November 2016/2

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

One of the most distinctive characteristics of the third quarter results was investors' swiftness to penalise companies with poorer-than-expected earnings.

A former senior underwriter in Tokio Marine Global's New York office is suing his former employer after claiming he was dismissed because of his Indian roots.

Everest National has fought back against a bid by Rockhill to have a poaching case, which alleges piracy and a conspiracy to steal trade secrets, dismissed by a US court.

Alliant has again found itself in the US courts in relation to its aggressive expansion strategy, with the California-based intermediary accused of risking price fixing allegations and breaching antitrust laws.

Reinsurance brokers offered few concrete answers to questions on how they planned to spur growth, after revealing Q3 organic growth figures that disappointed some analysts.

With only Heritage left to report, the third quarter earnings season for Florida's publicly traded insurers has provided further evidence of diverging loss experience driven by the assignment of benefits (AOB) crisis.

Carriers' top-end loss estimates from Hurricane Matthew have now surpassed $1.6bn, after AIG disclosed the largest single loss to date in its Q3 earnings.

Bermudian carriers benefited from another relatively benign quarter for cat losses as well as higher investment yields, which allowed operating returns to rise in spite of the challenging market environment.

The Insurance Insider's Bermuda composite reported a lower year-on-year combined ratio of 90.1 percent in Q3, the first quarterly improvement in the past year and a half.

Top-line expansion slowed down for Bermudian carriers during the third quarter, as both the insurance and reinsurance books registered low single-digit growth.

AIG is ahead of its planned 6 percent general operating expense reduction target for 2016, the insurer's CFO Sid Sankaran told investors last week.

The jury is still out on AIG after a third quarter that included a setback in the underwriting performance of its core commercial insurance business, but progress on expense reductions, divestments and capital repatriation.

A raft of changes to UK corporate tax law next year are likely to cause substantial disruption to how insurers structure their financial reporting.

Next year the London market will be challenged to adopt many of the new technologies, platforms and working practices designed and built centrally by the London Market Group Target Operating Model (Tom) team.

Maloney backs Cathedral; Dual CEO to exit; Sompo Canopius UK motor; FCA backs blockchain innovation; Lloyd's India approval; FX gains boost Hiscox; Towergate buy-in; Spacecom $196mn payout; AmTrust completes ANV deal; R&Q Irish solicitors' fund; Berkshire underwriting profits fall…

The mass of binding authority business placed into the excess and surplus lines (E&S) market is being targeted by wholesale brokers for consolidation, according to senior industry sources.

Jamie Sahara's new venture is the latest in a number of fronting initiatives looking to launch as an alternative to established carriers such as State National.

Talbot Underwriting has launched a Lloyd's consortium for nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological (NBCR) risks up to $50mn as it looks to provide larger lines than those currently available.

After a string of worsening underwriting results AM Best has punished hedge fund reinsurer Greenlight Re by downgrading its financial strength rating from A to A- and its credit ranking from a to a-.

USAA's $400mn Residential Re 2016-II cat bond attracted strong investor interest as sources predicted a lacklustre deal volume in the fourth quarter.

It will be "business as usual" at Aeolus Capital Management following the sale agreement with hedge fund manager Elliott Management Corporation, the Bermudian ILS manager's founder Peter Appel told sister publication Trading Risk.

Markets have reacted negatively to UK-based broker JLT's interim results released today as the company's shares finished trading 4.0 percent down at 980.5p.

The aviation market could finally, mercifully be drawing towards the end of its soft cycle.

Aviation underwriters are becoming increasingly confident that the international airlines market is approaching a floor, with the major rate reductions of last year confined to the largest accounts.

As the third quarter results season unfolds, so the forcible separation of underwriting "men" from underwriting "boys" continues

Continental reinsurer Hannover Re and Matt Fairfield's start-up Exin are among the bidders for Lloyd's managing agent and members' agent Argenta, The Insurance Insider can reveal.