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February 2012/2

  • Underwriters must address structural changes on reinsurance programmes as well as pricing in response to near record 2011 cat losses and cat model changes.
  • American International Group (AIG) could pay its former subsidiary Transatlantic Holdings up to $125mn to settle a securities lending dispute
  • Lloyd's sent a delegation to India last week as it renewed its efforts to gain traction in the fast growing but notoriously protectionist (re)insurance market.
  • Seventy percent of European insurers believe that the implementation of Solvency II will mean that asset allocation changes on the investment side of the balance sheet will result in greater exposure to higher return sectors.
  • Gabriel Bernardino, the chairman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, has reiterated calls for a clearer timetable on Solvency II
  • It is said that one swallow does not make a summer, and it is perhaps in that vein that we should view the two quick-fire continental European legacy deals announced already this year.
  • Darag has extended its acquisitive streak into 2012 with the purchase of Finland-based run-off insurer IngoNord Insurance Company, The Insurance Insider revealed last week.
  • The global financial services industry should view the 2008 financial crisis as a "dress rehearsal for the really big one", according to Chartis CEO Peter Hancock.
  • Representatives of the US plaintiff bar community have downplayed fears that the wave of US lawsuits against Chinese companies listing in the States will become the next big loss event for professional lines underwriters.
  • The (re)insurers rewarded with premium valuations are those that can demonstrate effective capital management across the cycle, according to a panel of industry executives at the Plus D&O Symposium in New York last week.
  • A broad hard market will not occur until there is "blood on the streets", according to Transatlantic Holdings president and CEO Mike Sapnar.
  • The contrast between the losses and the scale of reinsurers in the cat-heavy years of 2005 and 2011 respectively provides a compelling demonstration of the oft-repeated claim that the industry was well capitalised at the start of last year.
  • The cat bond market missed a chance to grow in 2011 as it failed to compete sufficiently on pricing, Willis Capital Markets & Advisory (WCMA) argues in its latest quarterly update on the segment.
  • The California earthquake bond Embarcadero Re has closed, raising $150mn reinsurance for state insurer the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) in the second issuance from the platform.
  • Aon has released its 2012 map of political risk levels in 167 emerging countries, revealing a significant Arab Spring aftershock both within the region and globally.
  • Windstorm Ulli brought $306mn in claims for insurers with European exposures, while a rare January tornado outbreak caused at least $30mn in losses to hit the US market, according to Aon Benfield's Global Catastrophe Recap report.
  • RenaissanceRe's global chief underwriting officer Kevin O'Donnell says the firm's new sidecar Upsilon Re helped it expand into what he described as a dynamic and dysfunctional retro market at the year-end renewals.
  • A clear bifurcation is emerging between P&C (re)insurers that have weathered the storm of near-record 2011 catastrophe losses and those that appear overweight in their exposures compared to industry peers.
  • Pat Ryan, CEO of US wholesaler Ryan Specialty Group, thinks the recent trend of retailers contracting with a small number of preferred wholesale partners will continue.
  • The traditional loss-driven market cycle is not functioning at the moment, with more than $100bn of cat losses failing to trigger a broad rating turn, said Kiln CEO Charles Franks.
  • The excess and surplus lines (E&S) market in the US is registering growth as admitted carriers turn their backs on business that they had been accepting earlier in the soft market, two industry leaders have said.
  • Sir Laurie Magnus, senior advisor at prolific insurance M&A adviser Evercore, has forecast a "great year" for M&A in the insurance industry.
  • Berkshire Hathaway's (re)insurance chief Ajit Jain has prompted talk that the Warren Buffett-controlled behemoth might be about to re-escalate its involvement in the property cat market by embarking on a three-week tour of the Far East.
  • Catlin Group has been approached by a number of companies eager to follow suit since it announced its special purpose syndicates (SPSs) with China Re and Everest Re, says CEO Stephen Catlin.
  • Aon's Q4 global insurance pricing flat; Charman says ‘no' to Axis syndicate; New York insurance regulator joins law firm; Hartford shares surge on break-up push
  • Graham White has been re-elected to the Lloyd's Council, where he will be joined by Amlin underwriting director Simon Beale and Cathedral managing director Lawrence Holder
  • Up to 30 different private equity (PE) and non-trade investors have received the investor memoranda relating to the up-for-sale insurer Groupama UK, The Insurance Insider can reveal
  • Hannover Re has almost doubled its Thai loss to EUR196mn from the preliminary EUR100mn estimate it gave during a Q3 earnings call, as it unveiled full-year profit guidance that exceeded targets
  • With more entrepreneurialism (tempered, of course, by common sense) and less timidity, we might discover that there is a lot less that is uninsurable than we currently imagine...
  • After 13 influential years as chairman and CEO of Willis Group, Joe Plumeri will bring the curtain down on his time at the head of the big three broker next July as he celebrates his 70th birthday, The Insurance Insider can reveal.