February 2017/3

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

Lancashire recorded a minor dip in income from asset management platform Kinesis in 2016, but the company's chief financial officer Elaine Whelan said the unit made a stable contribution to the group's return on equity (RoE).

AIG has taken steps to increase its reinsurance protection against catastrophe volatility in the past year after it halved the trigger point of its US property catastrophe reinsurance programme.

Florida Citizens Property Insurance is planning to spend under $100mn to buy just $1.1bn to $1.3bn of total reinsurance limit in the mid-year renewals.

The Insurance Insider's index of P&C (re)insurance companies rose by 1.04 percent in the week to hit 1,055.5 points.

US specialty insurers reported declining annualised operating returns on equity (RoEs) in the fourth quarter of 2016, as a modest improvement in investment returns failed to compensate for a contraction in underwriting margins.

Underwriting performance in The Insurance Insider's US specialty composite deteriorated in the three months to 31 December for the first time in the past five years.

Despite intense market competition and rate declines, US specialty carriers found areas where they believed they could grow profitably in the fourth quarter of 2016. The carriers wrote 4.8 percent more business year-on-year.

The profitability of the London market showed a marked deterioration in the fourth quarter, with several Lloyd's arms of international carriers posting combined ratios of over 100 percent.

The high level of commissions and operating costs in Lloyd's and the London market are unsustainable and put carriers at a "competitive disadvantage", Navigators CEO Stan Galanski has claimed.

Allied World-Elseco aviation deal; Marsh offers Brexit ‘plan B'; National Lloyds sale pulled; Nichols resigns as Axis Re CEO; NSW losses hit $53.8mn; Enstar to sell Pavonia life for $120mn; Chubb names Europe COO; Bahrain insurer mergers; Greenberg divests $26mn Validus stake; Investment result boosts Brit; IAG InsurTech hub launch; Tower under review; Fairfax $1bn investment loss; Swiss Re appoints global claims head; Arcus syndicate manager; Soft US P&C market to continue; Maiden auto re

Declines in global insurance rates moderated throughout 2016 amid early signs of capacity withdrawal and rising combined ratios, according to Marsh.

A 3 percentage point cut in the UK's Ogden discount rate for personal injury compensation would lead to a one-off reserve charge for the insurance industry of about £4.9bn ($6.1bn), according to Willis Towers Watson.

Insurers could face additional earnings pressure and further reserve strengthening as a result of a cut to the so-called Ogden rate, which is expected to be announced later this month.

Aon is seeking $54mn after a raid by rival broker Alliant reduced its central California team of more than 80 people to just seven almost overnight.

Allianz CEO Oliver Bäte has roundly rejected suggestions his firm's EUR3bn ($3.2bn) share buyback means it is no longer considering M&A deals, and claimed the carrier had the financial strength to do both.

Fairfax Financial's fourth quarter loss could hardly have come at a worse time for the Toronto-based firm, whose leader, CEO Prem Watsa, is often referred to as the Warren Buffett of Canada.

AIG stock plummeted almost 10 percent following the publication of the company's Q4 results last week as investors punished a $5.6bn reserve charge.

Analysts have cast doubt on AIG management's execution of its recovery strategy after the company revealed another multi-billion-dollar reserve in its fourth quarter results.

AIG's mammoth $5.6bn reserve charge dominated headlines last week, but there was also significant disclosure on the insurer's landmark adverse development cover (ADC) with Berkshire Hathaway in its fourth quarter earnings presentation.

New Lloyd's chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown proved his calibre handling the fallout from New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's investigation of contingent commissions while he was CEO of Marsh Europe and Middle East, according to multiple well-placed market sources.

After looking set for a merger with Endurance following its parent's agreed $6.3bn acquisition of the Bermudian (re)insurer, Sompo Canopius may now continue as a standalone entity.

Zurich is the lead insurer on a $120mn political risk claim caused by the conflict in Ukraine, The Insurance Insider understands.

The difference between the functions of the chairman of Lloyd's and his or her powers are quintessentially British in their ambiguity.

With Bruce Carnegie-Brown's appointment as Lloyd's chairman confirmed this week, the focus shifts to the challenges he faces, which dwarf anything the Corporation has confronted since Reconstruction and Renewal.