November 2017/2

As the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) begins work on its long-awaited wholesale insurance broking market study, both insurers and intermediaries will be honing their well-rehearsed arguments.

The big three insurance brokers all expanded their reinsurance business on an organic basis in Q3, with Aon posting the fastest growth for the second consecutive quarter.

US specialty combined ratios escalated well into triple digits in the third quarter following elevated catastrophe losses, while ex-cat underwriting performances improved overall year-on-year.

US specialty players continued to increase their exposure during the third quarter of 2017, with gross written premiums (GWP) rising by 10.8 percent, according to analysis by The Insurance Insider.

Third party managing agent Asta has received final clearance from Lloyd's to commence writing for another full syndicate in 2018, as a host of others are kept waiting.

A tally of first-round PCS claims estimates for natural catastrophes in the US territories and the Caribbean puts total insured losses to $71.8bn for the year-to-date.

AmTrust still has a big job on its hands to win over investors after another messy set of quarterly results that also highlighted the efforts management is making to clean up the US insurer, strengthen its balance sheet and set it on a more stable path towards 2018 and beyond.

Liability insurers are facing a huge increase in potentially silent exposures as a result of the increased litigation and compensation claims expected following implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The tying of reinsurance and broker-owned MGAs are among the more surprising areas of focus in the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)'s probe into wholesale insurance broking.

QBE is in exclusive discussions with Armour on a $500mn US legacy book that holds predominantly commercial auto exposures, The Insurance Insider understands.

The number of legacy transactions being explored by the live market is surging as firms look for solutions to deteriorating reserve positions and ways of optimising their capital.

What an industry we have the privilege to write about!

As the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) embarks upon its long-trailed review of wholesale distribution in London, it will have to make sense of a complex situation that bears some hallmarks of a crisis.

Insurance became a key issue in the US tax reform debate yesterday after President Donald Trump insisted that lawmakers include a rollback of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate in the bill to fund a cut in income taxes.