News analysis, features and opinion

• Lloyd’s guns for emerging markets growth

  18 May 2012

  Analysis: Lloyd’s unveiled its Vision 2025 last Friday, signalling it is looking to emerging markets in Latin America and Asia to fuel international growth over the next decade and beyond, while seeking to safeguard its London core from regulatory threats.

• Hank Greenberg gives keynote address at Miami re/insurance forum

  16 May 2012

  Asia and Latin America driving growth, says Hank Greenberg, but there remain concerns over regulation and nationalisation of foreign firms.

• Reactions' Middle East re/insurance survey

  15 May 2012

  Reactions releases the results of an in-depth study to gauge international insurers' and reinsurers' perceptions of the Middle East market, in association with the Qatar Financial Centre Authority.

• Haste a frontrunner for Aviva top job

  10 May 2012

  Former RSA CEO Andy Haste is regarded to be one of the favourites to replace Andrew Moss as CEO as Aviva.

• Download IDA Summit presentations

  08 May 2012

  The presentations from the Insurance and Data Analytics Summit held in New York on April 25 are available for free download. The conference was held by Reactions and data standards provider Acord.

• View From The Top: Ace's Andrew Kendrick

  08 May 2012

  Andrew Kendrick, chairman of Ace European Group, talks about the growing importance of Europe’s emerging insurance markets and how migration eastwards is demanding more consideration than ever from the insurance industry.

• Common processes vital to cat risk data

  07 May 2012

  Panellists debated the best way to master cat risk data at the Insurance and Data Analytics Summit in New York.

• Big data’s importance to insurers

  07 May 2012

  Cloud computing and big data were debated on a panel on data strategies at the Insurance Data and Analytics Summit in New York.

• Tokio Millennium Re targeting expansion

  03 May 2012

  Interview: Tokio Marine’s reinsurance unit is aiming to grow in Europe and beyond, according to group CEO Tatsuhiko Hoshina and Continental Europe CEO Stephan Ruoff.

• $2.56bn-worth of insurance M&A in April

  02 May 2012

  Data: April saw 50 insurance-related M&A deals worth $2.56bn, including deals involving AmWins and Flagstone Re.

• Hartford in biggest April capital raising deal

  02 May 2012

  Data: Insurance-related equity issuance slumped in April. But debt issuance was stronger, with big deals for The Hartford and Aegon.

• Spreads to dampen cat bond demand – Willis

  02 May 2012

  ANALYSIS: Widening risk spreads mean less demand for ILS issuance, despite the record cat bond from Citizens this week, according to a new report from Willis Capital Markets & Advisory.

• Why $110bn of losses can't turn reinsurance

  02 May 2012

  Comment: If at the start of 2011 the industry had known it would take $110bn in insured losses, with reinsurers taking $50bn of those, the market would have been convinced a proper market turn would follow. Reactions editor Michael Loney asks why it has not.

• Untangling insurers’ web of legacy IT

  01 May 2012

  Feature: Maintaining legacy systems is slowing down insurers’ technological innovations, and stopping them spending on more proactive types of technology.

• How insurance firms can master social media

  30 April 2012

  Feature: Insurers and reinsurers are now cottoning onto how social media such as Facebook and Twitter can help them.

• Endurance Specialty’s Cash backs Bermuda

  25 April 2012

  Endurance CEO David Cash says that the island remains the place to be for international insurance and reinsurance firms, despite concerns over work permits for foreign workers.

• Regulatory pressure may spur redomiciling

  25 April 2012

  Feature: Continuing uncertainty around Solvency II equivalence and the pace of internal model approval could lead insurance and reinsurance companies such as Prudential and Hannover Re to start packing their bags.

• Brazil reinsurance growth outpacing direct

  24 April 2012

  Swiss Re says Brazil’s reinsurance market grew by 23% to R$5.7bn last year whereas in the same time period the direct market grew by 17%.

• Co-insurance causing controversy in Brazil reinsurance market

  24 April 2012

  Reinsurance firms in Brazil are worried about a trend of firms co-insuring risks before seeking cover from the reinsurance market

• Hard property market an $80bn event away

  23 April 2012

  Aon’s Al Tobin says the property market has a positive outlook, but is a large event away from being very hard.

• Ghosts of the Titanic haunt marine insurers

  13 April 2012

  100 years on from the sinking of the Titanic, Reactions looks at how Lloyd’s of London and the marine insurance market were affected by the disaster and what lessons can be taken from the event.

• Plenty of “political mileage” left on Solvency II

  13 April 2012

  Analysis: Although implementation is drawing closer, one PWC partner has stressed that much remains to be negotiated on the regulation.

• April issue of Reactions now online

  06 April 2012

  The April 2012 issue of Reactions is now online. Click through to read a selection of global insurance and reinsurance stories from the issue.

• Willis makes price change predictions

  13 April 2012

  Data: In a new report, insurance broker Willis gives detailed views on how prices will change by property/casualty insurance product line.