Times journalists recognised for their in-depth and insightful coverage of the insurance industry
  
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• Aviva data theft warning issued as ex-manager sobs in dock before judge

  04-07-2017 17:57
  
  Premium content: Aviva data theft warning for ex-manager approached in car park to sell data 
  
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• Liberty unveils location for post-Brexit unit

  04-07-2017 17:42
  
  London-based insurer latest to announce location for post-Brexit unit
  
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• Motor insurance firms in Ireland raided over ‘anti-cartel’ EU rules

  04-07-2017 17:29
  
  Motor insurance providers in Ireland have been raided by officials from the European competition watchdog.
  
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• Active Quote appoints Rob Saunders as managing director

  04-07-2017 17:25
  
  Rob Saunders has been appointed as managing director of Active Quote, the online comparison service and broker for health and protection insurance.
  
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• More women are at executive level in financial services than ever before

  04-07-2017 17:15
  
  Columbia Treadneedle Investments has issued a report highlighting the increased representation of women across 12 sectors in the financial industry.
  
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• Liberty picks Luxembourg for post-Brexit hub

  04-07-2017 16:49
  
  Liberty Speciality Markets has selected Luxembourg for its post-Brexit headquarters.
  
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• Flood Re reports pre-tax profit of £130 million

  04-07-2017 16:42
  
  Flood Re has reported a pre-tax profit of £130 million in its end of year results after backing 127,326 policies in its first year of operation.
  
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• Post journalists scoop a trio of gongs at Biba Awards 2017

  04-07-2017 16:19
  
  Post journalists have been recognised for their outstanding work in three categories at the British Insurance Brokers' Association Awards 2017.
  
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• UK bad bank to sell £5bn more crisis-era mortgages

  04-07-2017 16:09
  Some of the Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley loans carry attractive yields
  
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• Liberty to move EU operations to Luxembourg due to Brexit

  04-07-2017 15:34
  
  Firm to retain London headquarters.
  
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• MGAA reveals battleplan to help members

  04-07-2017 15:32
  
  MGAA chair Manchester says ‘old ways have gone forever’ but the MGAA can help members thrive 
  
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• Chubb enhances package policy for technology companies

  04-07-2017 15:14
  
  Insurer highlights improved cyber cover in new offering.
  
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• Brokers being ignored by tech-hungry 'faceless insurers'

  04-07-2017 15:00
  
  Brokers being ignored as insurers race towards technology and it’s eroding relationships, says MUM director
  
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• Talbot A&H duo to join AmTrust at Lloyd's

  04-07-2017 14:58
  AmTrust at Lloyd's has hired Jahangez Chaudhery and William
  Waddell-Dudley from Talbot to enhance its accident and health
  (A&H) offering, The Insurance Insider
  can reveal.
  Chaudhery was formerly deputy head of A&H at Talbot
  Underwriting, a role he held for almost six years. Prior to this,
  he spent three years as a reinsurance underwriter at Chartis
  Insurance, as well as completing a four-year stint at AIG.
  Waddell-Dudley was formerly a senior class underwriter at
  Talbot.
  The hire of two
  
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• Safeonline looks to private equity for growth

  04-07-2017 14:58
  Specialist cyber broker Safeonline is holding discussions with a
  number of US private equity firms to explore the prospect of
  finding a new backer, The Insurance
  Insider understands.
  It is understood the London market broker is looking to secure
  further funding in order to position itself to take full advantage
  of the ever-increasing demand for cyber insurance solutions.
  Sources told this publication that talks are at a very early
  stage, and Safeonline has not yet decided whether it will look...
  
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• Report calls for Indian insurance regulation overhaul

  04-07-2017 14:58
  A white paper from a former Indian insurance regulator and the
  former Lloyd's general representative for India has called for
  the country's watchdog to "step up to the plate" and
  transform the national insurance market.
  The paper's authors are H Ansari, former member of the
  Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai),
  and Arun Agarwal, a former Lloyd's representative who is now a
  director of Kotak Mahindra General Insurance.
  Among the main recommendations are for Irdai to ens
  
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• PPL deployed to place 6,000 risks

  04-07-2017 14:58
  More than 6,000 risks have now been bound using Placing Platform
  Limited (PPL), the insurance exchange introduced a year ago as part
  of the London market modernsation programme.
  PPL has shared its usage data for the past year with
  The Insurance Insider.
  April was the month where the most risks were bound using the
  system, with 1,299 slips processed. In May 870 risks were written,
  with 871 bound in June.
  PPL has been embraced by brokers and
  underwriters in financial...
  
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• Nephila's Velocity to carve out coastal risk from insurance giants

  04-07-2017 14:58
  Nephila's property cat-focused MGA Velocity Risk
  Underwriters is working with some of the largest US personal lines
  carriers on an initiative that could see it write a significant
  portfolio of coastal exposure, The Insurance
  Insider can reveal.
  According to sources, Velocity has reached agreement with a
  large national carrier and a number of major distribution sources
  to assume swathes of cat risk on the A rated paper it offers
  through Nephila's fronting partners. It is understood to also
  be in.
  
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• LMG offers site visits to explain its objectives

  04-07-2017 14:58
  London Market Group (LMG) CEO Chris Beazley has offered to carry
  out on-site visits to London market practitioners to improve the
  sector's understanding of the trade body's goals.
  Speaking to the London 100 gathering at the City of London Club
  last week, Beazley said: "We need to communicate more. I
  fundamentally believe we need to be doing that directly into your
  organisations.
  "Town halls, one-to-ones, management team meetings,
  articles on your intranets, lunch and learns, if you suggest it,
  I
  
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• Insurers appeal for post-Brexit contract continuity

  04-07-2017 14:58
  One year on from the Brexit referendum, London market
  participants have named the threat to policyholder continuity
  around claims and in-force policies as the biggest issue arising
  from the UK's separation from the EU.
  Sources note that the devastating fire at Grenfell Tower in west
  London, which looks set to implicate multiple carriers and
  insureds, has highlighted the scope for confusion over unsettled
  large and complex claims from incidents that occur before
  Brexit.
  Meanwhile, EU negotiators'
  
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• Industry seeks Brexit leeway for EU carriers in UK

  04-07-2017 14:58
  The (re)insurance industry is lobbying to ensure the 80 or so EU
  carriers that underwrite risk in the UK through local branches can
  avoid policy disruption after Brexit.
  The UK's International Underwriting Association (IUA) has
  sought government intervention in the matter, said the
  organisation's chairman Malcolm Newman, who is also managing
  director of Scor's Emea hub.
  The IUA has asked the Treasury to allow the Bank of England to
  use emergency provisions under the 2000 Financial Services and
  M
  
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• GIC Re on course for 2018 Lloyd's launch

  04-07-2017 14:58
  India's state-owned reinsurer GIC Re is poised to realise
  its long-held Lloyd's ambitions next year with the launch of a
  full syndicate, The Insurance Insider can
  reveal.
  Sources told this publication that GIC Re has been working with
  Pembroke, the Lloyd's arm of Ironshore, on the start-up for a
  number of months and is targeting a launch in early 2018.
  It is understood that the start-up, which would be turnkeyed by
  Pembroke, is likely to go before the Franchise Board...
  
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• Final London ILS regulations the next step

  04-07-2017 14:58
  Final regulations for a London market insurance-linked securities
  (ILS) regime are likely to address issues the industry raised with
  previous drafts, senior adviser to the cabinet office Michael Wade
  said in a panel discussion at the Reactions London Market
  (re)insurance conference last week.
  Wade's comments follow a letter sent by the new Economic
  Secretary to the Treasury, Steve Barclay, to the London Market
  Group. In it he confirmed the government's intention to
  complete the UK's ILS framewor
  
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• Fairfax tests LatAm market with old AIG book

  04-07-2017 14:58
  Fairfax put the Latin American reinsurance market to the test as it
  sought up to $200mn of cover for a number of businesses in the
  region that it acquired from AIG late last year, The
  Insurance Insider understands.
  It is the first time that the books in Argentina, Chile,
  Colombia, Uruguay and Venezuela have been brought to the market on
  a standalone basis since AIG centralised its reinsurance buying a
  number of years ago.
  One source described the Aon Benfield-placed...
  
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• Ex-Dual CEO Bains exploring new business

  04-07-2017 14:58
  Former Dual CEO Talbir Bains is in the early stages of working to
  establish a new underwriting business, The Insurance
  Insider can reveal.
  Sources said that Bains, who was a senior staff member at QBE
  Europe for 14 years prior to joining Dual, is working with brokers
  including Aon Benfield to line up the capital and paper for the
  venture.
  Only the outlines of the project are believed to be in place at
  this stage, and details are being jealously...
  
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• Coverys eyes EC3 growth with R&Q agency deal

  04-07-2017 14:58
  Coverys, which announced the acquisition of Randall &
  Quilter (R&Q)'s Lloyd's managing agency late last
  month, bought the business as the first step in driving growth
  within the London market, according to its CEO.
  Speaking to The Insurance Insider,
  Gregg Hanson said the US medical malpractice insurer was looking at
  several opportunities, including launching a full syndicate to sit
  alongside R&Q Syndicate 1991, having acquired the managing
  agency for $22.6mn.
  However, he stressed tha
  
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• Bishopsgate raids Ed for binders and construction staff

  04-07-2017 14:58
  Bishopsgate, the expansive London wholesale broking start-up
  that reports to David Ross, has hired a slew of senior staff from
  rival Ed including its London construction team, The
  Insurance Insider can reveal.
  It is further understood that Jeff Bassett, a senior North
  American binders broker who handles the key Bass Underwriting
  account, has quit Ed to join Bishopsgate.
  Sources said that Edouard Marron, managing director of
  construction for Lightyear Capital's broking platform, tendered
  his resi
  
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• AmWins signs up Munich Re to property sidecar facility

  04-07-2017 14:58
  Wholesale giant AmWins is launching a new facility to offer
  additional shared and layered property insurance limit with
  capacity from Munich Re, The Insurance
  Insider can reveal.
  According to sources, the AmWins Sidecar Facility (ASF) will
  begin accepting risks from 1 July and will be managed by the
  firm's Special Risk Underwriters MGA, led by Chicago-based
  Katie Davies.
  It effectively replaces the facility that thebroker entered into with Nephila Capital in early 2015.
  Munich Re's capacity will
  
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• AmTrust seeks $100mn cat bond debut

  04-07-2017 14:58
  AmTrust Financial Services has joined the list of first-time cat
  bond sponsors in 2017 as it seeks to raise $100mn from Fortius Re
  II, according to Trading Risk sources.
  The proposed insurance-linked securities (ILS) issuance would
  cover its subsidiaries against named storms and earthquake losses
  in the US and Canada.
  The deal could be used to provide either indemnity
  per-occurrence cover for the carrier's property book or to
  insure its workers' compensation portfolio against US quake
  risks on a
  
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• Blog: The world’s scariest motor insurance risk?

  04-07-2017 13:11
  
  At ERS we like a bit of a challenge. In the past few years we’ve insured everything from Lamborghinis to ice cream vans and Bugattis to Bentleys.
  
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• Profit after tax up 34% at Moorhouse in 2016

  04-07-2017 12:32
  
  According to the broker 2016 saw it develop both its direct and wholesale businesses “driving top line income”.
  
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• Jobs at risk in Axa office closures in Ireland, reports

  04-07-2017 12:19
  
  The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland could see up to 100 people lose their jobs as 18 branches may be set for closure.
  
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• Three out of four concerned over insurer use of driverless car data

  04-07-2017 12:14
  
  Three out of four motorists are concerned that insurers will use data from driverless cars to justify raising premiums.
  
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• MGAA takes action over members hit by Brexit disruption

  04-07-2017 11:57
  
  The Managing General Agents' Association must take a leading role in supporting members through the challenges of Brexit, its chairman said.
  
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• Opinion: Hancock history

  04-07-2017 11:34
  This morning, our cousins across the pond will wake up to
  celebrate their day of independence from these fair isles.
  Aside from cook-outs, fireworks, waving the stars and stripes,
  and other examples of 4 July revelry, a few will take the time to
  educate their children about the great men who signed the
  Declaration of Independence in 1776.
  As any good historian can tell you, the declaration was actually
  signed on 2 August, rather than 4 July, and it was...
  
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• Markerstudy discloses actions on £109mn capital shortfall

  04-07-2017 11:34
  Gibraltar-based motor insurance specialist Markerstudy ran a
  £109.0mn ($141.2mn) solvency capital ratio (SCR) deficit in
  2016, prompting the insurer to take action to cover the shortfall.In the company's solvency and financial condition report
  released Friday it revealed the gap in its finances was covered by
  a £35mn capital injection as well as a £92mn
  capitalisation of inter-group loans and a further £2.6mn boost
  from actions related to a group restructure.
  The actions
  
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• Flood Re reports £130m pre-tax profit

  04-07-2017 11:32
  
  Annual report shows that 127,326 policies have benefitted from Flood Re backing in its first year of operation.
  
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• Eastwood Private Clients aims to double in size over two years

  04-07-2017 10:48
  
  HNW division of Eastwood and Partners launches following re-brand.
  
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• Axa to cut 18 branches as Irish operation is scaled back

  04-07-2017 10:48
  
  Axa will close 18 branches across Ireland and Northern Ireland, reportedly affecting more than 100 jobs.
  
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• Shortlists announced for UK Broker Awards 2017

  04-07-2017 10:47
  
  Event takes place on 15 September at The Brewery in London.
  
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• InsurTech Futures: Brokers face disruption from start-ups, warns PwC's Howe

  04-07-2017 10:11
  
  PwC global InsurTech leader Jonathan Howe urges brokers to respond to innovation in the sector.
  
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• In Depth: After Autofocus: Where next for the credit hire industry?

  04-07-2017 07:00
  
  Last month, seven former employees of Autofocus were collectively given prison sentences of more than five years after being found guilty of doctoring hire rate evidence to defend insurers in court against credit hire companies in thousands of cases.
  
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• Analysis: After Autofocus: Where next for the credit hire industry?

  04-07-2017 07:00
  
  Last month, seven former employees of Autofocus were collectively given prison sentences of more than five years after being found guilty of doctoring hire rate evidence to defend insurers in court against credit hire companies in thousands of cases.
  
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• Insurers may face $6.8bn in crumbling cement claims

  04-07-2017 01:36
  Homeowners' insurers may face as much as $6.8bn in claims
  over failing foundations in Connecticut, where dozens of residents
  have joined a lawsuit seeking to force more than 100 carriers to
  cover the situation confronting as many as 34,000 property owners
  in the Nutmeg State.
  Dozens of claimants in the lawsuit assert that their cement
  foundations were contaminated with minerals that interact with
  oxygen causing the material to crumble and ultimately fail. They
  claim their basement walls are in a
  
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