-
August 2010
US insurance and wealth management company The Hartford has named Dr David Williams medical director of its individual life Insurance division.
-
California workers compensation written premium was around $2.9bn in the first quarter of 2010, approximately 12% above the written premium reported for same period last year.
-
The European Commission is probing whether certain practices used by ship insurers breach the European Union’s rules on fair competition, The Wall Street Journal reports.
-
AIG has won the dismissal of a $34.4m judgement in a lawsuit accusing it of fraudulently inducing an Axa affiliate to enter two reinsurance contracts, Reuters reports.
-
American International Group (AIG) has begun discussions with potential investors to sell stakes in its Asian life insurance unit AIA in preparation of an initial public offering, Reuters reports.
-
Ironshore, the broker-sourced specialty commercial property and casualty insurer, has announced that its UK-based Pembroke Syndicate 4000 has introduced a professional indemnity product to provide comprehensive coverages for the oil and gas industry worldwide.
-
While capacity is still abundant in the aviation market, the string of losses in June and July look set to bring 2010 perilously close to a fourth consecutive year with limited returns for many underwriters, according to Aon.
-
Chinatrust Financial Holdings has reiterated that it is willing to buy American International Group’s Taiwan life insurance unit if the joint deal with China Strategic Holdings and Primus falls through, Reuters reports.
-
The drought that is presently occurring in Russia will increase interest in the emerging Russian crop insurance market as farmers reassess the risk of crop failure, according to Swiss Re, Reuters reports.
-
Chartis, the property/casualty arm of AIG, today announced an increase in underwriting capacity from the oil rig unit of its global marine and energy division.
-
US insurance firm CNA has announced John Ryszetnyk and Roger Ecoff have joined its ocean marine operation as assistant vice-president and as risk control consulting director, respectively.
-
Global insurance broker Aon has responded to the US President's Working Group on Financial Markets' request for comment on the long-term availability and affordability of terrorism risk insurance.
-
New changes to financial services legislation in the US will increase business opportunities for the London market and make it easier for companies to insure US risks, believes Dave Matcham, chief executive officer of the International Underwriting Association.
-
Bermudian insurer and reinsurer Validus Holdings has reported net income of $179.8m for the second quarter of 2010, compared with net income of $137.6m for the same period in 2009.
-
Liberty Syndicates Management, a member of Liberty Mutual Group, is entering the UK and Irish motor insurance markets through the hiring of a team of specialist motor underwriters.
-
Insurance rates in the power sector are expected to soften further in 2010, despite conditions that would normally foreshadow a hardening market, according to the latest Power Market Review from Willis, a member of Willis Group, the global insurance broker.
-
Deepwater Horizon will not be a market-turning event for the property/casualty insurance industry, according to Towers Watson. However, the insurance policies of all parties directly involved are likely to be exhausted and other corporations that were indirectly involved will be targeted.
-
July 2010
Frank O’Halloran has a tough return target for Australian insurance and reinsurance group QBE and he is not budging, despite stagnant pricing, falling investment returns and first-half catastrophes.
-
Catlin is the lead insurer for the Airblue passenger plane that crashed in Islamabad, Pakistan, insurance sources told Reactions.
-
The Italian insurance regulator is planning measures to cut high motor insurance premiums and lower the costs for providers, Reuters reports.
-
Large losses sustained in the Gulf of Mexico will not have the same market-changing impact on the upstream energy insurance market as other events such as Hurricane Katrina, according to a new report published by Marsh.
-
Verisk Analytics has launched its Verisk Catastrophe Index. The new service, which will provide highly granular loss estimates of insured property damage after catastrophes, is currently available for US hurricanes.
-
Montpelier Re Holdings, a Bermuda based provider of short-tail reinsurance and other specialty lines, has reported net income of $70m for the second quarter of 2010.
-
Navigators Management Company, the principal underwriting agency subsidiary of Navigators Group, has introduced an enhanced suite of environmental liability coverage tailored specifically for contractors and consultants.
-
Bermudian reinsurance firm PartnerRe today announced that Charles Goldie has been appointed head of specialty lines for PartnerRe Global, effective September 1.
-
The Philippines has been hit by a 6.5-magnitude earthquake, Reuters reports. The quake struck 83 miles south southwest of Cotabato, Mindanao, according to the US Geological Survey.
-
The plan to set up a state-owned insurer in Brazil has shifted the goalposts for international firms, says Reactions' contributing editor Garry Booth.
-
Scor Global’s property/casualty and specialty treaty renewals at end of June have resulted in premium growth of 19% at constant exchange rates.
-
Insurance broker Aon Corporation has announced it will start receiving contingent commissions again. Rims is not happy with the decision.
-
Willis Group Holdings, the global insurance broker, has responded to the announcement by Aon Corporation that it would resume accepting contingent commissions “where appropriate and legally permissible”.
-
CNA has named Michael Furlong as vice-president of underwriting for its specialty lines group. He will be responsible for the global insurer’s lawyers professional liability programme.
-
The aviation division of Bermuda based insurer Ironshore has entered a treaty reinsurance program with the Starr Group to provide protection against commercial satellite risk.
-
Allied World Assurance Company Holdings announced today that approval has been received from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Lloyd's Asia to register and operate a service company, Capita 2232 Services Pte. Ltd.
-
Excess capacity chasing market share in the commercial property/casualty marketplace has resulted in another quarter of declining renewal pricing, according to the CIAB second-quarter Commercial P/C Market Index Survey.
-
US specialty insurance company The Navigators Group has announced that its wholly-owned syndicate, Navigators Syndicate 1221 at Lloyd’s of London, is the latest to co-locate with Lloyd’s in Rio de Janeiro by appointing a local representative.
-
RMS has updated its US Terrorism Risk Model to include places of worship, and the cities of Dallas in Texas and Jersey City in New Jersey have been upgraded in their threat. Overall, the expected annual insured loss in the US for 2010 was cut by 12%.
-
The Brazilian government’s plan to create a state-owned insurer would be a negative credit development for some of Brazil’s private market insurers and could have negative implications for the insurance market’s development.
-
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act financial services regulatory reform legislation has been passed. Trade groups expressed approval of the act, which includes long-awaited surplus lines reform.
-
Lloyd’s was once reviled for its Byzantine systems - but now it is leading the way with the new Lloyd's Exchange project. Progress on the Claims Transformation Project is also continuing apace.
-
Ace Group’s US-based retail operating division, Ace USA, has set up a specialised underwriting unit to meet the insurance needs of the rapidly developing renewable energy market.
-
Berkshire Hathaway scaled back its most unusual and risky insurance policies as prices declined and the company prepared for its biggest acquisition, Bloomberg reports.
-
The 16 private insurance companies that participate in a US federal crop insurance programme have agreed to a plan to cut their subsidies by $6bn over the next 10 years.
-
Once the epitome of old school insurance, the Lloyd’s model now looks so modern it has spawned an imitation. We ask what the market’s strategy for the near future is.
-
Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter today announced the appointment of the head of its London-based marine and energy practice with effect from August 16 2010.
-
RSA has appointed Soledad Vitale as a renewable energy underwriter.
-
Brit Insurance has appointed Tom Taylor as liability portfolio management underwriter in its London office. Reporting to Jamie McNab, UK portfolio manager for liability, he takes up his position immediately.
-
Lloyd’s remains the “go to” market for unusual, hard to place risks. Lloyd’s is famous for insuring the unusual all over the world. But these headline-grabbing policies mask the real value of the market – its ability to insure difficult or emerging risks.
-
The takaful and retakaful market is likely to continue to grow in 2010, according to a new report from rating agency Standard & Poor’s. The market provides Islamic insurance compliant with Sharia law.
-
Zurich in North America, part of the global insurance-based financial services provider Zurich Financial Services Group, has named Sean Dalton head of marine for Global Corporate in North America business unit.
-
The New York Insurance Department will hold a public hearing on August 20 to explore the possibility of increasing insurance capacity in New York by easing unauthorised insurers’ access to excess and surplus lines.
-
Aviation insurance looks set to deliver strong returns in 2010 for the first time in four years. However the line remains fragile and a single loss could lead to a dramatic change, according to an Aon report.
-
Chaucer Syndicate 1084 has signed a new energy partnership with ScandIns (Scandinavian Insurance Management Company) to write Scandinavian marine risks.
-
The news that Catlin is to set up shop in Zurich has been headlined as a Solvency II story. But, wonders Reactions' contributing editor Garry Booth, is this really a Bermuda story?
-
Photos from the Reactions London Market Awards Dinner 2010, which took place at the Grange City Hotel on June 30, are now available for free download.
-
US corporate risk managers are reporting a serious and growing detachment between themselves and their insurance brokers and carriers, according to strategy management research firm Greenwich Associates.
-
Ace International has appointed Perrine Kalina to the new role of engineering coordinator and assistant underwriter to its environmental risk team.