• X
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Show more sharing options
  • Copy Link URLCopied!
  • Print
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Insurance Insider is part of the Delinian Group, Delinian Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 00954730
Copyright © Delinian Limited and its affiliated companies 2024

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

May 2012/4

  • After a bright first quarter filled the sector with optimism, the return of the Eurozone crisis and fears of a disorderly Greek exit from the euro have brought (re)insurance stocks back to a gloomy reality this month.
  • Data is a key element of the internal model review process but the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) is still developing how a data audit will be done and by whom, according to former head FSA insurance regulator Simon Kirby.
  • British Insurance Brokers Association (Biba) CEO Eric Galbraith has criticised the European Commission for considering mandatory remuneration disclosure for brokers and said that one-size-fits-all regulation for the financial and insurance industries is "utterly ridiculous".
  • Insurers and the Financial Services Authority are under pressure from the reduced time frame to approve internal models, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) warned last week.
  • Senior claims executives have warned that blanket reservation of rights on claims could not only alienate policyholders but could make the London market an unattractive insurance platform.
  • New York State regulatory authorities are to broaden their review of insurance lines beyond force-placed programmes once current hearings on homeowners' coverage are over.
  • Aon has been sued by contractors for the Kleen Energy gas and oil-fired plant over alleged deficiencies in the provision of liability cover for their joint insurance programme.
  • USAA has successfully gained $40mn annual aggregate cover against multiple US perils at a relatively high-frequency level from the cat bond market as part of its new $200mn Residential Re cat bond.
  • Global reinsurer Scor has increased the amount of event-driven contingent capital it can draw on following large natural catastrophe losses to EUR150mn, having triggered the first EUR75mn of its 2010 facility last year.
  • Capital market investors provide about 10-15 percent of the $220bn-$250bn of global catastrophe reinsurance capacity, according to estimates from brokers and bankers.
  • Long-term investors, including some of the largest hitters in the London market, will be among the biggest losers from Canopius' recommended cash bid valuing the company at £164mn.
  • (Re)insurers are likely to come under pressure to be more aggressive in their capital management over the next several months - with the usual caveat of the "no major catastrophes" assumption.
  • Capital management among publicly listed (re)insurers remained tepid during the first quarter of 2012 as firms licked their wounds after a bruising sequence of catastrophe losses last year.
  • Investors may have revolted against the salary of former Aviva CEO Andrew Moss, but the pay packets taken home by London's listed reinsurance CEOs last year shows that the industry is responsive to financial performance - albeit in varying degrees.
  • An exceptionally low level of aerospace incidents in 2011 - offset by positive forecasts in turnover and passenger numbers - point to another year of close to flat premiums, according to Aon's annual aerospace report.
  • Sixty percent of insurance companies active in the Arabian Gulf expect the market to grow ahead of the region's GDP, according to the new GCC Insurance Barometer.
  • AM Best said it expects London market insurers to rebound in 2012 after a year that ruthlessly tested their resilience, but warned that shrinking reserve releases and meagre investment returns are likely to drag back earnings.
  • JLT's wholesale broking subsidiary Lloyd & Partners Limited delivered operating margins of 22.5 percent on continuing operations as it again lived up to its reputation as one of the best performers in the space.
  • Goldman Sachs' head of structured finance Michael Millette has estimated that the "quiet and pervasive" collateralised reinsurance market is almost as big as the cat bond market and growing in importance.
  • In recent years P&C (re)insurers have moved toward a new "paradigm" where a smaller core balance sheet is complemented by a range of off-balance sheet ventures that provide less volatile fee income and a more efficient means of flexing capital, according to Goldman Sachs's head of structured finance Michael Millette.
  • The $805mn Thai flood claim from electronics giant Sony included a $66.5mn contingent business interruption (CBI) claim, The Insurance Insider revealed.
  • Insured losses from the tornadoes that devastated parts of Texas in April are likely to reach $1bn, with more bad weather expected in May, according to the Insurance Council of Texas.
  • Ironshore's Lloyd's syndicate, Pembroke 4000, has cut back its property direct and facultative (D&F) book after a mixed performance and the relocation of underwriter Rod Todd from London to Bermuda, sister title Inside FAC revealed last week.
  • Insurance Australia Group (IAG) has sunk around £800mn into Lloyd's insurer Equity Redstar and the rest of its UK operations since 2006 and will be looking to recoup as much of this sum as possible from the recently announced sale process.