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Articles for June 2002
14–27 May 2002
#
07 June 2002
Late Reports
10.5, derailment, fatalities
UK: seven people were killed and three critically injured after a train derailed at Potters Bar just outside London. Nine people were seriously injured and between 20 and 30 people were trapped...
World insurance stock prices
#
07 June 2002
Company/group
Currency
31/12/01
16/5/02
30/5/02
Change from
16/5/02 %
Capitalisation US$ mn
© World Insurance Report
Ace
US$
40.15
33.39
34.13
2.2
8,949
AIG
US$
79.40
68.71
67.10
(2.3)
175,326
Allianz
€
266.00
259.00
234.70
(9.4)
58,650
Allstate
US$
33.70..
Company profile: Faraday Re
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07 June 2002
London market reinsurer Faraday Re saw its pre-tax profit fall by 79% to £1.8mn (US$2.6mn) in 2001. The downturn was mainly due to unrealised investment losses of £1.4mn compared with investment gains of £8.0mn in..
Company profile: Thai Re
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07 June 2002
Thai Re saw its pre-tax profits fall by 13% in 2001 to B403mn. This deterioration was mainly due to a decline in investment income as the company’s underwriting operations continued to show a profit, although..
RenaissanceRe
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07 June 2002
Bermuda-based reinsurer RenaissanceRe Holdings was one of the very few reinsurers exposed to the events of 11 September to report an underwriting profit in 2001.
The company saw its pre-tax profits rise by 37% to US$180mn..
Market looks to 2002 underwriting year for profit after WTC losses
#
07 June 2002
No real surprises from Lloyd’s on the publication of its global results for 2001. The closed 1999 underwriting year, marking the bottom of the insurance cycle, turned in a loss of £1.9bn but continuing poor..
Colombia
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07 June 2002
Colombia’s Insurance Superintendency reported that nonlife insurers produced a profit of US$40mn in 2001. This compares with a loss of $65mn in 2000. Similarly, life insurers generated profits of $13mn compared with a loss of..
Tokio Marine to lead Asian nonlife alliance
#
07 June 2002
The three biggest nonlife insurers in China, Japan and South Korea (People’s Insurance Company of China, Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Company) are in the process of establishing an..
Marsh buys Latvian broker Visu
#
07 June 2002
Marsh is to acquire Visu Polise, Latvia’s biggest insurance broker. The company will be renamed Marsh Latvia according to Jerry Manner, head of Marsh’s European operations. The size of the deal is confidential. This represents..
Battle for Bulgarian state insurer commences
#
07 June 2002
The names of the bidders for Bulgaria’s State Insurance Institute (SII or DZI) are being bandied about the market. Three offers are said to have been submitted so far by Allianz, Ceska Pojistovna and a..
Strong 1st qtr growth for Hungarian market
#
07 June 2002
After a lucklustre performance in 2001, the Hungarian insurance market has demonstrated a remarkable recovery during the first quarter of this year, with most market segments improving on last year’s rates.
Following a negative development in..
Axa signals plans for ACS businesses
#
07 June 2002
AXA’s plans for the unbundling of its large risks and reinsurance division, Axa Corporate Solutions (ACS) have become a little clearer.
Firstly, ACS’s large industrial risk business, Axa Grands Risques, will be put under pressure to..
Lloyd’s of London, shareholder value and the optimisation of capital
#
07 June 2002
The timing could not have been better. On the day WIR
interviews Charles Philipps, chief executive of the Lloyd’s based insurance group, Amlin, Standard & Poor’s restores the status of the market’s single-’A’ financial strength..
Recovery of nonlife sector in 2000 contributes to market growth
#
07 June 2002
Gross premiums for the Botswana insurance market grew by 29% to P491mn (US$71mn) in 2000, according to the Registrar of Insurance, the industry’s governing body which operates as a department of the Ministry of Finance.
The..
Mexican pension funds to invest abroad
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07 June 2002
Mexican pension funds will be able to invest in overseas assets through a wide range of investment instruments after a bill, now under consideration by Congress, is approved. The bill has already been approved by..
Tough first quarter for Chilean insurers
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07 June 2002
During the first quarter of 2002, Chile’s life and general insurance markets increased their combined premium income by 9.4% to the equivalent of US$654mn, but claims paid increased at an even faster rate (up by..
Japan increases scope for bancassurance
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07 June 2002
Japan’s Financial System Council (FSC) recently gave its agreement to widening the range of insurance products to be offered for sale by banks.
Until now these were confined to policies associated with housing loans and overseas..
Tower exits China as hope of licence continues to recede
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07 June 2002
Tower Corporation, the New Zealand based insurance and financial group, has given up its two and a half year effort to win an insurance operating licence in China. Tower spent nearly NZ$7mn (US$3.08mn) establishing a..
French mutual Maif ‘satisfied’ with 2001 result despite fall in profits
#
07 June 2002
The management of the French teachers’ mutual Maif has declared itself as satisfied, given market conditions, with the company’s 2001 results.
Maif’s turnover (which includes that of the nonlife mutual Filia-Maif which insures non-teachers, and the..
French reinsurers suffer net operating loss
#
07 June 2002
Members of France’s Association des Reassureurs Francais (ARF) saw aggregate premiums rise by 38% last year to more than €11bn (US$10.1bn). But their net result was still a combined loss of €575.9mn which compares with..
Continent profits
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07 June 2002
The Continent Assurances group has reported increased sales and a profit for 2001. Turnover was up by 4.5% to €750.7mn (US$690mn) last year. Of this figure, nonlife insurance generated €472.1mn ($434.3 million), a rise of..
Azur-GMF agreement
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07 June 2002
Azur-GMF has signed an agreement with the Credit Cooperatif banking group to distribute Azur-GMF insurance and savings products to its customers. Personal insurance products will include life and ‘accident de la vie’ (expanded personal accident)..
Caribbean study calls for standardisation of motor insurance terms and conditions
#
07 June 2002
The cost and terms of motor vehicle insurance, one of the two main sources of premium income for Caribbean nonlife companies, varies so widely that it is virtually impossible to make a meaningful comparison among..
World insurance stock prices
#
21 June 2002
Company/group
Currency
31/12/01
30/5/02
13/6/02
Change from 30/5/02 %
Capitalisation US$ mn
Ace
US$
40.15
34.13
32.15
(5.8)
8,430
AIG
..
Company profile: IPC Holdings
#
21 June 2002
Bermuda-based IPC Holdings recorded a net loss of US$3.9mn in 2001, the company’s first negative result since it commenced operations in 1993. IPC, which primarily provides property catastrophe reinsurance through its wholly-owned subsidiary IPCRe, saw..
Swiss Re Group
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21 June 2002
Swiss Re posted a pre-tax loss of SF104mn (US$63mn) last year. This compares with a SF3.7bn profit for 2000. The company’s net loss for 2001, its first since 1868, stood at SF165mn, compared with a..
Double digit premium growth as insurers step up marketing efforts
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21 June 2002
Direct written premiums for the South Korean nonlife market grew by 14% to W16.5trn (US$12.4bn) for the fiscal year 2000 (12 months ending 31 March 2001), according to the latest figures put out by the..
Foreign groups undeterred by economic and political uncertainty
#
21 June 2002
The new Swiss Re sigma report on the insurance industry in Latin American published last week very much emphasises the role of foreign insurance groups in the region over the last 10 years. The foreign..
Mapfre America
#
21 June 2002
Mapfre America, which comprises the Spanish insurance group’s subsidiaries in 11 Latin American countries, generated a profit of US$11.14mn before writing off goodwill, acquisition costs, taxes and minority interests during the first quarter of 2002,..
Insurers challenge Virgin Islands’ rating tariff
#
21 June 2002
The United States Virgin Islands in the Caribbean is set to become the subject of a test case as to whether insurance premium rates are set by insurance companies or by the regulatory authorities.
The US..
Allianz set to take advantage of changing demographics and radical reforms in South Korean financial services market
#
21 June 2002
While AIG and MetLife of the US have walked away from South Korea, Allianz of Germany has invested more than US$1bn in the world’s sixth-largest life insurance market.
Allianz conducts 70% of its business outside Germany...
The Future of the Japanese Life Insurance Industry
#
21 June 2002
T
he Japanese life insurance industry is undergoing significant transformation. Regulatory change, the severe condition of the economy and increased competition from foreign entrants are leading to change at an ever-increasing pace.
Stephen O’Hearn and Toru..
Czech life market to maintain double digit growth over next decade
#
21 June 2002
Favorable legislation, increased competition and changing public attitudes toward the role of insurance – and of the state – are responsible for the seemingly unstoppable growth of the insurance industry in the Czech Republic. “The..
Axa to cut life business acquisition costs
#
21 June 2002
Axa’s embedded value is down for the third year running. As of 31 December 2001, it stood at €34.9bn ($33bn), down by 1.4% from €35.3bn a year earlier. But the good news is that it..
Airlines call for state backed insurer
#
21 June 2002
The European airline industry is lobbying the European Commission, as well as the constituent governments of the European Union, for the creation of a state-backed European captive insurer to cover them specifically against war and..
28 May–11 June 2002
#
21 June 2002
Late reports
25.5, fire, fatalities
India: a fire which engulfed a shoe factory in northern India killed at least 40 people and injured several others. The death toll could still rise as many people were trapped inside..
Pension funds
#
21 June 2002
• Pension fund managers (OPCs) in Costa Rica
are analyzing the possibility of investing part of their assets abroad. This move was prompted by the low level of private bond issues in the country.
The Workers..
Santiago broker on trial for policy fraud
#
21 June 2002
Falsification of policies by a Santiago insurance broker has apparently left up to 5,000 urban transport buses in the capital without passenger accident cover. According to the case put before the courts in early June,..
Freedom of intermediaries seen as key to integrated market
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21 June 2002
New EU rules on insurance agents and other forms of ‘insurance mediation’are likely to be approved in the near future. European Commission proposals published in January 2001 cleared their second reading in the European Parliament..
EC attempts to unpick tangle over liability for marine pollution
#
21 June 2002
MEPs voted on 11 June to support attempts by the European Commission to unravel a legislative tangle over EU policy on liability for marine pollution.
In a related vote on 12 June, the European Parliament completed..
Demographics and the development of pension systems in Baltics
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21 June 2002
The Baltic states inherited pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pension systems from the former Soviet Union. Under a PAYG system, those who work pay for current pensioners’ benefits. These systems rapidly became unsustainable after independence because of demographic..
CNP identifies Chinese market as important target in its international expansion plan
#
21 June 2002
France’s largest personal lines insurer, CNP Assurances, plans to expand abroad, according to CNP board president, Gilles Benoist. Mr Benoist was speaking during the company’s recent annual general meeting.
CNP is negotiating with a Chinese partner..
Market takes heart from discipline demonstrated by the new capital
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21 June 2002
After the US reinsurance market posted the worst results in its history in the fourth quarter of last year, things could only improve given the absolute determination of the industry over the last six months..
NZ’s Southern Cross offers premium discount to elderly customers
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21 June 2002
Faced with a flood of policy resignations, especially from long standing elderly clients in response to increased premiums, New Zealand’s largest health insurer, Southern Cross, has announced loyalty discounts for people over the age of..
OECD supports insurers’ call for terror backstop
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21 June 2002
A new economic study by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) confirms the international insurance industry’s claim that it could not survive another terrorist attack on the scale of the attrocity which..
Ukraine removes limits on foreign stakes in insurers
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21 June 2002
The new amendments to Ukraine’s insurance law are expected to have a tremendous impact on the development of the market.
The new rules make the market signficantly more attractive to foreign companies. It is anticipated that..
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