Insurance news

• Harvey and Irma payouts top $1bn at NFIP

  05-10-2017 22:58
  National Flood Insurance Program policyholders have filed over
  115,000 claims related to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and the NFIP
  has paid out over $1bn so far, The Insurance
  Insider has learned.
  The insurer run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or
  Fema, indicated that most of the claims received to date - more
  than 88,000 so far - were filed in Texas related to Harvey.
  The agency has paid out more than $1bn so far just for Harvey
  claims, with...
  
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• Chubb names Alfieri as NA major accounts lead

  05-10-2017 22:58
  Chubb elevated Ace veteran John Alfieri to lead its North
  American major accounts group as an executive vice president.
  Alfieri continues to be based in New York, where he previously
  was the Zurich-based insurer's New York regional executive, the
  company said today. In his new role, he is in charge of field
  operations for major accounts in the US and Canada.
  He reports to North American major accounts COO Matthew Merna.
  Before Ace acquired Chubb early last year and took...
  
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• XL Innovate leads $11.6mn Slice funding round

  05-10-2017 17:55
  InsurTech start-up Slice has raised $11.6mn in Series A financing
  led by XL Innovate.
  Alongside the XL Catlin-owned investor, other Slice backers were
  Horizons Ventures, Munich Re/ HSB Ventures, Sompo, Plug and Play,
  and Tusk Ventures.
  Slice said it would use the proceeds to expand its product into
  new jurisdictions and new product areas. The on-demand, pay-per-use
  insurance provider added that it wants to offer the cloud-based
  system directly to large carriers globally.
  Slice launched in Octobe
  
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• Customers remain 'underwhelmed' despite $1.8bn insurtech investment

  05-10-2017 17:27
  Investment into insurtech has already reached $1.8bn (£1.37bn) this year, however customers have yet to see any benefits in terms of improved customer experience, research has found.
  
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• Broking success: Marc Loud, Park Insurance

  05-10-2017 16:38
  All the fun of the fair: Park Insurance’s partner Marc Loud explains how his firm, as well as writing more traditional lines, also works with circuses, fairgrounds, theme parks, barbershops and lap dancing bars
  
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• Management: Relocation, relocation, relocation

  05-10-2017 16:37
  How can businesses handle relocation with their employees? Peter Done explains how to orchestrate a successful office move
  
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• Broker Morning Matters: The highlights

  05-10-2017 15:44
  Our panel of experts debate the hot topics from cyber to Brexit, and the future of broking as InsurTech grows.
  
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• Open GI expands payment solutions

  05-10-2017 15:14
  The software house has partnered with Global Payments to offer the service to UK brokers.
  
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• Tropical Storm Nate heads for Nicaragua

  05-10-2017 15:12
  A tropical depression near the coast of Nicaragua has
  strengthened to become Tropical Storm Nate, according to the US
  National Hurricane Center.
  The latest public advisory from the NHC said the storm is
  forecast to move north-northwestward at a faster forward speed
  later today and continue through Friday night.
  The centre of the storm should then move across northeastern
  Nicaragua and eastern Honduras today and then over the northwestern
  Caribbean Sea tonight and Friday, according to the latest
  
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• PartnerRe warns of $475mn of HIM losses

  05-10-2017 15:12
  PartnerRe said it expects third quarter losses of about $475mn
  from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
  The forecast is pre-tax and net of retrocession and
  reinstatement premiums.
  The hurricane losses are well over double the $197mn in
  operating profit reported by PartnerRe in the third quarter last
  year. They are also equivalent to 7 percent of shareholder equity
  as of 30 June.
  The announcement follows news yesterday that fellow Bermudian
  RenRe isexpecting $625mn of losses from the three hurrica
  
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• EEA firms lag UK groups in Brexit planning: Woods

  05-10-2017 15:12
  An expected flood of authorisation applications from European
  Economic Area (EEA) financial services firms passporting into the
  UK will prove challenging for the Prudential Regulation Authority
  (PRA), Bank of England Deputy Governor Sam Woods has warned.
  In a speech at Mansion House yesterday, Woods, who is also CEO
  of the PRA, said the regulator received more than 400 submissions
  in response to its request for financial services companies to
  share their Brexit contingency plans by mid-July.
  "Wh
  
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• Aviation underwriters showing signs of steel: JLT

  05-10-2017 15:12
  Aviation rates are expected to flatten, and harden for
  loss-prone clients, with underwriters becoming more selective about
  the risks they take on, according to JLT's quarterly review of
  the aviation market.
  As the industry as a whole assesses the impact of the trio of
  Atlantic hurricanes on pricing, JLT predicted no major impact on
  aviation rates from the events.
  "What we believe is a more realistic scenario, in aviation,
  is that we will see a flattening out of rates as...
  
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• Allied World M&A trio depart

  05-10-2017 15:12
  Andrew Graham, head of M&A insurance at Allied World, has
  resigned from the firm along with two of his team, The
  Insurance Insider understands.
  Lee Amerigo and Svetlana Soroka have also left the company,
  sources told this publication.
  The trio's next destination is not known, but it has been
  widely suggested in the London M&A insurance market that they
  are looking to launch an MGA of their own.
  Allied World still has one senior London-based M&A
  underwriter in Hayley Tennant....
  
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• R&Q to raise $65mn as Randall relinquishes CEO role

  05-10-2017 12:33
  R&Q said it would raise up to £49.3mn ($65.4mn) from
  the sale of new shares as it announced that Ken Randall would step
  down as CEO to become executive chairman.
  Randall's role change will be effective from next summer,
  when CFO Tom Booth will become CEO and chief operating officer Alan
  Quilter will become deputy chairman. R&Q said it would appoint
  replacements for both men's current positions.
  The board changes were announced alongside the news that R&Q
  had conditionally raise
  
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• Opinion: HIMN

  05-10-2017 12:33
  It doesn't have quite the same ring to it as HIM. But the
  latest weather reports have raised the prospect that we could be
  forced to add a fourth letter to the acronym we have been using to
  refer to the flurry of North Atlantic storms.
  Nate may have to be added to the roster of destruction that
  currently runs from Harvey to Irma to Maria.
  The storm is brewing in the western Caribbean and meteorologists
  expect it tointensify...
  
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• Lockton confirms Rivers as global marine head

  05-10-2017 12:33
  Lockton has hired Alistair Rivers to lead its marine and
  transportation business globally.
  Confirmation of the appointment comes more than a year after
  this publication reported his new role after hisresignation as Willis' co-head of global P&C, which
  included leadership of the P&C UK business.
  Rivers was also previously co-head of global specialties London
  and head of global natural resources at Willis, Lockton noted. He
  was originally CEO of Willis' marine operations, before also
  being
  
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• Integro in advanced talks to acquire Tysers

  05-10-2017 12:33
  Private equity-backed broker Integro has entered exclusive
  takeover talks with London market independent intermediary Tysers,
  The Insurance Insider can reveal.
  Banking sources told this publication that Integro had fought
  off competition from long-term suitor RFIB and US wholesale giant
  AmWins to secure exclusivity.
  One banking source suggested that the purchase price was in the
  region of £120mn ($159mn). Tysers reported Ebitda of
  £10.6mn for calendar-year 2016, implying a trailing m
  
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• Fleming resigns from Council of Lloyd's

  05-10-2017 12:33
  Former investment banker Greg Fleming has resigned from his
  position as a nominated member on the Council of Lloyd's due to
  work commitments.
  Fleming took the decision after being appointed CEO of
  Rockefeller Capital Management. He had replaced Henrique Meirelles
  on the Council in March 2016.
  Lloyd's said: "He will leave immediately and the
  process to find a replacement is underway."
  Fleming will become the founding CEO of Rockefeller Capital
  Management, teaming up with Rockefeller Financial Ser
  
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• R&Q raises £45m additional capital to fund growth plans

  05-10-2017 11:49
  Randall & Quilter has raised £45m in share capital which will provide “significant growth opportunities” in future, the company said.
  
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• Top 100 UK insurers 2017

  05-10-2017 11:01
  Who are the top 100 UK insurers? Check out the ranking established by Post, in association with AM Best.
  
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• Rural Insurance signs five year £41m capacity deal with Zurich

  05-10-2017 10:13
  Agricultural insurer switches from XL Catlin as main capacity supplier.
  
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• India's GIC Re sets IPO price range

  05-10-2017 10:03
  Indian government-owned General Insurance Corporation of India,
  known as GIC Re, has priced its initial public share offering to
  raise as much as 113.7bn rupees ($1.768bn).
  The Mumbai-based reinsurer set the offer's price band per
  share at 855 to 912 rupees and said subscriptions for the IPO will
  open on 18 October and close three days later.
  The deal will sell off 124.7 million shares, including 107.5
  million held by the government and 17.2 million new shares issued
  by the...
  
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• Analysts expect double-digit rate rises after HIM

  05-10-2017 10:03
  Analysts are forecasting double-digit rate increases in US
  property catastrophe business following the combined losses from
  hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the two Mexican
  earthquakes.
  Morgan Stanley analyst Kai Pan estimated combined Q3 industry
  losses could surpass $100bn.
  A confluence of factors - including the significant impact to
  earnings and industry capital, the current low level of P&C
  pricing and the potential lock-up of alternative capital - could
  mean double-digit rate incr
  
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• Aviva acquires majority shareholding in digital investment firm

  05-10-2017 10:03
  Aviva has agreed to acquire a majority shareholding in the holding company of digital investment firm Wealthify.
  
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• Rural Insurance signs £41m capacity deal with Zurich

  05-10-2017 10:02
  Rural Insurance has signed a long term capacity deal with Zurich worth £41m.
  
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• Vantage GWP hits £48m following deal

  05-10-2017 09:57
  The broker recently bought Maybury James and has its sights on two other niche brokers.
  
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• Top UK insurers 2017: AM Best commentary: The uncertainty principle

  05-10-2017 07:00
  Hit by a negative discount rate, the top 100 UK insurers reported a combined underwriting loss last year. What other challenges has the market faced?
  
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• Q&A: Chris Smith, Mapfre Global Risks

  05-10-2017 07:00
  Mapfre Global Risks wants to grow its specialisms in the London market and is working on a UK retail proposition, says Chris Smith, chief regions and markets officer for International.
  
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• Analysis: Hurricane harm

  05-10-2017 06:00
  Hurricane season has caused devastation across the Atlantic but, despite the human death toll, the impact on reinsurers is likely to be limited
  
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• White House asks Congress for $16bn NFIP bailout

  05-10-2017 02:34
  The National Flood Insurance Program would get a $16bn infusion of
  credit under a new disaster relief financing proposal White House
  budget director Mick Mulvaney sent to Congress late today.
  In his request, Mulvaney said the NFIP, as it is known, will be
  unable to pay claims by later this month, having exhausted its cash
  on hand and $30.4bn in borrowing authority from the US Treasury.
  "The recent hurricanes have inflicted projected losses of $16
  billion," Mulvaney said. "Put plainly,...
  
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• Third Point Re posts sub-$10mn cat loss and 14% return

  05-10-2017 02:34
  Total return reinsurer Third Point Re notified investors today
  that its net losses from recent catastrophes would amount to less
  than $10mn, while adding that its year-to-date investment results
  reached 14.4 percent.
  "Third Point Re does not write any catastrophe excess of
  loss contracts and had only modest losses from the recent
  catastrophe events," CEO Bob Bredahl said today in a
  regulatory filing.
  "Our total return business model is to manage our
  investment portfolio for higher expected retur
  
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• SPG buys all-female professional liability MGA

  05-10-2017 02:34
  Hub International-owned specialty broker binding authority and
  managing general agent Specialty Program Group (SPG) has acquired
  professional and management liability underwriter Capitol Special
  Risks (CSR).
  SPG revealed it bought the Atlanta-based wholesaler and managing
  general underwriter for an undisclosed sum in a statement released
  today,
  The new acquisition prides itself on being "one of the only
  all-female specialty brokerages" in the US, Summit, New
  Jersey-based SPG said.
  "This merger w
  
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• E&S property drives $56mn State Auto hurricane losses

  05-10-2017 02:34
  State Auto has estimated a pre-tax hit from third quarter
  catastrophe losses of $56.1mn, with 80 percent coming from its
  specialty excess and surplus lines (E&S) property unit.
  The Columbus, Ohio-based insurer said the estimate includes losses
  of $32.5mn from Hurricane Harvey and $23.0mn from Hurricane Irma.
  But it added that it doesn't expect to make any recoveries
  under its group-level property catastrophe treaty, which attaches
  above a retention of $75mn per event.
  The company highlighted
  
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• Top UK insurers 2017: Top 100 table

  05-10-2017 02:00
  Each year Post works in association with ratings agency AM Best to put together a list of the UK’s top 100 UK insurers.
  
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