Insurance news

• D&O pricing falls 5.9% despite soaring court activity

  24-10-2017 21:01
  The price of directors' and officers' (D&O) coverage
  fell for the 17th quarter in a row in Q3 despite the threat posed
  by near-record levels of legal activity, which could increase
  claims.
  Aon's quarterly D&O report showed that the cost of $1mn
  of limit fell by an average of 5.9 percent in the third quarter
  compared to the same period last year.
  But the reduction indicated a slowdown since the first half, as
  rates fell by 8.7 percent in the...
  
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• AmTrust downgraded by long-time supporter FBR

  24-10-2017 21:01
  AmTrust Financial lost the support of FBR Capital analyst Randy
  Binner, who cut his rating on the company's shares to neutral
  from buy, citing the threat of further adverse reserve development
  and its impact on book value growth.
  FBR has for years given a buy rating to the shares, which
  dropped as much as 5.5 percent on the move today.
  "Adverse reserve development remains the central
  challenge" for the company, Binner said in a note released
  early today, though he...
  
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• UK motor XoL rates to rise amid discount rate limbo

  24-10-2017 18:03
  UK motor reinsurance brokers and underwriters face an uncertain 1
  January renewal as they await news about when a hard-fought
  increase to the Ogden discount rate will take effect.
  The UK government in September announced further reforms to the
  discount rate that is applied to personal injury compensation. It
  said the new methodology would currently result in a discount rate
  of between 0 percent and 1 percent.
  However, the government specified no timeframe for the increase
  from the crippling minu
  
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• Talcott disposal still key for Hartford despite $1.5bn Aetna deal

  24-10-2017 18:03
  The Hartford's ongoing market valuation will ultimately depend
  on its ability to slough off its unloved run-off variable annuity
  business Talcott Resolution, according to analysts.
  This is despite the carrier announcinga surprise $1.45bn deal for Aetna's US group life and
  disability business.
  The Hartford claimed the acquisition would make it the second
  largest group life and disability insurer in the US market with
  approximately $5bn in expected earned premium.
  However, the market's immediate r
  
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• Saudi superyacht claim to cost market EUR40mn+

  24-10-2017 18:03
  A superyacht that ran aground in the Red Sea is expected to cost
  the Lloyd's marine market EUR40mn ($47.2mn), The
  Insurance Insider understands.
  The Serene, one of the largest superyachts in the
  world, hit a reef on the Egyptian coast not far from Sharm El
  Sheikh in late August.
  The yacht is insured in Lloyd's through the lead yacht
  consortium, which is led by MS Amlin, according to market sources.
  Following markets include a number of other Lloyd's
  syndicates.
  The...
  
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• Retro response debated

  24-10-2017 18:03
  While most industry participants agree that a significant
  portion of insurance-linked securities (ILS) capital supporting
  retro and collateralised reinsurance will reload at 1.1, the extent
  of the "re-up" and the return it will require continues
  to be debated.Just like reinsurers and their cedants, not all ILS funds should
  be viewed as the same, as they have a range of strategies and
  return targets, Willis Re deputy CEO James Kent said during a PCI
  panel discussion."But one thing that...
  
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• Reinsurers may escape Typhoon Lan losses

  24-10-2017 18:03
  The damage caused in Japan by Typhoon Lan's flooding rains
  and high winds likely won't be severe enough to trigger
  reinsurance claims, sources have told The Insurance
  Insider.
  For an event to attach the industry loss needs to be in the
  region of $3bn to $4bn. The loss quantum remains highly uncertain
  at this stage, but most expect it to be below this range.
  Wind risks are only covered by reinsurers on an excess-of-loss
  (XoL) basis, and insured damage must...
  
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• New India Assurance targeting $1.5bn IPO

  24-10-2017 18:03
  India's largest general insurer, the state-owned New India
  Assurance (NIA), is understood to be targeting an IPO that will
  raise some $1.5bn, according to reports.
  Local media have suggested that NIA has appointed Kotak, Axis
  Bank, Nomura, IDFC and Yes Bank as advisers on the deal, which is
  set to remain open for subscription from 1-3 November, according to
  its regulatory filing.
  NIA has not responded to invitations to comment, with official
  confirmation of the details of the offer expected...
  
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• Duperreault mulling Suncorp life deal: reports

  24-10-2017 18:03
  AIG has shown interest in acquiring the life business of Suncorp
  Group, according to reports in the Australian Financial
  Review.
  The paper said AIG had met with local investment banking
  advisers and life insurance industry players while it considered
  acquiring the division from the Australian financial services
  group.
  It is understood that a sale of Suncorp's life arm could
  raise some A$1.5bn ($1.2bn).
  Any such move for the sizeable book would be significant as the
  first acquisitive move since B
  
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• Social engineering causing nine times more data breaches in 2017

  24-10-2017 17:01
  Insurance customers reported nine times more cases of social engineering as the major causes of data breaches in 2017 than in the previous year.
  
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• Typhoon Lan brings flooding rains to Japan

  24-10-2017 15:17
  Typhoon Lan swept across much of Japan's main island today,
  bringing a deadly mix of high winds and drenching rainfall that
  exceeded 30 inches (762mm) in some areas.
  The heavy rain led to mudslides, disrupted transportation
  services including airlines, trains and ferries, and washed out
  roads. At least one cargo ship ran aground.
  But the damage does not appear to have been severe enough to
  lead to reinsurance claims, sources have told The
  Insurance Insider.
  The three largest Japanese property...
  
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• Travelers floats possibility of commercial rate hikes

  24-10-2017 15:17
  The onslaught of catastrophes in the third quarter could serve
  as a springboard for commercial rate hikes in the US, if commentary
  by early reporter and industry bellwether Travelers is anything to
  go by.Speaking to analysts last week, the insurer's chairman and
  CEO Alan Schnitzer hinted at rate hikes of at least 4 percent to
  offset an uptick in the cost of claims.But the executive warned that the targeted price increase was a
  "broad number", adding that it...
  
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• Three proceed to second round of Sovag run-off sale

  24-10-2017 15:17
  The bidding process for Sovag's EUR170mn ($200mn) legacy
  book has entered the second round, The Insurance Insider
  understands.
  According to sources, Catalina, Darag and Enstar were the three
  companies that progressed to the second stage, with binding bids
  due to be submitted in the next few weeks.
  This publication first revealed in July that Sovag was bringing
  a legacy book to market as part of a wider restructuring at the
  German insurer.
  The book holds EUR170mn in gross reserves and...
  
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• State National income drops as investment gains sag

  24-10-2017 15:17
  Fronting specialist State National which is being acquired by
  Markel reported a 3.9 percent drop in third quarter earnings even
  as revenue rose 6 percent compared with the year-earlier
  period.
  Net income was dragged down by a 50 percent plunge in net
  investment income to $1mn, the Bedford, Texas-based company said
  late today. In July, it agreed to be acquired by Markel for $919mn
  in cash, or $21 a share.
  "Our third quarter revenue increase was driven by continued
  growth...
  
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• Ryan adds wholesaler Oxford to expand energy practice

  24-10-2017 15:17
  Ryan Specialty Group has agreed to buy wholesale broker Oxford
  and named its CEO as president of its RT Specialty Houston
  office.
  Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
  Oxford specialises in energy, construction, environmental and
  complementary markets, Chicago-based Ryan said in announcing the
  deal today. Its CEO Matt Galtney will lead RT Specialty's
  energy practice as well as heading the Houston office for the
  division.
  "Oxford is an extraordinary boutique operation with deep
  expertise in the e
  
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• Roberts to replace Holt as Beazley chairman

  24-10-2017 15:17
  Former Axa CEO Dennis Holt is to step down as chairman of Beazley
  in the spring, the listed Lloyd's carrier announced this
  morning.
  His replacement will be David Roberts, who is set to become a
  non-executive director with effect from 1 November 2017.
  Roberts has been chairman of Nationwide Building Society since
  July 2015 and during his career served as an executive director at
  Barclays Bank and deputy chairman at Lloyds Banking Group.
  He will take up the position of...
  
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• Party committees set up in Chinese insurance JVs

  24-10-2017 15:17
  The Chinese Communist Party is setting up political committees
  inside joint venture enterprises involving international insurers,
  the Financial Times has reported.
  The role of the bodies is to ensure that foreign-backed
  enterprises act in the interests of China's ruling party.
  One executive at an international insurer spoken to by the
  newspaper said the move was "part of doing business in
  China", while another raised concerns that the committees
  could undermine the carrier's business objectives.
  
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• Opinion: The run-off boom

  24-10-2017 15:17
  The stars finally seem to be aligning for the legacy market,
  which has spent years waiting patiently for the anticipated wave of
  liabilities to arrive.
  These are indeed boom times for run-off, but as the live market
  knows all too well, with a surge in demand comes the inevitable
  creep in supply.
  Competition is already rife among legacy acquirers, with the
  margin on each legacy book thinning with every round of bids. But
  traditional live carriers will still look on...
  
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• Opinion: The Hartford-Aetna

  24-10-2017 15:17
  People have been looking to The Hartford for a deal.
  For a long time - helped byour coverage of what's been happening behind the scenes -
  that deal has been the sale of variable annuity business Talcott
  Resolution.
  That transaction could still happen, with underbidders on the
  asset invited back after advanced talks with Bob Diamond's
  Atlas Merchant failed.
  Others have been focusing on a full sale of the business, with
  the prospect normally considered a successor deal to...
  
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• Munich Re eyes Asian expansion

  24-10-2017 15:17
  Munich Re is eying Japanese earthquake cover and the Asian
  agricultural insurance market as part of its efforst to increase
  its market share in Asia Pacific.
  Management board member Hermann Pohlchristoph said the reinsurer
  is in talks with Japan's three leading carriers about providing
  domestic earthquake cover that falls outside the state-backed
  scheme.
  "We see a significant insurance gap in private and SME
  earthquake cover in Japan," said Pohlchristoph, who noted that
  the state scheme protects
  
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• Mapfre tells reinsurers global umbrella cat layer will escape loss

  24-10-2017 15:17
  Mapfre has indicated to its reinsurers that it expects the
  global umbrella catastrophe layer that sits at the top of its
  programme to run clean from Hurricane Maria, The Insurance Insider
  understands.Reinsurance market sources said that the Spanish insurance giant,
  which has a major presence in loss-hit Puerto Rico, has suggested
  that its gross claims would not be high enough to attach the
  cover.The layer is believed to provide $200mn of cover in excess of
  $1bn.The suggestion...
  
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• LMG launches London marketing offensive

  24-10-2017 15:17
  The London Market Group (LMG) has begun a marketing effort to turn
  City insurance workers into "ambassadors" for the UK
  capital's wholesale and specialty (re)insurance market.
  The campaign will begin today in Leadenhall Market, with a suite
  of publicity materials made available to the 52,000 people employed
  by the London insurance market to help them extol the virtues of
  the EC3.
  The drive will include a series of events around EC3 over the
  next three days, including a gathering of...
  
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• Insurdata receives $1m in seed financing

  24-10-2017 15:17
  Reinsurance-focused InsurTech start-up Insurdata has raised $1m in
  seed financing from investors including Menlo Ventures, Anthemis
  Baloise Strategic Ventures and Plug and Play.
  Insurdata, whose executive chairman is former RMS chief
  technology officer Cory Isaacson, provides (re)insurers with
  real-time property data to support accurate underwriting.
  The technology includes mobile-augmented reality and 3D model
  creation for desktop and mobile platforms.
  A range of property-specific data is devel
  
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• Hyundai to hand cargo market $60mn Harvey claim

  24-10-2017 15:17
  The marine cargo market is bracing itself for a $60mn claim from
  Hurricane Harvey after South Korean auto manufacturer Hyundai Motor
  Company suffered damage to a consignment of cars in transit.
  After the storm's landfall in August, flooding inundated a
  Texan port terminal where cars had been stored while awaiting
  distribution to various locations in the US.
  The claim is the first major cargo loss to be notified following
  the storm, but is sure to be followed by a spate...
  
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• Hurricane Irma claims top $5.3bn in Florida

  24-10-2017 15:17
  Loss claims from Hurricane Irma surpassed $5.3bn in Florida last
  week, the state's insurance regulator reported today.
  The largest number of claims were filed in the southernmost
  counties as well as in the east central part of the state near
  Orlando, the records from the Florida office of insurance
  regulation show. Statewide, there have been almost 773,000 claims
  filed and most remain open.
  Commercial property claims numbered 41,798 as of late Friday,
  while there were 3,686 business interruption
  
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• HIM stops European soft market in its tracks

  24-10-2017 15:17
  Rate softening in the European reinsurance market will come to
  an end in January as the insurance sector responds to a $100bn
  third quarter cat bill.
  However, sources expect that the market will be relatively
  stable at the key European renewal date, with single-digit rate
  increases paid by some cedants and others likely to renew their
  treaties on expiring terms.
  "I think you have seen the last of rate reductions,"
  one underwriting executive said. "We have told our
  underwriters to...
  
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• HIM cat bond slide matches Katrina downturn

  24-10-2017 15:17
  Cat bond market prices had been written down by 5.3 percent by
  mid-October after hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, as multiple
  insurance-linked securities (ILS) transactions were expected to
  respond to the disasters.
  However, to date the largest known ILS loss this year came from
  the recent Mexican earthquakes. And rather than the deadly Mexico
  City temblor that has caused extensive (re)insurance losses, it was
  the earlier, larger, but offshore quake that produced a $150mn ILS
  market hit.
  This
  
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• FBD puts Ophelia net loss at $2.9mn

  24-10-2017 15:17
  Irish insurance firm FBD has announced that its cost of claims from
  Storm Ophelia net of reinsurance would be EUR2.5mn ($2.9mn).
  However, the overall net impact from the storm would be between
  EUR4.0mn and EUR6.0mn after the payment of an additional
  reinsurance premium to reinstate its catastrophe weather limits for
  the balance of the year, it said.
  The storm is likely to have inflictedmore than EUR1.5bn in damage, according to an estimate from
  Chuck Watson of Enki Research in...
  
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• Compre wins exclusivity in Generali legacy disposal

  24-10-2017 15:17
  Generali has awarded exclusivity to Compre in the sale process
  for its circa EUR200mn ($235mn) legacy book, The
  Insurance Insider can reveal.
  The European legacy specialist beat competition from Enstar and
  Armour to emerge as the frontrunner in the process, sources told
  this publication.
  If successful, the Generali book would be the largest
  acquisition Compre has agreed to date.
  The Generali portfolio predominantly holds US asbestos,
  pollution and health hazard exposures from business written th
  
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• Brokers and reinsurers posture in foggy 1.1 build-up

  24-10-2017 15:17
  Brokers and reinsurers fought for position at the PCI annual
  meeting in Chicago last week ahead of a 1 January renewal that
  looks increasingly difficult to call.Executives from both sides took public stances that they may
  well privately acknowledge will shift as the muddied waters around
  quantum of loss and retro response clear in the next couple of
  months.If there was any consensus, it was that cedants would largely be
  treated on an account-by-account basis and that the...
  
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• Lloyd’s market and international consolidation in the cross hairs at BP Marsh

  24-10-2017 13:50
  BP Marsh has affirmed its confidence in the Lloyd’s and London insurance market as a target growth area, even as the sector investor looks to diversify its book with overseas business.
  
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• PPI complaints on the rise following FCA advert, says the FOS

  24-10-2017 12:26 via insuranceage.co.uk
  Two-year campaign encourages customers to act before complaints deadline in August 2019.
  
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• Meet the Broker Apprentices 2017: Katie Ellis

  24-10-2017 11:14
  Time to introduce the next participant in the running for this year's Broker Apprentice
  
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• CFC revamps product for technology companies

  24-10-2017 10:55
  MGA says new offering follows consultation with its broker partners.
  
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• Kerry London Underwriting launches roofing scheme

  24-10-2017 10:24
  The scheme has been developed in partnership with ECIC and is available to brokers.
  
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• Start-up Insurdata raises over $1m in seed financing

  24-10-2017 09:56
  Start-up Insurdata has raised over $1m (£0.76m) in seed financing from investors including Menlo Ventures, Anthemis Baloise Strategic Ventures and Plug and Play.
  
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• Analysis: Microbreweries: Raising the bar

  24-10-2017 07:00
  Microbreweries offer brokers and insurers a small but safe market. With rising demand, the sector tastes of opportunity
  
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• Analysis: Has the sun set on insurer-owned brokers?

  24-10-2017 07:00
  As The Ardonagh Group buys Carole Nash and Mastercover, has the bell finally rung for the model?
  
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