• 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

September 2011/2

  • UK-listed insurance services group Tawa has reached an agreement to purchase Lloyd's turnkey provider Whittington UK along with its consortium partners Paraline and Skuld.
  • Former Heath Lambert CEO Adrian Colosso is stepping down from London-headquartered broker Gallagher International just four months after the company swallowed up the UK retailer
  • Clyde & Co and Barlow Lyde & Gilbert became the latest law firms with sizeable insurance practices to agree a merger.
  • German-based legacy acquirer Darag has bought the legacy business of Austrian insurer Garant, in a further sign of increased sell-side appetite for run-off transactions in continental Europe
  • New Zealand's Earthquake Commission (EQC) has lost its case in the High Court of New Zealand over the question of how much insurance cover it provides when there are multiple disasters within a year, loading more cost onto the government-backed fund.
  • A US regulator has sued 17 of the world's largest banks over their role in allegedly mis-selling $200bn of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) to the state-backed mortgage agencies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
  • Japanese "big three" insurer Tokio Marine has issued a $160mn private cat bond in the latest sign of private market expansion, as the public cat bond pipeline slowed mid-year.
  • Lloyd's insurer Chaucer - owned by The Hanover - has again drawn a blank in its attempt to spin-off its credit crisis-exposed Syndicate 4000 legacy
  • Investors in the $100mn tornado bond Mariah II are set to incur losses as totals for events covered by the bond pass its $725mn trigger, according to an update from ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P).
  • Brokers estimate that the industry loss warranty market has expanded by a further $1bn-$1.5bn over the past year due to increasing demand following the 2010-11 cat losses and improved coverage terms
  • Lord Peter Levene, the outgoing chairman of Lloyd's, has warned the UK to end the culture of "self-imposed flagellation" to prevent London from losing its competitive edge as a centre of financial excellence
  • Insurance companies are facing payouts of more than $100mn to cover the cost of wildfires in Texas over the long Labor Day weekend, according to the Insurance Council of Texas.
  • Flooding from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee has increased pressure for reform of the US National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) just weeks before it expires
  • Hurricane Irene will hit primary insurers' pockets rather than being passed to reinsurers, analysts and ratings agencies predicted after the storm became the first to hit the US coast in three years
  • It is debateable whether the underperformance of certain (re)insurers' international books indicates that the geographically diversified property cat model has failed.
  • With the exception of the recently de-listed Brit Insurance, all Lloyd's insurers reporting half-year results fell into the red. This was largely a result of Q1 international catastrophes, dominated by New Zealand and Japan, which led to deteriorating losses in Q2.
  • 2011 combined ratios will be over 100 percent in the reinsurance sector
  • The February earthquake in Christchurch cost reinsurers more than the larger quake that hit Japan in March, new figures compiled by Aon Benfield for The Insurance Insider Pre-Monte Carlo Executive briefing show.
  • The "big three" primary commercial insurers in Australasia retained less than $1.5bn of combined losses from the string of Antipodean disasters
  • The reinsurance industry remains strongly capitalised despite heavy catastrophe losses this year, but a question mark hangs over the sector's ability to reload after a market-turning disaster, according to the ratings agencies.
  • With the reinsurance market at a tipping point, there are also growing signs pointing to a price correction in the pivotal US primary market.
  • Aon Benfield continues to maintain a more bearish stance but a consensus is growing that the industry is at a tipping point. The Insurance Insider takes the pulse of the market on the eve of the annual Monte Carlo Reinsurance Rendez-Vous...
  • The London market has appointed Boston Consulting for a wide-ranging project to help shape its central processing.
  • Private equity-backed insurance broker Integro moved into the black and consolidated its position in the Lloyd's market in 2010 with a 33 percent increase in placed premium, The Insurance Insider can reveal
  • The London insurance market may be worth nearly $64bn (£40bn) a year in gross premiums, making it parallel in size to the Bermuda market, according to the same survey from the London industry body
  • The London company (re)insurance market has a distinct profile from its Lloyd's counterpart, with a much greater focus on local specialty business, a new survey from industry group the International Underwriting Association (IUA) has shown
  • UK-listed Tawa is poised to create a formidable presence in the (re)insurance services sector in the US, UK, continental Europe and the international Lloyd's market
  • Lloyd's M&A continues. We have all the details...
  • Levels of M&A activity in the insurance sector are on the rise this year as companies seek more clout, according to a study by law firm Clyde & Co.
  • The prospects for a merger between Allied World and Transatlantic Holdings look bleak after ISS Proxy Advisory Services recommended that shareholders in the US reinsurer vote against the transaction
  • New Zealand Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee will lead a government delegation to Europe this month to make its case to (re)insurers to continue supplying the Christchurch market after the region was struck by two major earthquakes in the past year.
  • Japan's giant agricultural mutual Zenkyoren will increase its March quake loss estimate later this month, in a move likely to spur reserve strengthening among some (re)insurers
  • The Insurance Insider compares the top 10 reinsurance brokers
  • No market turn: Aon Benfield; Munich Re to raise US revenue 40% by 2014; Moody's upbeat on reinsurance; Permira agrees $1.7bn Clal buyout; US P&C pricing continues to stabilise; Skuld positive; Aon Benfield hires Australia team; Montpelier lures Schaper from Endurance; Talas $150mn-$600mn loss
  • Colosso to leave Gallagher International; Amlin negative; Argo hires Matson; Omega Best boost; Nuclear syndicate to drop reinsurance; Lexicon now Evercore; 2121 splits roles; Russian loss; Tawa buys Chiltington; Motor probed
  • As the reinsurance industry once again converges on Monte Carlo for the annual ritual, it is worth remembering who is the master. To put in a financial context: there are $550bn in global motor premiums. Only $20bn - or 3.6 percent - finds its way into the treaty pot
  • Willis is the latest reinsurance broker to woo investors for a new fund, Hendiatris, which will write collateralised reinsurance as well as insurance-linked securities
  • With cat rates up on record H1 losses and model changes, hedge funds and other investors are being tempted by new initiatives