Berkshire Hathaway

Both the primary and reinsurance segments benefitted from a light cat year.

The Berkshire subsidiary is seeking coverage for a $22mn antitrust loss.

An M&A senior analyst and M&A underwriter for emerging markets are also set to depart.

The reinsurance CoR decreased 2.3 points to 79.5% while the primary CoR rose 4.7 points to 98.7%.

New capacity is fuelling competition for talent in the class of business.

Michael Brooks, SVP, head of transactional liability, will be taking over temporarily.

At his last annual meeting as CEO, Buffett highlighted the importance of Berkshire’s insurance operations.

Both Chubb and Zurich will underwrite the risks, with Nico as the sleeping partner.

The primary and reinsurance unit CoRs were 103.1% and 98.7%, respectively.

The facility provides up to $100mn in claims-made excess casualty coverage.

Louise Kidd joined BHSI in 2020 as head of third-party lines in Ireland.

The carrier was seeking to expand its 1 March-renewing programme.

The conglomerate reported after-tax cat losses of $1.2bn related to Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024.

Chris Nixon has been promoted to underwriting manager, executive & professional lines, UK.

The conglomerate expects pre-tax losses from Hurricane Milton of between $1.3bn-$1.5bn in Q4.

The panelists discussed the ILS reset and the path to maintaining discipline in this sector.

The two senior positions will be based in London.

The move comes just days after the Warren Buffett-controlled conglomerate reached the $1tn market cap mark for the first time.

Geico more than tripled U/W profits due to higher average premiums per auto policy and lower claims frequency.

The executive has had a 40-year career at AIG, Berkshire Hathaway and Lloyd’s.

In 2023, Berkshire provided around $1bn in capacity to the Floridian insurer.

The carrier will write energy, property, construction, and executive and professional lines business.

Berkshire Hathaway and Canada Life Re will provide as much as A$680mn of protection annually.

Hopper joined Starr in 2019 and previously worked at Marsh and Zurich.

The insurance arm’s CoR declined 4 points to 89.3% on lower cat losses.

Bowman helped establish BHSI’s multinational business network, serving 178 countries.

This year, the association’s funding will come to $4.05bn with a $2.45bn retention.

He praised 2023 insurance results as other sectors were a “disappointment”.

Excluding TransRe, the group’s losses declined by $509mn last year.

She replaces Mark Walker, who moved last year to become head of national business for the UK.

Based in Singapore, Jess Au will succeed Ophelia Szeto, who is retiring from the role.

The senior underwriter has 35 years’ experience in marine business.

The underwriter will work in the retail property team at BHSI serving the central region.

The company noted that TransRe had produced "considerable" levels of property business over the period.

Having joined the firm in 2021, Donagh Regan was previously a senior casualty underwriter.

The hire comes as group CUO Alan Telford plans to leave the business next summer.

The appointment follows the recent hire of Pascal Carrer as head of casualty in Switzerland, and David Corrigan as head of property.

Sources said the Houston, Texas-headquartered program manager is now writing business on Sutton National paper.

He joins from Hoerbiger Holding, where he was head of corporate risk and insurance management.

Staffing upheaval continues in the marine class of business, as companies battle to hire and retain talent.

The Omaha conglomerate held its ~2.1% stake in Aon valued at nearly $1.5bn and its interest of over 3% in Markel, worth over $652mn at the end of Q2.

The reinsurance result was boosted by the group’s acquisition of TransRe last year.

BHSI grew to be one of the largest writers of D&O in London during the hard market of 2020 and 2021.

Mark Walker has more than 35 years of insurance experience and joined BHSI in 2019 after over three years at QBE.

The massive line from Warren Buffett’s carrier – previously reported by this publication – supported the insurer’s growing inland portfolio as policies have headed to the state net.

Most forecasters predict below-average activity in the region – but opposing weather phenomena mean uncertainty is higher than usual.

Early private deals have provided far more stability in this year’s renewal than last.

Securities filings show the conglomerate’s ownership of Markel holdings was valued at over $600mn at the end of March.

Citizens’ board is slated to meet on May 16 at 13:30 ET to discuss the reinsurance and risk transfer program.

Given better pricing following a disappointing January 1, the company increased its exposure significantly.

Browne becomes deputy global chief underwriting officer and Holmes assumes the role of global underwriting officer of property for energy and construction.

The move is the latest in a series of several personnel exits from Aviva’s commercial lines operations.

The pair have spent a quarter of a century working in the insurance sector.

Prior to joining BHSI in 2020, Ben Ruddlesdin worked as an underwriter for The Hartford.

TransRe contributed $986mn of P&C re premium during the year.

The firm opened its Zurich office last year with the aim of underwriting property, casualty and professional lines.

The new recruit was previously head of Aviva’s Global Corporate Solutions unit.

It is understood that the executive will be joining the conglomerate’s reinsurance business, run by Ajit Jain.

The ending of an exclusivity arrangement also allows Berkshire Hathaway to offer reinsurance to Australian rivals.

The renewal equates to 20% of its total 32.5% quota share agreement, with another 10% having recently been renewed by Munich Re and Swiss Re.

Previous head of the unit Chris Warrior is moving into an underwriting performance management role.

Previously, Katharina Rütz was a senior D&O underwriter for BHSI in Germany.

Cat losses were up during the quarter but offset by a reduction in the expense ratio.

Inflation, heightened cat activity and years of poor reinsurance returns are fuelling demands for wholesale change in the European market.

The completion of the deal comes after last week the companies received all regulatory approvals.

Pedro Mairos is moving up from heading marine in the UK and Ireland and will remain based in London.

The executive has held operational roles at the likes of Liberty Specialty Markets, AIG and WTW.

Fidelis and MS Reinsurance are among the ceding companies that have support from Ajit Jain’s unit.

The pair become head of property and head of professional indemnity and cyber, respectively.

To launch its Belgium practice, the specialty carrier recruited executives from AIG and Aon for key senior roles

The firm's ethos will remain the same, but the bigger balance sheet may help it win clients and absorb volatility.

The executive will take up the role of UK country manager at the firm.

The Q2 deterioration in Geico’s underwriting performance was offset by improvements in its other divisions.

Nicholas Ferrari will be based in Sydney and head up transactional liability in Australasia.

The carrier has promoted Leander Metzger to country manager for Switzerland to run the new office.

The case is linked to losses associated with asbestos-related injuries and claims filed over two decades ago in Montana.

The carrier is also planning to launch in Switzerland and Belgium in Q2 and Q3 respectively.

The chunky deal comes as many reinsurers are heavily cutting their Florida cat books.

The president of BHSI’s UK and European operations outlined to this publication expansion plans for the $1bn-premium division.

Cat losses were similar year on year, but reserve releases were higher.

The appointment comes after the carrier promoted Janine McGriskin to lead FI in the UK.

Berkshire’s board opposed the proposal and recommended that the shareholders vote against it.

Chubb has also received demands from shareholders for more information on its climate-related policies.

A proxy statement yesterday also revealed that Berkshire Hathaway’s merger agreement does not demand a break fee.

If you only read a handful of articles this week, make it the selection below.

Unlike deals like Axa-XL or Catlin-XL before it, this transaction is expected to be much more neutral in its impact on reinsurers.

The multiple of 1.26x is lower than a number of recent major reinsurance transactions.

The purchaser is known for having a very low cession ratio, although it said it would leave Alleghany to operate independently.

The transaction will create a reinsurance entity roughly on a par with Scor in terms of net reinsurance premium.

Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to buy the TransRe owner in an all-cash deal worth $11.6bn.

The deal values the TransRe owner at 1.26 times book value as of 31 December 2021, and represents a 29% premium on its stock price.

Specialty primary business also delivered better underwriting profits, as BHSI grew 36%.

The new marine head will oversee the underwriting of BHSI’s full line of marine products in Germany.

Prior to her promotion, Janine McGriskin held the role of senior underwriter, UK financial institutions, at the carrier.

Lousie Kidd will also retain her role as head of third-party lines for BHSI Ireland.

The reinsurer said the deals would enhance its abilities to provide innovative solutions for clients.

The carrier has been rebuilding its D&O team after a number of staff left to launch new books of business.

Chris Warrior will take on additional responsibility for professional indemnity, cyber and transactional liability.

Berkshire Hathaway reduced its shareholding in Marsh McLennan by 35% during the third quarter, as the Warren Buffet-led business continued to sell down across its portfolio, an analyst note from Morgan Stanley shows.

The start-up carrier launched in FI over the summer with ex-Pembroke and Hamilton underwriters.

CEO Richard Brindle calls for pricing corrections to reflect climate change and exposure growth.

Covid-19 has prompted an increase in demand for contract certainty and rapid claims payments.

Constanza Gállegos is joining the Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance leadership team in Europe as country manager, Spain.

Geico’s loss ratio jumped by nearly 18 points in the quarter on higher claims frequency, on par with results at personal auto rival Allstate.

Chubb veteran Caroline Alder-Smurthwaite is named head of Berkshire’s UK general casualty unit.

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance has said it is now underwriting property insurance for Mittelstand companies across Germany.

The former QBE Syndicate 386 active underwriter will join UK and Europe president Chris Colahan’s team in September.

The reported move comes after rapid expansion in gross written premium during 2020.

Oliver Brown, Penny Wang, James Emson and Jack Erritt form the team.

The company appoints Muriel Birre Julvécourt, who has more than 25 years’ industry experience, as head of marine.

New and growing carriers helped to fill out treaties as Sompo stepped back from a market that came in flatter than expected for remote risk.

Daniel Thieviasingham, who will be based in Singapore, has experience in London and Australia.

The company’s vice chairman for insurance operations, Ajit Jain, who runs Berkshire’s insurance operations, had also been viewed as a frontrunner.

The regulator raps the UK division for failure to disclose insurance giant’s holdings in Powergrid and Munich Re.

Covid-19 claims of $964mn weighed on the reinsurance unit’s result for the full-year.

Mathias Neumann was chief underwriter of casualty and specialty at the Japanese company.

The carrier’s long-standing client Alfa has become an equity investor.

Warren Buffett’s company trims its stake in Apple and exits Costco.

The underwriter is the latest underwriter to leave AIG’s D&O operations in London, after a team joined Convex earlier in the year.

The deal will come into effect on 1 October, with the specialty player's gross lines likely to scale up by a quarter.

Olivier Hamon and Alice Batchili will write executive and professional lines products from the carrier’s Paris office.

Warren Buffett’s reinsurance business fell to a $1.1bn loss as Covid-19 and prior-year casualty losses hit the result.

Geico’s combined ratio came in at 77.2% down 18 points as frequency fell 24% to 30% across all product lines.

Kapil Palathinkal will oversee first-party lines in the Middle East and Carlos Beltran will head the unit in Asia.

The hub will write business in property, casualty and executive and professional lines.

Frank Amandi moves to the new post in Cologne after more than six years with the Allianz unit.

Warren Buffett told shareholders that the company has so far faced limited claims impact from the coronavirus.

The company reported a 7 percent dip in underwriting income as it took a hit from $230mn in Covid-19 claims.

Berkshire Hathaway, Fairfax and Markel sustained biggest falls in investment value.

City comptroller Scott Stringer said AIG, BHSI and Liberty Mutual should stop underwriting and investing in coal.

Coronavirus’ unwanted record; John Neal speaks out; structured credit freezes up.

The UK and Ireland chief expects the pandemic to erode capacity and drive claims and operating costs higher.