April 2015/5

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

P&C share price performance lagged behind the wider stock market last week as The Insider 30 traded down by 1.16 percent.

The International Underwriting Association (IUA) has welcomed the European Union (EU)'s plans to renegotiate US collateral requirements for overseas reinsurers, saying it would lead to a "simpler and much better co-ordinated" reinsurance industry.

The passage of a US bill that extends liability protection for companies prepared to share information about cyber attacks should be replicated globally, according to cyber insurance experts.

The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania (TICSP), a subsidiary of AIG, is suing Arthur J Gallagher-owned broker Heath Lambert for $6mn after it was unable to collect on a legacy reinsurance policy.

A UK Commercial Court judge has ruled against WR Berkley and Aspen in a preliminary hearing over a long-running and precedent-setting dispute brought by a captive insurer.

Closing arguments have been heard in the trial brought by former American International Group (AIG) CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg against the US government, which he claims cheated shareholders out of $40bn in a distressed bailout.

Operating returns for US insurance giants Ace, Chubb and Travelers came under pressure during the first quarter of 2015 due to foreign currency headwinds, lower investment income and US winter weather losses.

With three of the US P&C industry's bellwether carriers reporting last week, it was inevitable that pricing would again be the focus of conversation on the firms' Q1 earnings calls.

The US commercial P&C insurance market continued to soften during the first quarter of 2015 as pricing across all account sizes fell by 2.3 percent on average, the latest Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers (CIAB) survey has revealed.

Towers Watson said that it remained positive on the reinsurance sector, but suggested that investors adjust their reinsurance allocation to be "moderately underweight" relative to their target exposure.

Travelers has returned to the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market with a new $200mn Long Point Re III cat bond, sister publication Trading Risk reported last week.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and US Treasury have released proposed regulations on the taxation of offshore (re)insurers and requested feedback on how best to measure carriers' capital requirements.

JLT boss Dominic Burke pressured the deputy CEO of Willis to sell its specie division before he launched a massive staff raid, poaching more than half of the big-three broker's 60-strong specie team, the UK High Court heard last week.

Ace CEO Evan Greenberg has dismissed the prospect of the carrier's captive reinsurance vehicle ABR Re writing business for external insurers for the next several years.

Patrick Gallagher, CEO of major broker AJ Gallagher, has shrugged off analysts' questions about recent senior defections from his firm's UK-headquartered international operations by predicting an uptick in revenue for 2015.

Aspen group CEO Chris O'Kane left analysts in no doubt about his feelings on recent staff departures after detailing the reasons for their exits on a conference call.

JLT Re North America has continued to add to its ranks with the hire of Alun Hansen from Guy Carpenter.

Former Aon Benfield and AQR Re executive Paul Karon has joined TigerRisk as vice chairman, The Insurance Insider revealed last week (21 April).

Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford is in talks with US Re about a potential deal to acquire a portion of the independent reinsurance broker's business, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Reinsurance buyers are increasingly benefiting from so-called revenue sharing agreements (RSAs) with the brokers that place their programmes, The Insurance Insider understands.

Snowstorms in the eastern US were the most costly catastrophe event of the first quarter, causing $1.35bn in insured losses, according to Property Claim Services (PCS).

The trend towards centralisation of reinsurance buying among so-called "super-cedants" is not necessarily bad news for reinsurers, according to Allianz Re CEO Amer Ahmed.

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