Insurance news

• InsurTech Hellas Direct closes World Bank-led fundraising

  15-01-2018 19:06
  Greek car insurer Hellas Direct has raised EUR7mn ($8.5mn) of
  series B funding, led by the World Bank.
  Alongside the International Financial Corporation, the private
  investment arm of the World Bank, investors in the InsurTech
  venture include Daniel Loeb's hedge fund Third Point and former
  Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill.
  Other backers include venture capital fund Endeavor Catalyst,
  private equity investor Jon Moulton's Perscitus vehicle,
  Canadian fintech investor Portag3 Ventures and severa
  
  Read more

• Fox to replace JLT Re's Asia Pacific CEO Beatty

  15-01-2018 19:06
  JLT Re has appointed Jeremy Fox as Asia Pacific CEO to replace
  Stuart Beatty who is leaving to pursue alternative career options.
  Fox is currently Aon's Asia Pacific chief operating officer
  and will work out his contract.
  He will be based in Singapore reporting to global CEO of JLT
  Mike Reynolds.
  Fox has worked at Aon for almost seven years and also held
  positions at EW Payne and Denis Clayton.
  He has mainly worked in treaty and facultative business.
  In...
  
  Read more

• GRP broking CEO Mike Bruce hails County Group deal

  15-01-2018 18:19
  The deal gives Global Risk Partners its first hub in the North West and is the consolidator's biggest acquisition so far.
  
  Read more

• Rothesay Life appoints Naguib Kheraj as chairman

  15-01-2018 17:31 via ft.com
  Deputy chair of StanChart replaces Ray King at annuity provider
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Sequel names former Aon executive Summers CEO

  15-01-2018 16:56
  London market (re)insurance software provider Sequel has
  promoted former Aon Risk Solutions chief information officer Ian
  Summers to the position of chief executive.
  Summers joined the business in 2014 and moves into the
  leadership role after three years as business development
  director.
  The appointment follows the sale of the company to insurance
  data and information group Verisk Analytics in August last year for
  £250mn ($330mn).
  The transaction closed in the third quarter of 2017.
  Sequel
  
  Read more

• InsurTech Hellas closes World Bank-led fundraising

  15-01-2018 16:56
  Greek car insurer Hellas Direct has raised EUR7mn ($8.5mn) of
  series B funding, led by the World Bank.
  Alongside the International Financial Corporation, the private
  investment arm of the World Bank, investors in the InsurTech
  venture include Daniel Loeb's hedge fund Third Point and former
  Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill.
  Other backers include venture capital fund Endeavor Catalyst,
  private equity investor Jon Moulton's Perscitus vehicle,
  Canadian fintech investor Portag3 Ventures and severa
  
  Read more

• #Insagepeople: 15 - 21 January 2018

  15-01-2018 16:41
  Keep up to date with all the latest people moves.
  
  Read more

• CEO of Insure the Box sets up insurtech

  15-01-2018 15:38
  Exclusive: Michael Brockman, group CEO of Insure the Box, has launched an insurtech start-up called Thing Co.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Canopius trebles political risk line

  15-01-2018 14:59
  Canopius has added $50mn to its political risk and contract
  frustration capacity, as it aims to establish itself as a lead
  market in the class, The Insurance
  Insider understands.
  The expansion in capacity gives Canopius a maximum line of $75mn
  for contract frustration and political risk in 2018, up from $25mn
  previously.
  It will also be able to put out $75mn lines for credit risks, up
  from $12.5mn last year.
  Canopius will also be able to insure risks for a...
  
  Read more

• Weak Asian pricing prompts global reinsurer retrenchment

  15-01-2018 12:49
  Reinsurance renewals in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and
  elsewhere in Asia showed some signs of stability at 1 January, but
  carriers hoping for significant rate rises following 2017's
  natural catastrophes were left disappointed.
  Several underwriting and broking sources reported that while
  business broadly renewed around flat for most accounts, this was a
  weaker result than many had hoped for in the aftermath of
  hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, along with the California
  wildfires.
  And while many
  
  Read more

• Harambee Re sidecar renewed by Argo

  15-01-2018 12:49
  Argo Group has renewed its Harambee Re sidecar for 2018 but did not
  reveal its size.
  The company's former reinsurance buyer Mark Gibson, who
  originally set up the vehicle in 2013, moved to Neon last
  year.This year the vehicle will provide additional catastrophe
  capacity for property portfolios written by Ariel Re, which Argo
  acquired in the first quarter of 2017 and now uses as its
  reinsurance platform.
  Harambee Re previously took a share of property reinsurance and
  insurance written...
  
  Read more

• Fraudsters sentenced after staging two crash for cash incidents

  15-01-2018 11:51
  A man has been jailed and three others have been sentenced for orchestrating two cases of crash for cash frauds.
  
  Read more

• Lycetts grows South West presence

  15-01-2018 11:50
  The broker has opened a branch at Tisbury in Wiltshire, its third in the region.
  
  Read more

• Government call for evidence on holiday sickness claims closes

  15-01-2018 11:28
  The Civil Procedure Rule Committee's call for evidence on holiday sickness claims closes today.
  
  Read more

• GRP strikes its biggest deal buying County Group

  15-01-2018 11:04
  Global Risk Partners has bought the Crewe-based broker to be its north west regional hub.
  
  Read more

• AllClear sells majority stake to Synova Capital

  15-01-2018 10:50
  Travel broker appoints Chris Rolland as CEO and reveals plans to hire 30 new staff.
  
  Read more

• R&Q sells services businesses to Davies Group

  15-01-2018 10:41
  Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings (R&Q), the
  London-listed run off acquirer, has agreed to sell its insurance
  services and captive management businesses to private equity-backed
  Davies Group.
  The deal is valued at around £20mn ($27.5mn), with R&Q
  due to receive £18.6mn net cash after stripping out debt,
  R&Q said today.
  The deal involves all the JMD Specialist Insurance Services
  entities, R&Quiem, John Heath & Company, and AM Associates,
  along with Randall
  
  Read more

• Quest in advanced talks with Sovag on legacy book

  15-01-2018 10:41
  Quest is the frontrunner in the auction for Sovag's EUR170mn
  ($203mn) legacy book, having re-entered the process with an
  11th-hour bid, The Insurance Insider has
  learned.
  As previously
  reported by this publication, Darag, Enstar and Catalina were
  the only carriers to make it through to the second round of the
  run-off sale.Quest had submitted a proposal for the book in the earlier
  stages of the sale process but was ruled out. It is now understood
  the firm has placed...
  
  Read more

• Opinion: Capital highlights

  15-01-2018 10:41
  London has an unfair reputation for always being rainy, but
  it's true there's one form of precipitation it specialises
  in - the kind of misty drizzle in which millions of tiny droplets
  combine to become just unpleasant enough to make you get the
  umbrella out.
  Meanwhile on Lime Street, London-headquartered insurers have
  been raining new capital market vehicles this renewals season. And
  just like the city's signature mizzle, these vehicles on an
  individual basis are merely a droplet in the...
  
  Read more

• Lemonade's Wininger attacks Amazon for targeting its staff

  15-01-2018 10:41
  Amazon.com has rubbed one InsurTech the wrong way as it gently
  wades into the insurance arena.
  Shai Wininger, co-founder and president of Lemonade, took first
  to LinkedIn on Thursday to chide the internet giant for
  "actively targeting and trying to poach" his
  company's employees. The New York-based startup uses artificial
  intelligence systems to provide renters' and homeowners'
  insurance online.
  "I wonder if that's their idea of supporting the
  startup ecosystem. Reconsidering Amazon AWS," Wining
  
  Read more

• Insurance losses likely as Carillion liquidated

  15-01-2018 10:41
  Construction, trade credit and infrastructure insurers are
  facing potential losses after one of the UK's biggest
  contracting companies went into compulsory liquidation today.
  Anticipating the company's bankruptcy, trade credit insurers
  had already pulled new coverage of Carillion for suppliers, asreported by The Insurance Insider on Friday.These included market leader Euler Hermes.
  Other trade credit underwriters, including Tokio Marine HCC and
  the MGA Nexus, also told clients they would not be
  
  Read more

• Davies Group snaps up R&Q’s insurance management operations

  15-01-2018 10:00
  Davies Group has bought Randall & Quilter’s Insurance Services and Captive Management Operations for £18.6m.
  
  Read more

• Legal expenses in Asia: Q+A with Antares' Mark Waters

  15-01-2018 07:39
  Mark Waters, legal expenses underwriter at Lloyd's (re)insurer Antares, on promoting legal expenses cover for Asian businesses.
  
  Read more

• Analysis: Employee benefits: Perking up at work

  15-01-2018 07:00
  Insurers are investing in employee benefits as a way to recruit and retain staff - and they go beyond the core elements of pension, life and health cover to sometimes include quirky perks
  
  Read more

Follow @Insurance_UKnws on Twitter!