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June 2013/3

  • Tom Bolt, the director of performance management at Lloyd's, has directed some wry swipes at the recent rash of broker portfolio facilities in the London market.
  • Benjamin Lawsky has again demonstrated his fervour for regulatory activism by publishing a report slating life insurers for minimising the amount of capital that they have to hold in reserves through $48bn of "shadow insurance" transactions.
  • The Insurance Insider tracks all the notable P&C sector share prices of the last week and compares year-to-date performances
  • Andrew Torrance, the current head of Allianz UK, is to become the CEO of the German insurer's US operation Fireman's Fund.
  • Bryan Wilburn and David Barrett have denied allegations that they breached a contract with US wholesaler ClearView Risk Holdings and subsidiary Southwest Risk by establishing a rival firm
  • The $1mn+ legal dispute between Costa Rican insurer Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS) and brokers Hemispheric Reinsurance Group (HRG) and Howden Insurance Brokers took another turn last week after a Florida judge allowed INS to amend its complaint against the intermediaries to include fraudulent misrepresentation and constructive fraud.
  • New regulations, taxes and permanently low interest rates could threaten the insurance industry's ability to plug the estimated EUR4tn-EUR5tn European investment funding gap between 2012 and 2016, according to a study by Insurance Europe.
  • EIOPA has published its findings on life insurers' long-term guarantees, one of the main sticking points in getting Solvency II off the ground
  • Swiss investment manager Twelve Capital has increased its total assets under management (AuM) to almost $2bn after agreeing to take over the management of Falcon Private Bank's insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds.
  • The new capital lured by the relatively high returns of the catastrophe reinsurance sector could be around longer than some market watchers expect, according to Guy Carpenter's head of global business intelligence David Flandro.
  • Private equity heavyweight Apollo is not convinced that the reinsurance pricing cycle has been altered by the rise of the alternative market and has questioned whether now is the right time to move into the insurance-linked securities (ILS) management sector, according to sources.
  • Four new cat bond offerings have been launched in the past 10 days as sponsors continue to take advantage of the strong appetite among investors for securitised catastrophe reinsurance risk. We look at all the bonds in the pipeline, together with 2013 issuance to date...
  • US reserves adequacy has continued their long-term decline, studies of the 2012 year end US statutory Schedule-P filings reveal
  • Rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has outlined its view of the common causes of failure at insurance companies based on its experience covering the sector.
  • Investors should be mindful of the "book value headwinds" created by rising interest rates, according to JMP Securities analyst Matt Carletti.
  • Only three representatives of the giant continental reinsurers made it to the top 50 this year, with Swiss Re CEO Michel Lies placing 31st with total compensation of $7.2mn and Scor CEO Denis Kessler ranking 43rd with total pay of $5.9mn.
  • Only one broking executive was among the industry's top 10 earners this year, with the retiring Brian Duperreault of Marsh & McLennan Companies making it to seventh place.
  • The CEOs of the quoted London market (re)insurers were rewarded with substantial increases in remuneration last year after their companies reported strong 2012 results, combined with increased share prices.
  • The total remuneration of the 16 CEOs in our Bermuda composite grew by 38 percent in 2012, bringing the total to $128mn, according to data compiled by The Insurance Insider.
  • The 50 highest paid executives in our universe of publicly listed P&C (re)insurance carriers and brokers earned total compensation of $497mn in 2012, almost $10mn on average per person, our annual four-page survey reveals...
  • We analyse all the major capacity changes on the Citizens' 1.6 programme...
  • After the summer sales in Florida, with rates typically slashed by 15-20 percent, catastrophe reinsurers are returning to something like normality with the renewal of Australian cedant Suncorp, which looks set to renew its vast cat treaty at a risk-adjusted rate reduction of around 5 percent.
  • QBE underwriter Thomas Beasley is set to move from the insurer's flagship Syndicate 386 to Amlin, where he will reunite with former QBE colleague Martin Boreham.
  • Liberty Syndicates is in line to pick up M&A underwriter Richard Winborn from Zurich Financial, The Insurance Insider understands.
  • Marine broker Mark Cracknell is set to join JLT after his departure from Aon earlier this year amid a reorganisation of the marine and energy units.  
  • Two of Graeme Moore's former colleagues at Aon Benfield have left the broker to join him at Willis Re. The executive - a major producer of London market reinsurance business - marks one of the highest profile departures from the broking giant since the $1.4bn Benfield acquisition in 2008
  • XL senior casualty underwriter Colin Ivory is to leave his role at the firm's UK middle-market team following the resignation of his former boss Denis Burniston.  
  • Scor-backed Channel Syndicate has hired Kade Spears from Aspen to write a new book of credit and political risk business, The Insurance Insider can reveal.
  • Mario Greco - the executive parachuted in to lead the turnaround at Italian insurer Generali last year - has continued to sell-off the firm's non-core and sub-scale assets.
  • Bidders for Lloyd's reinsurer Cathedral had to submit a bid in the region of £200mn last week to stand any chance of progressing to the second round of the sales process, The Insurance Insider understands.
  • Berkshire Hathaway has confirmed the launch of its new specialty insurance unit, with CEO Warren Buffett warning competitors that the company is targeting substantial long-term growth in the sector.
  • Despite the widespread view of cyber insurance as a potential growth market, senior Lloyd's executive Tom Bolt warned last week that he was "not confident" about the market and that the risks are "not priced correctly".
  • Former Lloyd's CEO Nick Prettejohn will step down from the chairman's role at Brit Insurance over conflicts of interest...
  • Members' agent Argenta is hoping to raise in excess of £20mn-£25mn for its new VisionRe Lloyd's investment vehicle, which would allow it to write about £50mn of premium income next year
  • QBE Europe is set to unveil a reorganisation that will see its operations re-aligned along wholesale and retail lines…
  • Allianz, Hannover Re and Generali have reported EUR600mn+ of losses from the recent flooding in Central Europe, but for the most part reinsurers are viewing the event with detached unconcern.
  • Tokio Solution Management and GC Securities have launched a new platform designed to help smaller insurers source capital markets reinsurance capacity by issuing streamlined private cat bonds.
  • GC appoints; Asian Re downgraded; Tiger expands; Ace outlook; R&Q pipeline; Flood losses; Travelers acquires; High-flyer; Axis hires; Colorado wildfires; London negative; Cashed out; XL hire; Sliced sidecar; Sliced sidecar; Sequel launch; Gray steps down; Cat query; Brown & Brown acquisition; Catlin promotes; Claims cost deal; ILFC extended
  • Fast-growing London market specialist MGA Nexus Underwriting Management has signed a deal to receive backing from Bermudian (re)insurer PartnerRe in a "game-changing" coup for the underwriter.
  • The Marsh marine following facility, known as Project Black, is written by a clutch of significant London markets including Amlin and Hiscox, The Insurance Insider can reveal. In addition to the two London blue-chips, other markets include the global specialty carrier Torus...
  • Bermudian (re)insurer Axis Capital is set to start buying retro after having previously been a net writer, the firm said.
  • Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are increasingly tempted to use inflammatory language. The Insurance Insider would prefer less sensationalism and greater consistency
  • Swiss Re is "actively looking [at] and evaluating" broker facilities as it looks to grow its share of large ticket corporate business, Swiss Re managing director Fred Kleiterp has told The Insurance Insider.