Insurance news

• Philippines sets up World Bank-backed $206mn cat cover

  15-08-2017 23:25
  A new $206mn catastrophe risk insurance programme developed by the
  Filipino government and the World Bank that involves major European
  reinsurers will help the Pacific island nation better respond to
  losses from severe weather, earthquakes and other natural
  disasters.
  The venture, which is the first of its sort to involve the World
  Bank, was officially announced today in Washington, where the
  lending institution is based, sister publication Trading
  Risk reports.
  Reinsurers Nephila, Swiss Re, Mun
  
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• Navigators hires Rhyner to lead US D&O and E&O lines

  15-08-2017 23:25
  Navigators Group plucked Jim Rhyner from the senior ranks of
  Chubb to run its Navigators Pro division from an office in New
  Jersey.
  The job includes leading Navigators' directors and officers
  and errors and omissions businesses in the US, the Stamford,
  Connecticut-based company said today. Rhyner will be based in
  Iselin, a New York suburb.
  At Chubb, Rhyner was a senior vice president, professional
  liability. Earlier, he worked as a partner at wholesale
  professional liability broker and MGA Avrec
  
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• JLT Re takes Guy Carp's Alberti

  15-08-2017 23:25
  JLT Re has hired Gregory Alberti from larger rival Guy Carpenter,
  The Insurance Insider can reveal.
  At Guy Carpenter, Alberti was a vice president who specialised in
  placing program and managing general agency business.
  It is understood that he will continue to work in that field when
  he starts as a vice president at JLT Re, which could be as soon as
  next week.
  Alberti is understood to have worked on a number of non-standard
  auto accounts while at Guy...
  
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• AIG shops a $2bn book of legacy life policies

  15-08-2017 23:25
  AIG is said to be shopping a legacy book of death benefit
  policies valued at as much as $2bn, with private-equity firms
  taking a serious look, as the giant multi-line insurer winds down a
  strategy of asset sales begun by former CEO Peter Hancock.
  New CEO Brian Duperreault has asserted his plan to focus on growing the New York-based
  company without further parting out and including future
  acquisitions as part of his strategy. Duperreault replaced Hancock
  in May.
  But the...
  
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• Gray to stay with Ed cyber treaty team

  15-08-2017 20:22
  Ben Gray, a producing cyber treaty broker at Ed, is to remain at
  the broking house despite previous reports he was moving to JLT Re.
  In July, JLT Re announced Gray was to join the London cyber
  treaty team as a partner.
  However, JLT Re had issued its press release before the end of
  Gray's notice period, and he has since chosen to stay at
  Ed.
  Ed confirmed to The Insurance Insider
  that Gray will remain at the broker.
  A...
  
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• Brown & Brown steps up share repurchase pace

  15-08-2017 20:22
  US intermediary Brown & Brown plans to accelerate the
  repurchase of $50mn shares under an existing buyback authority
  established two years ago.
  Brown & Brown did not set a timeframe for the accelerated
  buyback. The Daytona Beach, Florida-based broker said that its
  directors authorised $400mn in repurchases in July 2015, adding to
  $50mn that remained from a previous buyback plan.
  The company has steadily returned cash to investors through
  repurchases, buying 261,615 shares at an average p
  
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• Assurant taps MMC for legal chief

  15-08-2017 20:22
  Assurant has named Carey Roberts as its new chief legal officer,
  replacing the retiring Bart Schwartz.
  Roberts spent nearly three years with Marsh & McLennan
  Companies as deputy general counsel, adding the chief of compliance
  role two years ago. Previously, she worked for 17 years as a
  corporate lawyer with Covington & Burling, becoming a partner
  in 2005.
  "Carey is a seasoned legal professional, whose skills have
  been honed through both global law firm and in-house practice
  experience,"
  
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• The push for faster aid to developing countries

  15-08-2017 17:33 via ft.com
  Western governments believe insurance will help deliver relief more effectively. But some fear the policies do not cover the real risks
  
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• Memorial to be held for John Mumford

  15-08-2017 16:49
  A memorial service will be held on 15 September for London
  market veteran John Mumford, after the executive lost his battle
  with cancer in April.
  The service will be held at Merchant Taylors' Hall, 30
  Threadneedle Street, at 13:30 with a reception to follow.
  Mumford was most recently chairman of Neon, but had had a career
  spanning four decades in the London market.
  He formed and ran the specialty lines division at CNA Re before
  establishing his own Lloyd's syndicate,...
  
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• Bennett Christmas buys Horsham-based Slade Edwards Insurance

  15-08-2017 15:58
  Existing Slade Edwards staff will join the Bennett Christmas team from September.
  
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• One Broker Group buys East Anglian broker

  15-08-2017 15:43
  One Broker Group buys East Anglian broker GDIS
  
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• Sompo Canopius lands Pike for trade credit team

  15-08-2017 14:19
  Sompo Canopius has added to its growing trade credit and
  political risk team with the hire of Stephen Pike from securities
  and commodities broker ED&F Man Capital Markets.
  Pike was deputy head of specialty commodity finance at ED&F
  Man, where he established a trade finance lending business.
  The executive previously worked at hedge fund Cyrus Capital,
  where he was part of a team running a portfolio of credit
  investments. He began his finance career at Merrill Lynch as an
  M&a...
  
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• Q2 losses erode Cincinnati Financial ILS deductible

  15-08-2017 14:19
  An active second quarter for storm losses has put Cincinnati
  Financial closer to being able to claim reinsurance cover from an
  $80mn cat bond layer, but losses are still well short of the
  deal's trigger.
  There is a $190mn deductible on the Skyline Re bond's storm
  reinsurance layer.
  After the first quarter, three notable storms had eroded $86mn
  of the aggregate deductible. This number moved up more slowly in
  the second quarter to reach $119mn from a total of nine...
  
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• NOAA joins warning of active hurricane season

  15-08-2017 14:19
  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
  joined other forecasters in projecting a more active US hurricane
  season this year in its updated August outlook, as the second
  hurricane of 2017 emerged.
  Tropical Storm Gert has strengthened to a hurricane overnight
  (14 August) and is expected to cause rough seas on the east coast
  of the US but is not forecast to make landfall, according to the US
  National Hurricane Center (NHC).
  The NHC predicts the storm will move northeast...
  
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• Icat draws CFC-level multiple in Schinnerer sale

  15-08-2017 14:19
  US property cat insurance player Icat has again demonstrated the
  frenzied levels of interest in MGA assets with its high-multiple
  sale to Marsh's the Schinnerer Group.
  The deal also flagged the continued blurring of the lines
  between broking and underwriting businesses.
  The Schinnerer Group announced on 10 August that it had
  prevailed in the sale process run by Icat's backers, which
  included hedge fund Elliott Management and Wand Partners.
  The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but sources ha
  
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• Heritage-Narragansett deal gets cool investor response

  15-08-2017 14:19
  Heritage chairman and CEO Bruce Lucas has described the
  Floridian's $250mn deal for northeast US insurer Narragansett
  Bay as a "game changer".
  But investors appear unconvinced that the potential benefits of
  the transaction in growth and reinsurance synergies outweigh the
  dilutive and debt-levering impact of its financing.
  Shares traded down sharply last week after
  markets reacted negatively to the homeowners' specialist filing
  details of a $125mn convertible debt issue to fund part of the
  $210mn
  
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• Beazley leads £400mn Tesco cyber tower

  15-08-2017 14:19
  UK retail giant Tesco has come to the London cyber market to
  secure a £400mn ($520mn) tower that has Beazley as the primary
  lead insurer, The Insurance Insider has
  learned.
  The cyber placement is said to be one of the largest to have
  been written in London, and to have required almost all London
  markets to put down lines in order to meet the required limit.
  Beazley is understood to have written the £50mn primary
  layer via its capacity arrangement...
  
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• AmTrust and Maiden dive after Q2 results

  15-08-2017 14:19
  Weary investors punished sister companies AmTrust and Maiden
  last week to send the share price of both firms tumbling, although
  only one of the carriers underperformed against expectations in the
  second quarter.
  The two companies released their Q2 numbers roughly 40 minutes
  apart on 8 August and while the reports told two very different
  stories, investors did not appear to distinguish in their treatment
  of the firms.
  Maiden finished trading on Friday (11 August)
  with shares changing hands for ju
  
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• Chinese curbs stem surging sales of risky investments

  15-08-2017 14:19 via ft.com
  Collapse in demand for universal life policies poses risk for insurers, analysts warn
  
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• One Broker buys Gibbs Denley Insurance Services

  15-08-2017 13:37
  Management team and all staff to stay with the business.
  
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• General insurance complaints jump within the last year

  15-08-2017 13:12
  General insurance complaints submitted to the Financial Ombudsman Service have increased over the last year, recent results have shown.
  
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• Allianz reassures brokers over LV commercial book concerns

  15-08-2017 13:02
  Exclusive: Allianz has sought to reassure brokers over concerns regarding renewals of the acquired LV commercial book.
  
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• Webinar: The power and potential of technology and analytics

  15-08-2017 12:53
  There is a lot of noise around the potential for data analytics to give insurers an advantage in everything from pricing to fraud detection.
  
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• FOS to take on claims management company complaints

  15-08-2017 12:52
  Ombudsman to handle claims management company complaints after FCA starts regulating them
  
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• Claims handler sees personal injury claim dismissed on the grounds of fundamental dishonesty

  15-08-2017 12:40
  Two claimants, one of whom was a road traffic accident claims handler, have had their £10,000 personal injury claims dismissed at trial and been found to be fundamentally dishonest.
  
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• In-depth - Personal lines: The omni-channel future

  15-08-2017 12:30
  From a high street presence to mobile phones, brokers need to offer a range of possible ways to engage with new customers and hold onto existing clients
  
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• Personal motor drives jump in general insurance complaints

  15-08-2017 12:07
  New general insurance complaints to FOS rise in Q1
  
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• Insurance Cares: Whatever it takes for the customer

  15-08-2017 12:01
  Chris Cowen of Auger says customers have a right to expect more from their insurers and their approved suppliers when they most need them, especially following a flood.
  
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• Towergate to roll out food safety compliance tech

  15-08-2017 11:56
  Towergate Insurance has partnered up with technology provider, Checkit, in order to reduce business premiums and the risk of liability for food companies.
  
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• Jersey watchdog to increase insurance business rates

  15-08-2017 11:08
  The Jersey Financial Services Commission has increased insurance business fee rates 18.1% in line with inflation following a consultation that received no feedback.
  
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• Ombudsman reveals slight fall in PPI cases for start of financial year

  15-08-2017 10:16 via insuranceage.co.uk
  However first quarter saw rise in enquiries.
  
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• Opinion: Avoiding disaster

  15-08-2017 09:57
  An Australian Senate committee report this weekreignited debate about the country's spending to mitigate
  natural catastrophes, as it called for more investment in efforts
  at loss prevention.
  The federal government has so far resisted suggestions that such
  spending should rise to A$200mn ($157mn) per year from current
  estimates of A$50mn.
  Yet news outlet The Australian estimated that a much
  larger A$500mn average sum is spent every year on disaster relief
  efforts.
  Despite the clear long-term fina
  
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• Hurricane Gert emerges in Atlantic

  15-08-2017 09:57
  Atlantic tropical storm Gert has strengthened to a hurricane
  overnight, according to weather data from the US National Hurricane
  Center (NHC).
  Tropical storm Gert became a hurricane on 14 August around 300
  miles (482km) to the east of Bermuda and 250 miles to the West of
  Virginia.
  The NHC predicts the storm will move north east into the north
  Atlantic. The hurricane is expected to cause rough seas and rip
  tides on the east coast of the US, but will...
  
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• Arch plans new preferred share and US ADR offering

  15-08-2017 01:47
  Arch Capital plans to offer new preferred share depositary
  receipts to raise funds that will be used to redeem its Series C
  preferred stock, the company said in a regulatory filing today.
  The new depositary shares will be listed on the Nasdaq Stock
  Market under the ACGLO symbol, the Bermuda-based company said
  today. Each depositary share will represent a one-thousandth
  interest in a series F preferred share, including redemption value
  and dividends, the company said.
  A Series F preferred share..
  
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