June 2017/4

Amlin-owned insurance-linked securities (ILS) manager Leadenhall's support of InsurTech life insurance start-up Gryphon Group Holdings is connected to a reinsurance transaction, Trading Risk reported.

Swiss Re expanded its Sector Re sidecar to $492mn midway through 2017 to increase its retro support from the vehicle by $100mn in the past year, sister publication Trading Risk revealed last week.

With the current pricing environment leaving little room for P&C (re)insurers to boost their profits, expense management has become an increasingly popular strategy for widening margins.

P&C (re)insurers benefited from another quarter of low catastrophe loss levels, with the only large cat events occurring in the US.

JLT Specialty is the broking firm held in the highest regard by political violence underwriters, according to a study of the terrorism insurance market by The Insurance Insider's rankings team.

Top US cyber writers shifted from packaged policies towards standalone cover as the segment's top line grew last year, according to AM Best.

AIG has piloted a multinational blockchain-based policy for Standard Chartered Bank in the first major use of the much-vaunted technology in the global (re)insurance industry.

Illinois, a state with $11bn in unpaid bills, may be on the verge of creating the first state-financed workers' compensation insurance system to be set up in decades.

Argentina's Superintendent of Insurance Juan Pazo has detailed plans to reopen his country's market to foreign-owned admitted reinsurers at the 1 July renewals.

Icat gets multiple offers; Aston Scott nears Lark deal; R&Q sells managing agency; Mitchell joins MS Amlin; Allianz to book loss on bank sale; Anthem data breach settlement; KIRS formed as pair of M&A deals complete; ABI flammable cladding warning; US cyber premiums rise 35%; Kaikoura quake claims double

Statutory data for the Texas personal auto market has provided strong evidence of the challenging conditions facing carriers in the space, which are also driving a number of reinsurers away from the business.

Any insurance claim stemming from the fraud allegations faced by UK banking giant Barclays would probably fall to the London directors' and officers' (D&O) market, The Insurance Insider understands.

The key 1 July renewal for the Latin American market is expected to go down to the wire in what one underwriter described as a "schizophrenic" market.

Several Lloyd's and US (re)insurers have launched a $49mn legal action against Norwegian weather data provider StormGeo alleging defective read-outs from its system contributed to the sinking of the El Faro in 2015, according to court documents.

The juggernaut of London market MGA formation is showing no signs of slowing with the news that Aspen Re's former London head Stefan Long is working on a start-up in conjunction with Martin Reith's Neon.

JLT Specialty, one of the biggest producers to the London market, has informed carriers that it intends to impose subscription market brokerage (SMB) on classes of business where placements are syndicated, The Insurance Insider has learned.

The brokers have a cogent case for imposing subscription market brokerage (SMB), as JLT Specialty has indicated to insurers it will now do more broadly

It turns out that markets aren't broken after all

Reinsurers are attempting to push through UK motor rate increases of as much as 100 percent at the 1 July renewals as they look to transform the pricing landscape following the swingeing reduction to the Ogden rate.