Property

Cincinnati Financial missed analysts’ consensus estimates for its first quarter earnings, reporting operating income of $120mn, or $0.72 per share, while the average of seven forecasts called for $0.80 per share, based on the average of seven polled by MarketWatch.

Markel reported a 17.5 percent drop in first quarter operating income even as the specialty insurer swung to a healthy underwriting gain and its combined ratio improved.

Alesco Risk Management Services has hired Martin Hiller as chairman of its UK construction team, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

MS Amlin's head of underwriting risk, David Ford, has left the specialty (re)insurer, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

London market executives have expressed disappointment at the lacklustre rate rises underwriters have been able to achieve following the 2017 catastrophes, as continued overcapacity has served to drown out hard market sentiment.

Castel Specialty, a division of MGA platform Castel Underwriting Agencies, has added a global property facultative reinsurance offering to its portfolio, led by Paul Witzenfeld.

Beazley has created a hotline for the workers of its employment practices liability customers in the US in response to an increased focus on sexual harassment in the workplace.

Caribbean property specialist MGA Aura Underwriting is expecting a $50mn loss as a result of hurricanes Irma and Maria, The Insurance Insider can report

Reinsurance renewals in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and elsewhere in Asia showed some signs of stability at 1 January, but carriers hoping for significant rate rises following 2017's natural catastrophes were left disappointed

Aspen Re is to close its Paris and Cologne offices following a review that will see it restructure the way it writes its international property facultative account, The Insurance Insider can reveal

Rate increases achieved by the property direct and facultative (D&F) market at 1 January could herald the beginning of a slow recovery in the class, which has been one of the greatest victims of the prolonged soft market.

Pioneer has established a Latin American business by opening a hub in Mexico City