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February 2012
UK motor insurer's shares rise after renewing of reinsurance programme with Hannover Re, Mapfre Re, New Re and Swiss Re.
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The February 2012 issue of Reactions is now online. Click through to read a selection of stories from the issue.
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The Bermudian reinsurer has announced Q4 results, including net income of $27.3m, a steep drop from 2010's figures.
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Feature: Woeful investment returns, cat losses and evolving regulatory pressures are causing concern for Bermuda’s insurers and reinsurers.
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In spite of substantial cat losses, the German reinsurance giant has revealed a profit for both the full year and the final quarter of last year.
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January 1 renewals were “very heterogeneous”, said Munich Re, which also noted that it had pulled away from some business lines which "no longer met profitability requirements."
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The American firm has reported a net loss of almost $60m for the final quarter of 2011, and a net loss of $99m for the full year.
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Bermuda’s insurers and reinsurers have weathered a torrid 2011 for catastrophes and are now looking optimistically forward to this year, with further price increases and M&A the talk of the island.
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The German reinsurer says that rates increases at January 1 do not yet indicate a hardening market, although it expects further rises throughout subsequent renewals periods.
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January 2012
Ace’s fourth-quarter results include $155m of cat losses and a reserve charge for Ace’s run-off businesses including Brandywine, of $80m, of which $67m was a pre-tax addition to asbestos and environmental reserves.
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Steven Lucas will now lead the development of Ace's Canadian business, reporting to David Brosnan.
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ARC to change name and move date and location of the ARC Congress.
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Comment: Insurers have issued an ultimatum to the UK Government to produce a solution to sustaining universal flood coverage, says Garry Booth, Reactions’ contributing editor.
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The reinsurance broker estimates that the market for insurance loss warranties reached trading volumes of $6bn last year, an estimated 10% to 25% increase in trading.
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Carl Beardmore is to work from BMS’ newly opened New York office as the firm seeks to strengthen its US operations.
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Interview: Former Alterra reinsurance CEO John Berger has proclaimed his new reinsurance firm, Third Point Re, alive and well following it receiving a financial strength rating of A from AM Best in early January.
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The re/insurer’s fourth quarter results will also include $31m in post-tax losses from its weather and energy risk management unit RenRe Energy Advisors.
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Gross premiums written for the year was around $1.9bn, while overall combined ratio reached around 98%, Alterra’s CEO Marston Becker says.
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The loss estimates include $27.9m from recent Thai floods, and increases of $17.1bn and $11.8bn to earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand, respectively.
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The race to nominate the contender for president of the Congress of Reinsurance Actuarial Professionals is really starting to hot up after two candidates dramatically dropped out.
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The new political risk and trade credit team is led by Joe Blenkinsopp, who is also the unit’s new deputy global head
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Hannover Re has increased its “K Cession” capital markets proportional retrocession programme by around $20m to $350m.
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Perils releases initial insured loss estimate for windstorm Joachim, which occurred in western Europe from December 15 to 17 last year.
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Comment: Guy Carpenter’s reinsurance renewals report included a handy checklist of the big themes facing the global insurance and reinsurance market this year. it is noticeable what themes don’t make the list, says Michael Loney, managing editor of Reactions.
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A $420m asbestos ruling in favour of Travelers has been upheld by a New York appellate court.
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Zurich Financial Services assesses impact of floods in Thailand, revises estimate of earthquakes in New Zealand, and announces reinsurance recovery.
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ArgoGlobal to target European D&O business.
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Douglas Young will report to Tim Rolfe, CEO of the division.
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An exciting development for the aviation insurance market and plane spotters everywhere is the long awaited introduction of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner family of airplanes into commercial use.
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Talbot's Rupert Atkin replaces Barnabas Hurst-Bannister as chairman of the Lloyd's Market Association.
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The revised outlook from stable to negative is a result of the company’s recent earnings volatility and increased exposure to higher-volatility assets.
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The ratings agency has placed PartnerRe’s ratings under negative review following the company’s loss estimates from the Thai floods,and Q4 results outlook.
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The Bermudian reinsurance firm also expects to take a hit of $31m in its weather and energy risk management operations from warm weather in the UK and US.
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Impact of RMS v11, exposure to severe losses and overall competitive pressures combined to move US P&C renewal rates up to 5%, says Towers Watson.
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Rating agency says excess capital and good risk management give global reinsurers a cushion against 2011’s high catastrophe losses.
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Aviation insurers are flying high after stellar results in 2011. But how long will it last?
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Reinsurance CEO Jonathan Turner is to depart the firm following a restructure to bring together Brit’s reinsurance and global markets units.
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Insured losses from the recent storm that hit southeast US between January 21 and January 23 are expected to be well below $100m.
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The agency has upgraded the FSR and ICR of Arch Reinsurance and its affiliates to A+ (Superior) and “aa-”, respectively.
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Interview: Eric Smith, CEO of Swiss Re Americas, tells Reactions his views on the January 1 2011 reinsurance renewals and what areas he sees opportunities for growth.
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The insurer consolidates its property energy underwriting in one location to be led by executive VP for Bermuda, Peter Coleman.
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The Bermuda insurance and reinsurance market remains “nimble” and resilient, according to a recent report from Fitch, but the firm warned that challenges to the domicile’s advantages remain likely.
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The total includes $15m from updated catastrophe estimates, the reinsurer said.
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The revision reflects the Honk Kong based reinsurer’s deteriorated risk-adjusted capitalisation and global cat exposures, said the rating agency.
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INTERVIEW: Greg Case, CEO of Aon, believes that the insurance broker can help its customers manage their way through the tough global operating environment and rise to the challenge of new and complex risks by working on a more robust fact basis.
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Analysis: Willis and Moody’s have provided views on the severity of damage to the insurance and reinsurance industry Costa Concordia, and the indications are not positive, while Munich Re and Hannover Re give initial loss estimates.
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The start up has appointed Aon Benfield’s Rob Bredahl and Dan Malloy as CFO and executive VP of underwriting, respectively.
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The Carlson Capital-backed insurer has asked Omega’s board to consider new offer that will create a “merger of equals.”
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The P&C re/insurer expects a post-tax operating loss of between $26m and $41m for the fourth quarter of 2011.
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The deal, which is valued at around $70m, is expected to be complete in the second quarter.
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The insurer has appointed Munich Re America’s William Redington to lead the new professional liability reinsurance division.
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John Cavanagh has been appointed to replace Steve Hearn, who became Willis Global CEO, in December.
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Alterra’s local reinsurance unit will be located in Rio de Janeiro and will be led by it Latin America CEO Carlos Caputo.
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The re/insurer’s loss estimations include around $30m from Thai floods largely those related to business interruption.
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The insurer also expects updates from previous quarters to impact fourth quarter results by $75m aggregate.
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A strong fourth-quarter for cat bonds has some predicting a “banner year" for the insurance-linked securities market in 2012. Includes full-year data for ILS issuance.
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S&P rates new issuance from Embarcadero Re cat bond programme.
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Michel Liès will take the role of group CEO from February 1 at the Swiss reinsurance firm.
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There was plenty to consider at the 1/1 reinsurance renewals, such as near-record catastrophe losses and irksome risk modelling issues. Now that feedback is in from reinsurers, brokers and cedants, we try to make sense of it all.
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The reinsurer expects to report an after-tax operating loss of between $130m and $150m for fourth quarter of 2011.
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The re/insurer has named Alvaro Salamanca as its chief executive for Mexico, and is hoping to increase profitability in the Latin American market.
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Earthquakes have created more than $276bn in economic losses from earthquakes over the past two years, but coverage levels remain low even in earthquake-prone regions says the reinsurance giant.
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The ILS market enjoyed a strong end to 2011, with nearly $2bn-worth of new deals in the fourth quarter. But concerns are rising in Europe over the underlying collateral solutions used in cat bonds, according to a new Aon Benfield report.
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Protectionist reinsurance markets, such as Brazil, limit global risk distribution through reinsurance, notes a coalition of reinsurance trade groups.
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The re/insurer has appointed Markel’s Michael Gramm to manage its new excess auto product line.
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Aon – the largest reinsurance broker in the world, and the second largest insurance brokerage – has moved its corporate headquarters from Chicago to the City of London.
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The Geneva Association, alongside Swiss Re and the CRO Forum, recently organised the 7th CRO Assembly for insurance professionals. Here Patrick Liedtke, secretary general and managing director of The Geneva Association, reflects on the meeting.
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Jan Blumenthal, who replaces Burkard von Siegfried in the role, will also serve as country manager for Germany and Austria.
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The move towards a positive rating action reflects improved claims experience on business that Health Re ceded to Cayman-based Vitality Re.
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The Bermudian reinsurer expects between $35m and $65m in losses to its 2011 fourth quarter results from the flooding.
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The Bermudian reinsurer believes the floods will result in loss expenses of $55.5m in its fourth quarter 2011 performance.
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The Ireland-domiciled insurer and reinsurer has also announced additional losses of $35m from catastrophes in the first three quarters of 2011.
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Catastrophes resulted in about $107bn in insured losses during 2011, second only to $120bn in 2005, says Aon Benfield’s annual catastrophe report.
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John Sullivan will be responsible for the UK and US marine reinsurance business
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Solvency II is far from perfect, but it must be kept on track, argues Philippe Trainar, CRO at Scor.
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Data: AM Best data reveals world's largest insurance companies by assets and net premiums.
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ANALYSIS: A report on January renewals from reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter says after a costly year of Asian catastrophes in supposed “cold spots”, capital levels have recovered but cat rates are sharply up at renewal.
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The renewals were orderly but deals took longer than usual, says Swiss Re America’s CEO at a conference, while FM Global’s CEO says property will start to look more like casualty because supply chain issues are making the tail longer.
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Lloyd's chairman John Nelson has mentioned underwriting discipline, Solvency II implementation and market modernisation as top priorities for 2012.
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The rating agency has maintained its stable outlook for the global reinsurance industry, but suggested that pricing may be moving upward across all business classes.
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The German reinsurance firm has completed a deal to assume £1bn of pension obligations held by Legal & General.
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The White Mountains subsidiary has bought Bermudian reinsurer Old Lyme’s runoff loss reserve portfolio.
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AM Best assigns ratings to Bermudian start-up reinsurer Third Point Reinsurance Ltd.
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The ratings agency has affirmed the ‘A-’ FSR and “a-” ICR for Asia Capital Reinsurance units and has also assigned a stable ratings outlook.
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The rating agency has also assigned an "a-" ICR to QBE Del Istmo Reinsurance, Del Istmo Assurance and Liffey Reinsurance.
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The insurers have teamed up with Sciemus to form a consortium designed to provide coverage to power and utilities sector.
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COMMENT: Policymaker and big businesses still have a lot to learn about resilience, judging from the findings of a new report from Chatham House, says Reactions contributing editor Garry Booth.
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ANALYSIS: An Aon Benfield report suggests that overhaul of cat models in 2011 “missed” the mark, Florida will seek added reinsurance, and reinsurers remain well capitalised – managing an aggregate profit for 2011.
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Rod Fisher will be based at FM Global’s Johnston, Rhode Island corporate offices.
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The Australian insurer said it expects reinsurance expenses of $722m-$743m for the financial year ended 30 June 2012.
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Brazilian insurance authority has approved the re/insurer’s plans to set up insurance unit that will offer specialty insurance products.
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The world’s biggest reinsurer estimated global insured losses at $105bn, above the $101bn level of cat claims in 2005, the next most damaging year.
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The UK insurer has transferred US hurricanes and earthquakes, and European windstorm risks to the capital markets.
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The December 2011/January 2012 issue of Reactions is now online. Click through to read a selection of stories from the issue.
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Reinsurance market rates have “increased by meaningful amounts” over the past six months, says a report from US reinsurance broker Holborn.
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Brian Boornazian, chief executive of Bermudian reinsurer Aspen Re, says the market turn is neither “classic”, nor “dramatic”, and that rates at renewal are still no higher than 1999 prices.
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The changes to the intercompany reinsurance pooling agreement will be effective December 31, 2011.