December 2014/3

Share price data on The Insurance Insider's universe of P&C (re)insurers

The Insider 30 tumbled by 2.16 percent last week as P&C (re)insurance shares traded down

Insurers are working to ensure their investment strategies are sufficiently transparent before the European Union's Solvency II capital regime is implemented on 1 January 2016.

Martin Wheatley, CEO of the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), will forgo his £115,000 annual bonus after a bungled media briefing led to millions being wiped off the value of UK life insurers in March 2014.

UK state-backed flood reinsurer Flood Re has lined up a managing agent and retrocession broker, following separate tenders launched earlier this year.

The US House of Representatives has unanimously passed legislation designed to end confusion around the federal requirements imposed on systemically important insurers that fall under the supervision of the Federal Reserve.

The US House of Representatives has voted to pass legislation needed to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (Tria)

Fourteen insurers have lost a $22.5mn court battle over a claim for a ship impounded by the Venezuelan authorities after three large bundles of cocaine were found strapped to its hull

Professional lines insurers may be forced to bolster reserves by up to 39 percent after a stealth tax change that could see UK Commercial Court awards and settlements subject to duty

AmTrust's former Italian medical malpractice broker Trust Risk Group was withholding more than EUR54mn in premiums following the acrimonious breakdown of the exclusive distribution agreement between the two firms.

Managing cash assets is becoming increasingly difficult for insurers' investment officers due to creeping regulation and the low-yield environment. The Insurance Insider investigates what's on the horizon for money market funds and cash management strategies.

November aviation renewals showed a return to softening rates, reversing the recent moderate hardening trend, according to a report published by major broker JLT last week.

An inter-market consolidator seems the most likely acquirer for in-play reinsurer Montpelier Re, according to sources.

CatCo Investment Management's chief operating officer and chief financial officer Jason Bibb has resigned with immediate effect, the London-listed firm announced on 12 December.

Prices on American Strategic's Gator Re cat bond dropped by roughly 10 percent in early December after the sponsor updated investors on its annual losses.

Zenkyoren is set to add $375mn of cat bond cover to its reinsurance programme after it increased the size of its latest deal from $200mn, sister publication Trading Risk reported last week.

The sale of an aviation broking subsidiary last week to rival JLT Group should enable Towergate to make the £31mn in Q1 coupon payments that are due to bondholders of its £1bn debt mountain.

Changes to the way AM Best calculates its Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR) model, which are set to hit the market in 2015, could negatively affect carriers with higher exposure to volatile and acute cat loss scenarios, according to reinsurance broker JLT Re.

Reinsurers looking to emerging risks such as cyber in order to grow and diversify books of business in the face of soft market pressures should be wary of underwriting perils they do not understand, according to Jed Rhoads, president and chief underwriting officer of Markel Re.

The need for diversification rather than scale is driving much of the strategic evolution in the reinsurance sector, according to Bob Deutsch, the industry figure now spearheading the roll-out of Hamilton Insurance Group.

Property cat retro rates are plunging by 30 percent on average at the 1 January renewal as alternative capital drives multiples of expected loss (EL) in the business down to those already being experienced in the soft reinsurance market, according to Markel Re president and CUO Jed Rhoads.

Fireman's Fund CEO Andrew Torrance will step down from the Allianz subsidiary as part of a restructure following the combination of the firm with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) North America.

Insured losses from the hailstorm that battered parts of Brisbane and Queensland towards the end of November have risen to A$804mn, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has estimated.

8UIH buys FSH; James River floats; Fitch goes negative; Generali downgraded; Enstar hires; Skuld 1897 appoints; BP Marsh invests; Australian sector; Canopius expands; Hiscox 1.1 rates; CMA investigates; Valen Analytics; Xchanging all-clear; Benson boosts JLT Re; Day joins IUA; Integro financer hints

John Parry was last week confirmed as director of finance at the Corporation of Lloyd's on a permanent basis following a competitive process.

Mitsui Sumitomo's accident and health class underwriter Steve Ranzetta is set to join the Lloyd's live start-up Vibe Syndicate 5678, The Insurance Insider has learned.

James Winn, Barbican's head of property and the active underwriter for Special Purpose Syndicate 6113, is to leave the expansive Lloyd's (re)insurer, The Insurance Insider has learned.

David Maynard, the deputy head of Novae's casualty unit, is set to join Navigators, The Insurance Insider understands.

Aspen Insurance's head of international P&C Bob Patten has handed his notice in, The Insurance Insider has learned.

Last month, the price of Towergate's unsecured debt collapsed in the secondary markets as fears grew that the UK broker consolidator would fail to make the £31mn coupon payments due in the first quarter on the various layers of its debt mountain.

Montpelier Re's decision to explore a sale is fresh evidence that cyclical and structural pressures pose a threat to the existence of smaller (re)insurers that have been over-reliant on cat business.