Insurance news

• Progressive posts $155mn in September cat losses

  18-10-2017 22:21
  Progressive's third quarter catastrophe losses totalled
  $431mn and September's $155mn total slightly exceeded some
  analysts' estimates, while a $300mn property hit from Hurricane
  Irma was reduced by reinsurance recoveries to the carrier's
  $50mn retention.
  However, the Mayfield Village, Ohio-based personal lines giant
  said it recorded another $5mn in cat losses last month because of
  "the reversal of a portion of our reinsurance recoverable on
  our aggregate stop-loss agreement partially offset by
  
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• Generali chief insurance officer Trevisani to leave

  18-10-2017 22:21
  Italian insurer Generali Group is parting ways with Valter
  Trevisani, the group chief insurance officer, effective at the end
  of this month.
  "The board of directors has resolved to terminate by mutual
  agreement the working relationship" with Trevisani, the
  Milan-based carrier said today. It named group CEO Philippe Donnet
  as an interim replacement, effective immediately.
  "I thank Valter Trevisani for his profound commitment and
  for the great work he accomplished at Generali," Donnet said
  in anno
  
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• XL Galileo cat bond may point to rate rises

  18-10-2017 19:19
  XL Catlin has launched a $150mn Galileo Re cat bond which seems
  to give an early indication of rate increases in the
  insurance-linked securities space, The Insurance
  Insider's sister publication Trading
  Risk has reported.
  With little traditional catastrophe reinsurance business up for
  renewal in the fourth quarter, the market will be watching new cat
  bond transactions closely for indications on the way pricing will
  respond to the c.$100bn of cat losses.
  The Galileo Re 2017-1 cat bond has two lay
  
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• Maria may be key 'surprise' for ILS investors: JLT Re

  18-10-2017 19:19
  The size and location of industry losses from Hurricane Maria could
  be the "surprise" for some insurance-linked securities
  (ILS) investors that drives a transitional US property cat
  reinsurance market in the lead-up to 1.1, according to JLT Re North
  America CEO Ed Hochberg.
  The executive told The Insurance
  Insider that prior to Maria there was an expectation
  that a floor might emerge on US property reinsurance pricing, with
  loss-impacted programmes seeing an increase.
  "My viewpoint was a functio
  
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• Ex-reinsurer duo launch ILS platform

  18-10-2017 19:19
  Two executives formerly involved in running the insurance-linked
  securities (ILS) platforms at Hiscox Re ILS and RenaissanceRe
  respectively have combined with another reinsurance capital markets
  executive to launch a new business, Tangency Capital.
  Former Hiscox Re executive Michael Jedraszak and
  ex-RenaissanceRe portfolio manager Kai Morgenstern have co-founded
  Tangency, together with Dominik Hagedorn, according to their
  LinkedIn profiles.
  London-based Jedraszak left Hiscox Re ILS earlier this
  
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• EMC puts Q3 net cat loss at $29.4mn

  18-10-2017 19:19
  Property and casualty (re)insurer EMC estimated its third
  quarter net catastrophe losses at a record $29.4mn, primarily from
  the period's three major hurricanes and mostly in its
  reinsurance segment.
  Hurricane Harvey, which flooded the Houston area in August,
  resulted in estimated gross losses of $9.0mn, while Irma, which hit
  Florida, produced $7.5mn and Maria generated $3.0mn when it swept
  through the Caribbean, devastating Puerto Rico and the US Virgin
  Islands, the company said today.
  In addit
  
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• Ardonagh MGA hires van der Veer as Europe CEO

  18-10-2017 19:19
  The MGA and underwriting arm of the Ardonagh Group has recruited
  Marc van der Veer as its Europe CEO.
  Van de Veer joins Geo International, part of the Geo
  Underwriting Group, from Exin Wholesale.
  Towergate expanded into Scandinavia in August and is planning to
  open MGAs across the continent.
  The business is considering starting MGAs in Spain, Germany, the
  Netherlands, Poland and Portugal.
  Van der Veer worked as general manager for wholesale at
  PartnerRe from 2012 to 2016 before the...
  
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• Industry calls for driverless cars bill to be 'straightforward'

  18-10-2017 17:07
  Insurers have called for laws on driverless cars to be "as straightforward as possible".
  
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• Too early to call HIM rating impact: Powell Brown

  18-10-2017 16:02
  Those waiting for signs of the impact on insurance rates from the
  spate of third quarter hurricanes will have to wait until the New
  Year, according to Brown & Brown CEO Powell Brown.
  Speaking as part of an analyst conference call in the wake of
  the US broker's early-bird third quarter results, he also
  warned that at present "we're not seeing any big rate
  increases sticking".
  He indicated that the reinsurance market would be a major driver
  of change and...
  
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• Long-term political planning needed to close protection gap: Catlin

  18-10-2017 16:02
  Politicians need to broaden their time horizons beyond their
  term in office when considering risk mitigation measures, Catlin
  founder Stephen Catlin suggested.
  Speaking in his capacity as the chair of the Insurance
  Development Forum at the International Cooperative and Mutual
  Insurance Federation's conference in London, Catlin said
  politicians typically viewed policies on a horizon of no more than
  five-to-10 years.
  "When you get to a 1-in-100-year risk, they are
  snoring," he said. "We need polit
  
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• Assurant to buy The Warranty Group in $2.5bn deal

  18-10-2017 16:02
  Specialty carrier Assurant has agreed to buy The Warranty Group
  under a deal which assigns an enterprise value of $2.5bn to the
  provider of consumer guarantees and specialty insurance products.
  New York-based Assurant and The Warranty Group, which is based
  in Chicago, said the agreement values The Warranty Group's
  equity at about $1.9bn.
  Selling shareholder TPG will receive $1.5bn in stock, equivalent
  to 23 percent of the merged companies' holding company, and
  $372mn in cash. Assurant shareholde
  
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• Outdated fire regulations putting lives at risk, says ABI

  18-10-2017 15:48
  The Association of British Insurers has called for a change to fire safety regulations asking for a clearer framework of responsibility for all those in the protection of buildings from fire.
  
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• Pet insurance market breaks £1bn mark in GWP

  18-10-2017 13:34
  The UK pet insurance market has continued to see significant growth, breaking the £1bn mark in gross written premiums for the first time in 2016.
  
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• Axis to fully merge in Novae as deal completes

  18-10-2017 13:29
  Axis has unveiled a new structure that will see Novae businesses
  fully absorbed into their new parent company following the
  completion of its £477.6mn ($631.1mn) takeover deal.
  In a statement announcing completion today, Axis said Novae
  would adopt the Axis brand and its insurance business would be
  merged into Axis' international insurance division, which is
  led by CEO Mark Gregory.
  Gregory will continue to report to Pete Wilson, CEO of Axis
  Insurance.
  Axis Insurance international CUO Alis
  
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• Novae adopts Axis brand as deal is completed

  18-10-2017 13:24
  Axis has completed its acquisition of Novae, which will be merged into the Bermudan-insurers brand.
  
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• Meet the 2017 Broker Apprentices

  18-10-2017 12:40 via insuranceage.co.uk
  After interviews in Birmingham, Manchester, London and by Skype the six contestants can be revealed.
  
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• FCA survey reveals gaps in consumer insurance knowledge and take-up

  18-10-2017 12:32 via insuranceage.co.uk
  Regulator publishes findings of its largest research pool with UK consumers.
  
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• Ophelia insurer could face claims of up to £10m

  18-10-2017 11:38
  Storm Ophelia could lead to claims costing NFU Mutual £5m - £10m.
  
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• Ophelia could cost insurers up to £10m

  18-10-2017 11:38
  Storm Ophelia could lead to claims costing £5m - £10m, according to NFU Mutual.
  
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• InsurTech Futures: Worry + Peace creates ‘insurance’ email platform

  18-10-2017 11:20 via insuranceage.co.uk
  Firm predicts new service will help generate leads for brokers.
  
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• US insurers' EU ops unlikely to close after covered agreement: AM Best

  18-10-2017 10:19
  The covered agreement granting US and EU reinsurers regulatory
  equivalence is unlikely to lead to a dismantling of American
  groups' European operations, according to AM Best.
  The deal will mean that US reinsurers no longer need a local EU
  presence to do business on the continent.
  However, AM Best said: "There remains value in having a
  local balance sheet and presence on both sides of the Atlantic, as
  clients view this as a sign of long-term commitment to the market...
  
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• Opinion: Catalina-Apollo

  18-10-2017 10:19
  Catalina reached the end of a drawn-out M&A process this
  week byagreeing a restructuring of its equity base that will see
  Canadian pension funds Caisse de dépôt et placement du
  Québec (CDPQ) and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan sell
  their stakes to Apollo, which is already the legacy
  specialist's biggest backer.
  My sources tell me that the deal will leave investment giant
  Apollo and co-investing limited partners with around 90 percent of
  the equity in Catalina, with the bal
  
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• Endsleigh made me pay after a car near to mine burst into flames

  18-10-2017 08:00
  The insurer made me pay an excess, increased my premium and cancelled my no-claims bonusI am a 20-year-old student in Aberdeen and have lost my no-claims bonus, paid an excess of £100 and face an increased premium on my car insurance, through no fault of my own.One night last December a car parked near mine burst into flames. My car suffered scorch marks and a few small light fittings were melted. My insurer, Endsleigh, paid promptly to have the paintwork repaired but was uninterested in r
  
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• Loss adjuster rankings 2017: Foreword by CILA

  18-10-2017 07:00
  As Post reviews the loss adjusting section in its biennial rankings, Malcolm Hyde, executive director of the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters, explains that the continued professionalism of loss adjusters keeps them centre of the claims market.
  
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• Analysis: Councils: Local challenges

  18-10-2017 07:00
  Local government insurance has to deal with emerging risks. How is it adapting as competition increases?
  
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• XL Catlin to buy 20% of Indian broker

  18-10-2017 05:16
  Global insurer XL Catlin is to buy a 20% stake in an Indian insurance broker.
  
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• Old Republic takes $130mn recession-era legacy hit

  18-10-2017 01:10
  Old Republic has warned that its third-quarter results will
  include a $130mn charge to settle claims dating back to the Great
  Recession.
  The hit related to "the final settlements and probable
  dispositions of all known litigated and other claim costs"
  against its financial indemnity business, the Chicago-based insurer
  said late today. The business is now in run-off.
  The claims date back to the downturn sparked by the sub-prime
  mortgage market collapse that led to the financial crisis and the
  Grea
  
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• Homeowner segment ROE drops in hurricane states: Aon

  18-10-2017 01:10
  Prospective returns to providers of homeowners' insurance in
  the US fall sharply when the most hurricane-prone markets are
  included in the estimates, an Aon Benfield study shows.
  The industry's after-tax return on equity is expected to
  drop to 4.5 percent this year from 6.7 percent in 2016, but when
  carriers in states such as Florida, Texas and North Carolina are
  excluded, the projected 2017 ROE jumps to 12.2 percent, the study
  says.
  Just taking Florida out of this year's mix...
  
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• Berkley rebrands Regional Specialty unit as Aspire

  18-10-2017 01:10
  WR Berkley is changing the name of its Berkley Regional
  Specialty unit to Berkley Aspire effective at the start of next
  year.
  The unit writes general liability, property, umbrella and inland
  marine business and will be adding lines in 2018, the Greenwich,
  Connecticut-based specialty insurer said today.
  "You will begin to see changes as we rebrand our website,
  logo, emails and agent communications," said unit president
  Mick Kallo. "What is not changing is our approach to the
  business.&...
  
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