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March 2010
Starr Indemnity & Liability Company, an subsidiary of Starr International, has entered into an underwriting agreement with a subsidiary of Chubb.
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The merger of Bermudian firms Max Capital Group and Harbor Point has been termed a merger of equals. Reactions spoke to the CEO’s of the two companies and an analyst to get the perspective from all sides on what the future holds for the combined company Alterra Capital Holdings.
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Endurance's new CEO will be looking to continue the work done under eight years of Ken LeStrange's leadership but won't be afraid to make big changes if necessary, he tells Reactions in an exclusive interview.
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The Bermudian holding company Kinsale Capital Group, has announced the formation of Kinsale Insurance Company (KIC), a specialty insurance operation based in Richmond, Virginia.
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US composite rate down 5% for February. But coastal property rates in certain locations are firming, leading to rumours of new entrants to the market to take advantage of higher pricing.
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Marsh, the international insurance broker and risk adviser, has announced it is aggressively targeting emerging growth opportunities in the global construction industry this year.
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Allianz is expecting an increase in prices in Germany’s motor insurance market, Reuters reports. The insurer expects the segment to generate Eu4-5bn of its target of Eu7.2bn ($9.7bn) in operating profit this year.
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Ironshore has announced the appointment of Daniel Sussman to head the expansion of its platform for political risk insurance lines and other trade related insurance coverages.
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February 2010
US insurer American International Group (AIG) has reported a fourth-quarter loss of $8.9bn and warned that it may need more support from the US government.
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Zurich’s North America surety, credit & political risk group has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with export insurance agency, Korea Export Insurance Corporation (KEIC).
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Chartis Insurance UK (Chartis UK) has established a captive practice group, bringing together risk management, risk finance, underwriting, legal, accounting, tax and actuarial functions.
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The Navigators Group has reported net income of $6.1m in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with net income of $10.0m for the same period in 2008.
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Ship owners faced a more benign protection and indemnity (P&I) renewal at February 20, 2010, according to the marine division of Aon Risk Services.
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With Aon, Marsh and Willis now able to accept contingent commissions again, the market is abuzz with questions about which of them will accept the controversial payments, how much business this could bring and what buyers’ reaction will be.
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The unsettled economy is having a big effect on claim operations in the US, according to a survey conducted by global professional services company Towers Watson.
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Bermudian insurance and reinsurance firm Endurance Specialty Holdings today announced that, effective March 1 2010, David Cash will become its chief executive officer.
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Swiss Re has raised its dividend for 2009, in a sign that the world’s second-largest reinsurer is now in a position to repay a expensive convertible loan from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
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Reactions will be recognising the best companies, teams and individuals in the London market with our Reactions London Awards 2010 programme, and we need your help. Have your say now!
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Hiscox has appointed Graeme King as underwriter - international TMT.
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The Spitzer-era ban on contingent commissions for the world’s biggest insurance brokers, Aon, Marsh and Willis, has been lifted. An equity analyst believes Aon and Marsh could now receive as much as $200m a year in contingent commissions.
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The Risk and Insurance Management Society today announced its dismay at a decision by the New York insurance department and attorney general to allow the big three brokers to resume taking contingent commissions.
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Swiss insurance firm Zurich today named Daniel Riordan president of its North America commercial specialties business unit, effective immediately.
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Lloyd’s of London’s decision to broaden its product range as part of its strategic plan will not harm the market’s position in its core lines, Sean McGovern, Lloyd’s general council, has told Reactions.
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QBE European Operations has appointed Steve Dickie to the position of motor fleet portfolio manager within QBE’s motor division.
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PartnerRe's acquisition of Paris Re, along with involvement in initiatives such as the Global Reinsurance Forum trade group, confirms Patrick Thiele's position as one of the most influential reinsurance executives around.
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Lockton International has appointed Robert Barron to its accident, health, sports & contingency team.
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Axis Capital Holdings has announced the formation of a renewable energy team within its Axis Insurance business.
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Bermudian reinsurer PartnerRe today announced organisational changes, following the acquisition of Paris Re. These include Paris Re’s chief executive officer leaving the company at the end of June.
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Reinsurance pricing softened at the January 1 2010 renewals. Reactions asks what this will mean for pricing for the rest of the year.
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Rating agency Fitch has downgraded the issuer debt rating of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway to AA- from AA+ and the insurance financial strength ratings of its insurance subsidiaries National Indemnity Company, General Re and Geico to AA- from AAA.
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The Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorisation Act provides important solvency protection for property/casualty insurers in the event of catastrophic acts of terrorism and a scaling back of the programme will increase property/casualty insurers’ exposure to terrorism, says rating agency Moody’s.
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Aspen Insurance Holdings today reported net income of $126.3m in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with net income of $21.8m for the fourth quarter last year.
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Bermudian insurance and reinsurance group Max Capital Group today reported net income of $62.6m for the quarter, compared with a net loss of $94.1m for the same quarter in 2008.
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Bermuda reinsurer RenaissanceRe Holdings has reported net income of $211.8m in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with a net loss of $55.2m in the fourth quarter of 2008.
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Bermudian insurer and reinsurer XL Capital today reported a net loss for the fourth quarter of 2009 of $40.3m, compared with a net loss of $1.4bn in the fourth quarter of 2008.
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The Lloyd’s market had a strong year and is presently experiencing a period of unprecedented profitability reports Guy Carpenter in its review of the UK based syndicate.
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The US property/casualty rates were down 4% on average in January 2010.
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This year firms face a stark choice over how to deploy their capital, says Kenneth LeStrange, chairman, president and CEO of Bermudian insurer and reinsurer Endurance Specialty Holdings.
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Ascot Underwriting plans to launch a commercial motor line business, the Lloyd’s insurer said Thursday.
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Aegon will sell its funeral insurance subsidiary in the Netherlands. Dutch investment firm, Egeria, will acquire the business for Eu212m.
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German carmaker, Daimler, has teamed up with Allianz for the international automotive and warranty insurance business.
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Fitch ratings has delivered a downbeat outlook for the US broking industry.
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Global reinsurers face the daunting prospect of eroding profitability margins over the next two to three years, S&P has warned in a new report.
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Insurance broker Aon has made six new appointments to its general aviation team, specialising in industrial aid and commercial aircraft.
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Axa, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase, along with five other firms, are forming a secondary market in longevity swaps and other derivatives, whose values are tied to life expectancy.
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Lancashire Holdings said Monday it has appointed Len Messenger chairman of energy for the company’s UK operating subsidiary, Lancashire Insurance Company (UK).
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The world’s national oil companies could benefit from lower costs of risk in the next few years as a result of a lack of natural catastrophes, plentiful insurance capacity and more sophisticated risk management techniques.
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US president Barack Obama’s proposed budget unveiled today eliminates nearly $250m in federal subsidies to insurance companies for terrorism insurance, according to the AIA.
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January 2010
XL plans to redomicile to Ireland and the remaining Lloyd’s players headquartered in the UK are also considering leaving. We ask why firms are looking to move and to where.
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Zurich has expanded its North American commercial energy casualty business unit with the two appointments.
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The new director of underwriting performance at Lloyd’s has a big challenge to fill the shoes of his predecessor, Rolf Tolle.
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Zurich has hired Steve Gillen as global head of marine claims.
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Beazley Insurance has appointed Jayne Cunningham to its environmental liability team.
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Endurance Specialty Holdings has appointed Nicholas Campbell. Campbell will join as senior vice-president and head of specialty treaty reinsurance at Endurance Specialty Insurance.
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German reinsurer Hannover Re has securitised more natural catastrophe risk through its K6 transaction.
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Sompo Japan Insurance (Thailand) is to start selling weather index insurance to rice farmers in northern Thailand.
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Chaucer Syndicate 1084 has appointment Brian Everall as head of its specialist lines division.
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An Ethiopian Airlines passenger plane with 89 people on board has crashed into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after take-off from Beirut airport.
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The US bond insurance market faces an uncertain future, while there are few prospects for a revival of the industry, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has said in a new report.
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New York’s Insurance Department will prioritise making the city a place where insurance companies want to do business by launching the New York insurance exchange, said James Wrynn, the department’s superintendent, at a Reactions US Business Club held in New York last week.
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Chartis Insurance, the general insurance unit of American International Group, is selling the US passenger plane that made an emergency landing on New York’s Hudson River last January.
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AM Best has upgraded the financial strength rating of Paris Re to A from A- and the issuer credit ratings a+ from a-. The ratings have been assigned a positive outlook.
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Beazley Group said Friday that it intends to open a new office in Oslo, Norway to service energy business for the Beazley syndicates at Lloyd’s.
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Low demand continued to put pressure on US rates as carriers competed for new business, according to The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers’ quarterly Commercial P/C Market Index Survey.
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Insurance broker Marsh has appointed Andrew Herring as leader for the Americas of its London-based wholesale energy practice.
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MetLife’s rumoured deal for AIG’s Alico subsidiary would be a good deal for the US life insurance firm, according to an equity analyst.
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MetLife is in final negotiations to buy AIG's biggest life unit, Alico, for between $14bn and $15bn, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
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US specialty insurer RLI has entered into a two-year agreement to become a quota share reinsurer of Producers Agricultural Insurance Company, known as ProAg, based in Amarillo, Texas.
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UK motor insurer Admiral said Monday it has signed reinsurance pacts with Munich Re and Hannover Re for Elephant Insurance, its new car insurance operation in the US.
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Small insurers retain a decent market share of the overall US property-casualty market and have strong positions within certain niches, according to a new study by Conning Research & Consulting.
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Waterland Financial Holdings is seeking to acquire MetLife’s Taiwan unit, The Wall Street Journal reports.
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The European Commission has authorised a Danish measure that provides a state guarantee on non-life insurance against damages from nuclear, biological, chemical or radioactive terrorist attacks.
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Bermudian insurer Ironshore has announced that its specialty healthcare division, IronHealth, has entered into a collaborative agreement with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty.
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Read a selection of stories from the December 2009/January 2010 issue of Reactions.
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XL Insurance today announced the expansion of its US aviation underwriting team with the opening of an aviation branch office in San Francisco and an addition to its New York-based underwriting staff.
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Ironshore has announced that its Bermuda property division has increased its available line size to $25m effective immediately.
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Ace European Group has appointed Iain Ainslie as the technology and cyber liability underwriter.
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The US life insurance industry will likely face an extended period of weak earnings, slow growth and greater regulatory oversight as the economy slowly recovers from the financial crisis, according to Ernst & Young.
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Markel’s approach to investments cost the firm millions in 2008. Reactions asked its vice-chairman Tony Markel whether this has heralded a change at the firm.
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Ship owners are facing a modest increase of 4.54% for protection and indemnity (P&I) premiums at the February renewal, that will generate an extra $159m for P&I clubs, predicts Aon.
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Takaful International, a Bahrain firm, has won the Bahrain insurance coverage tender of several ministries and governmental organisations.
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After the announcement that US Risk Insurance Group has expanded into the specialty reinsurance brokerage marketplace, Reactions quizzed Randall Goss, chairman and chief executive officer of US Risk Insurance Group about his intentions for 2010.
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UK insurer Prudential is to acquire the life insurance arm of the Singapore’s United Overseas Bank as part of a long-term strategic partnership with the group.
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Members of the Guy Carpenter Global Reinsurance Composite saw their total net income more than double to almost $10bn in the first nine months of 2009, according to a Guy Carpenter briefing.
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Symetra Financial, a life insurer owned by an investor group led by Berkshire Hathaway and White Mountains Insurance Group, has disclosed terms for an initial public offering that would mean the life insurer raises less money than it initially hoped.
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Global specialty insurer Torus has appointed a renewable energy team from HSBC Intermediary Solutions to write primary lines of general liability and auto liability for renewable energy.
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Last year finished with a pattern of US rate decreases not dissimmilar to that for most of the year, with the property/casualty composite rate index for December down 4%, according to online exchange MarketScout.
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Canopius Managing Agents, the largest privately-owned Lloyd's insurance business, has extended its portfolio of specialist construction products with the addition of construction and engineering insurance cover.