Insurance news

• Oh departs as XL Catlin realigns E&S operations

  11-04-2018 21:11
  XL Catlin has parted company with excess and surplus lines
  (E&S) president Stephen Oh as it realigns the business within
  its broader US insurance organisational structure, The
  Insurance Insider can reveal.
  Oh joined XL Catlin to take the position in June 2016 from
  Chubb, where he was head of the carrier's Custom Market
  unit.
  He reported directly to Joe Tocco, chief executive of XL
  Catlin's Americas region.
  According to sources, XL Catlin's E&S property team led
  by regional vice president
  
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• Markel taps Kenny for new business development role

  11-04-2018 21:11
  Brian Kenny has been named Markel's managing director of
  strategic customer growth, according to the insurer.
  He will be based in Markel's headquarters in Richmond,
  Virginia, and report to Bryan Sanders, the president of Markel
  Assurance.
  In what is a new role at Markel, Kenny will help build a
  pipeline of business involving the insurer's product lines,
  broker relations and risk management accounts.
  He previously led Markel's small commercial efforts,
  including underwriting automation, digital p
  
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• EU class action reforms to transform claims landscape

  11-04-2018 21:11
  The European Commission (EC) today said it would press ahead
  with consumer protection measures that insurers fear could spark a
  flood of costly class actions, resulting in claims inflation and
  increased premium rates.The revision of existing consumer directives, which the EC dubs
  the 'New Deal for Consumers', follows a consultation on
  2013 rules which were only patchily enforced across the bloc. Among
  other worries, the EC was concerned that nine member states had no
  provision for class actions.
  
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• Revamped Axa VC fund has $200mn for tech investment

  11-04-2018 18:17
  Axa's venture fund has nearly $200mn left to spend on
  disruptive technology, a partner at the newly rebranded unit has
  told The Insurance Insider.
  The French insurance giant today changed the name of its
  technology investment arm from Axa Strategic Ventures to Axa
  Venture Partners (AVP).
  The fund has already committed $80mn into stakes in technology
  businesses, including into InsurTech firm PolicyGenius.
  AVP has $195mn left to deploy, according to AVP partner
  Sébastien Loubry.
  The fund is
  
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• Eos launches $100m insurtech fund

  11-04-2018 18:12
  A major insurtech investment fund will raise a $100m (£70m) fund to target insurance tech start-ups.
  
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• Howden and Barbican pursued following Gable collapse

  11-04-2018 16:40 via insuranceage.co.uk
  The Danish guarantee fund has posed a legal challenge to both firms which were linked to Gable before it went bust in 2016.
  
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• Barbican and Howden swept up in Gable fallout

  11-04-2018 16:35
  Barbican Specialty Re and broker Howden are the latest companies to become embroiled in the fallout of Gable.
  
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• Epic hires Beecher Carlson's Denton as president

  11-04-2018 15:30
  Former Beecher Carlson CEO Steve Denton is to become president
  of Epic Holdings, the private equity-backed broker said.
  The news comes a day after Beecher Carlson announced it had
  appointed former executive managing directorJoseph Siech as CEO following Denton's departure after 14
  years in the top job.Denton will join as president of the Epic parent entity in May
  and report to CEO John Hahn. He will be based in Atlanta.
  He will be tasked with supporting Epic's goal...
  
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• Beazley names Mounier to lead Asia Pac operations

  11-04-2018 15:30
  Beazley has appointed Lucien Mounier as head of its Asia Pacific
  operations, replacing Gavin Hayes, who is returning to London.
  Mounier has spent the past two years managing cyber and
  technology business from Beazley's Paris office.
  In the new role Mounier will be based in Singapore,
  Beazley's hub in the Asia Pacific region, and will be
  responsible for developing the group's business across the
  region. He will work closely with Beazley Singapore's principal
  officer, Byran Lee.
  Treaty team leader
  
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• White Mountains earmarks $200mn a year for deals

  11-04-2018 12:58
  White Mountains is set to continue buying up businesses as it seeks
  to deploy the capital it gained from the sale of four entities
  since 2015.
  The US financial services holding company will spend $200mn
  annually on new opportunities, although it expects these
  deployments to be "lumpy", according to a proxy statement
  filed yesterday.
  Last week, White Mountains agreed to buy program administratorNSM Insurance Group for $368mn and last autumn bought Israeli
  carrier DavidShield and, through its Medi
  
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• Marsh combines Middle East and Africa businesses

  11-04-2018 12:58
  Marsh has unified its operations in Africa and the Middle East
  under the leadership of a new regional CEO.
  The restructure comes afterthis publication revealed the global broker is planning to
  reduce layers of management in a bid to streamline the
  business.
  Christos Adamantiadis is set to join as chief executive of the
  new Middle East and Africa division on 1 May. He will report to
  Flavio Piccolomini, president of Marsh International.
  Adamantiadis has 25 years of management experience...
  
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• British Insurance Awards: 2018 shortlist revealed

  11-04-2018 12:58
  C'mon everybody, it is shortlist time!
  
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• Wilby looks to future following PIB deal

  11-04-2018 12:44
  Managing director Richard Blackburn says the broker has acquisitions in the pipeline as he reveals he will also be working with Brendan McManus to identify further PIB targets.
  
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• Broking success: Graham Coates, chief operating officer, Hamilton Fraser

  11-04-2018 12:06
  Selling service: Hamilton Fraser has succeeded in several sectors, from Botox to buy-to-let and deposit schemes, and there will always be a place for broking, chief operating officer Graham Coates tells Insurance Age
  
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• Allianz partners with car sharing platform Drivy

  11-04-2018 11:11
  Allianz Insurance has partnered with Drivy to provide insurance for users of their car sharing platform.
  
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• QBE removes CFO in boardroom shake-up

  11-04-2018 10:58
  QBE has replaced its CFO after just seven months in the latest
  shake-up at the restructuring insurer under recently installed CEO
  Pat Regan.
  The company said CFO Michael Ford will leave and be replaced by
  Inder Singh, a former investment banker who has been CFO of
  QBE's Australia and New Zealand division for the last year.
  The move is the latest in a series of personal changes at the
  insurer, which in February reported anet loss of $1.25bn after...
  
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• PICC moves forward with secondary Shanghai listing

  11-04-2018 10:58
  PICC is pressing ahead with plans for a $1.6bn listing in
  Shanghai, in what will be the largest public offering in mainland
  China so far this year.
  PICC said in May last year that it was planning
  a secondary listing in Shanghai, with the company already
  listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.In a regulatory filing on 9 April, PICC confirmed the public
  offering plans, which Reuters estimated will raise over 10bn yuan
  ($1.59bn), based on the sale of...
  
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• Opinion: The slow grind

  11-04-2018 10:58
  Those calling a turn in the P&C pricing cycle can usually
  agree on one thing: it takes more than a heavy cat year on its own
  to bring a broad upward shift in rates.
  And the industry's experience in 2017 was evidence enough of
  that, as arecord $144bn of global insured cat losses (according to Swiss
  Re) did little to significantly move property pricing, let alone
  bring about meaningful hardening in other lines of business.
  Instead, beyond the most...
  
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• Barbican launches cyber resilience product

  11-04-2018 10:48
  The add-on cover focuses on cyber reconnaissance, phishing defence and intrusion response.
  
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• Sompo establishes new retail platform to integrate international businesses

  11-04-2018 10:38
  Sompo International is establishing a new retail platform to facilitate the integration of all Sompo Holdings operations outside Japan.
  
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• China accelerates opening to foreign financial groups

  11-04-2018 08:16 via ft.com
  Majority stakes to be permitted in securities and fund management companies within months
  
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• Ariel Re buy ill-timed for Argo: CEO Watson

  11-04-2018 01:27
  The timing of Argo's acquisition of Ariel Re in last
  year's first quarter was "unfortunate" because it
  meant net retentions for multiple reinsurance programs caused an
  additional impact on the bottom line, said the US specialty
  carrier's CEO, Mark Watson, in the annual report it released
  today.
  "Going forward, we expect our net exposure to similar
  events to be close to 5 combined ratio points," Watson said in
  his message to shareholders.
  Argo saw its combined ratio deteriorate to 107.2...
  
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• AIG writes 40% of combined Walmart property programme

  11-04-2018 01:27
  AIG has taken a huge 40 percent line on a newly consolidated
  property cover for retail giant Walmart that rolls its expiring US
  placement into a global structure, The Insurance
  Insider can reveal.
  According to sources, the 1 April renewal combined what had
  previously been separate US and rest of the world (ROW) placements
  into a single tower with $825mn of limit.
  The move comes as US property rates for large account commercial
  business see moderate increases in the aftermath...
  
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