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Employers Re
Employers Re chief executive Dave Calhoun is moving on after only a year in the job. The move is seen by many as a step on Mr Calhoun’s path to the top job at GE Capital; his move to Employers Re last year was seen by many as a rung up on the..
Online Published Date:
09 February 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
Swiss Re/Cigna
Through its subsidiary Life Re of America, Swiss Re is to acquire the life reinsurance business of US insurer Cigna in a deal worth $170mn. Not all of the unit’s lines will be sold, however. Life Re will take on the US individual and group..
Online Published Date:
09 February 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
Hannover Re
A push into life and health reinsurance has paid dividends for Hanover Re. Despite recording a slightly decreased pre-tax profit in 1999, the company was cushioned from the worst impact of natural catastrophes by an improved performance of the life..
Online Published Date:
09 February 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
Scor
French reinsurer Scor has had its ratings confirmed by ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) and has been taken off CreditWatch negative. The company’s outlook, though, remains negative.
S&P praised the company’s..
Online Published Date:
09 February 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
CNA Re
A desire for a more united approach to underwriting is behind the move by CNA Re to form a new Global Catastrophe Unit. The unit, to be based in Chicago, will lead a more co-ordinated approach to property catastrophe underwriting, especially for..
Online Published Date:
09 February 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
Munich Re
Munich Re has made it clear that it will defend its global ‘number one’ position – even at high cost. Chief executive Hans-Jürgen Schinzler said that the company was actively seeking to become ‘number one’ in life..
Online Published Date:
09 February 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
ING
Dutch group ING is to combine its reinsurance operations into a single unit named ING Re. The company said the move was in response to the increasing globalisation of the reinsurance sector.
The company said that it would seek to grow organically,..
Online Published Date:
09 February 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
VHV
German mutual insurer VHV is under pressure to buy back a large part of the portfolio of the Switzerland’s Veritas Reinsurance Corporation (Veritas Re). The move comes five years after VHV sold Veritas Re to Californian investors and shows..
Online Published Date:
09 February 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
World Loss Log 16 May – 29 May
Late reports
15.5, crash, fatalities
US: a Cessna 337C crashed near Alamogordo NM killing the pilot and a passenger. The aircraft was operated by Courtney Aviation, Columbia under contract to the US Forest Service. 2 dead.
Natural..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
Royal & SunAlliance
The history of UK’s Royal and SunAlliance (RSA) stretches back almost to the beginning of the modern insurance industry. The Sun Fire Office was established back in 1710 and is the oldest insurance company in existence still trading under its..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
Marsh e-launches
The Australian arm of insurance broker Marsh has launched Australia’s first all-encompassing e-commerce policy in conjunction with Lloyds, AIG, Zurich and Chubb. Marsh’s new product, called Net Secure, was launched in the US 12 months..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
AIG
American International Group has consolidated a large part of it property/casualty operations. The North American division of American International Underwriters and Domestic Brokerage Group, which serves the overseas insurance needs of US..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
Groupama
French insurer Groupama suffered double the loss it originally estimated from France’s 1999 December storms. The group, which originally assessed storm losses at not more than FFr600mn (US$89mn), has now revised the figure up to FFr1.2bn...
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
CCR
The French government has stumped up €450mn to bail out state-owned national catastrophe reinsurer Caisse Central de Reassurance (CCR) after the company was forced to call upon state funds for the first time in its 18-year history. CCR..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
Allianz
German insurer Allianz has chosen Cipla, a major drug manufacturing company, as a second partner for its life and non-life business in India. The move follows Allianz’s earlier tie-up with Aplic Finance, which is a non-banking finance company...
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
Hibernian
The newly merged operations of CGU and Norwich Union in Ireland will trade under the Hibernian Group banner from the autumn. CGU took control of Hibernian at the end of last year. The new entity will probably overtake Axa’s Guardian/PMPA to..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
Tower
Tower, one of the few remaining medium size insurers and fund managers in the Australia and New Zealand, has become the subject of strong speculation that it will be the next company to fall to the consolidation wave sweeping the market.
Local..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
Korea A bad economy is bad news for insurers
Folk lore of the Asian crisis was that some countries recovered sooner than others. Korea is the most cited among the former group but there are signs that economic stagnation at a time of regulatory liberalisation could cause serious harm to the..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
Lloyd’s ‘chain of security’
1) Premium trust funds
Members’ premium trust funds form the first link in the chain. This is where all premium income and any additional reserves are held in trust for the benefit of policyholders.
2) Risk-based capital resources
In case..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
Lloyd’s savages Moody’s initiative
Lloyd’s has responded caustically to the decision by ratings agency Moody’s to introduce insurer financial strength (IFS) ratings for individual Lloyd’s syndicates. It claimed Moody’s had failed to grasp that Lloyd’s..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
Groupama syndicates
France’s Groupama is to form a new syndicate that will trade as Broadgate Underwriting to write international and treaty reinsurance business.
The move comes within a wider restructuring of Groupama’s UK operations. The French..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
Merger delay
Limit and Wellington have advised shareholders to defer voting on their proposed all-share merger following the unsolicited bid of Australian insurer QBE. The two parties said they continued to support their plan. But Limit has also been obliged to..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
1242 stops writing
Marlborough, the managing agency owned by CGU, has stopped writing new business through its property and personal accident syndicate 1242, citing “poor trading conditions and prospects”. The syndicate will be placed in run-off, subject..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
DP Mann capital call
DP Mann has become the first managing agency to announce a cash call to raise working capital. The call aims to raise £50mn (US$76mn) for DP Mann’s Syndicate 435. General Re, which owns DP Mann, will meet 40% of the cash call as a..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
SVB reaches out to regional brokers
SVB Holdings has created a new service company to help foster relations with regional UK brokers. The new SVB Underwriting Services Ltd (SVBUSL) will also serve as a testing ground for new online products.
SVBUSL is the company’s second..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
Chubb enhances evacuation cover
Now that the Year 2000 hurricane season has officially begun, Chubb’s Custom Market underwriting division has introduced a new version of its Hurricane Evacuation Coverage. Chubb says the new version offers insureds increased flexibility in..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
Reliance finds a parent
Leucadia National, an investment company with some insurance holdings, has agreed to purchase troubled US insurer Reliance Group Holdings for $295mn in stock and the assumption of $735mn in debt.
The swap ratio values Reliance shares at $2.55 each..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
Pohjola in bid to avoid legal action
Pohjola Group has written to erstwhile partners Skandia and Storebrand proposing discussions to avoid a legal battle following the breakdown of the tri-partite Nordic alliance If (WIR 638/01
). Skandia has already threatened to sue Pohjola for..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
Lloyd’s – almost seeing the light
In February, Mike Mahoney
, chairman of the Miller Insurance Group commented on the Lloyd’s discussion document ‘Developing Broker Relationships’. He now analyses Lloyd’s latest response announced on 22 May..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
General/Cologne edge closer
US reinsurance group and Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary General Re has implemented a wide-ranging reorganisation of the group, merging its operative units with those of German subsidiary Kölnische Rückversicherung (Cologne Re). In future,..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
Data Update
Stock name
Number of shares
Closing price US$
Market capitalisation
% weighting
XL
121,373,000
60.6875
7,365,823,938
37.11848%
Ace
217,018,000
28.3125
6,144,322,125
30.96299%
Partner Re
..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
e-brokerage launch
The newly created Mizuho Financial Group together with four major Japanese life insurers is to form an internet brokerage operation. The initiative is designed to capitalise on moves by regulators to liberalise the market for the online marketing of..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
PWS buyout plan
Reinsurance broker PWS is planning a management buyout. Group managing director Peter Smith acknowledged it had been difficult to deliver value to shareholders at a time when investors are not attracted to insurance business stocks.
Chairman of the..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
Folksam
Sweden’s Folksam has announced plans to start an internet bank that managing director Tore Andersson hopes will launch within 18 months. Apreliminary study by the insurer showed scope to reduce the price of banking services, such as payments,..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
Deutscher Ring
Deutscher Ring, the Hamburg-based insurer controlled by Baloise of Switzerland, is to cut around DM100mn (US$46mn) in costs annually by shedding at least 500 staff from its 1,763 back office operation. At the same time, the company is trying to lift..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
United Indian / New India
Two state-owned insurance companies, United India Insurance (UII) and New India Assurance (NIA) are in talks with Satin Creditcare Network, a non-banking finance company, with a view to selling insurance policies on the internet. Satin is launching..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
MMA / Maaf
French mutuals MMAand Maaf Assurance are to establish a new mutual grouping around their jointly owned reinsurer Covea. Jean Claude Seys, chairman of both groups, said the aim was to enable mutual insurers to enjoy the same economies of scale as..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
Das
The Das Group, the leading legal expenses insurer in the UK and Ireland, saw its 1999 profits rise 5.3% to £9.9mn (US$15mn) – although technical profits actually fell from £1.1mn to £0.4mn as motor legal expense rates came under..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
Nordic Baltic Holdings
Merita Nordbanken is to offer non-life insurance in Sweden and Finland. This follows the merger of the Finnish-Swedish group with Unidanmark to form Nordic Baltic Holding (NBH).
Both the current chief executive of NBH, Hans Dahlborg, and his..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
Eureko/PZU
The Polish government has agreed to sell a further 20-25% in leading domestic insurer PZU to Eureko. The move could take Eureko’s holding in PZU up to 45% and leave the pan-European insurer in a position to take effective control of the Polish..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
Tokio M&F in bank bid
Local press reports suggest the Japanese regulators are close to awarding the sale of failed Nippon Credit Bank (NCB) to a consortium that includes top non-life insurer Tokio M&F.
The deal would make Tokio part of the first non-banking group in..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
Japanese non-life sector under pressure
Most of Japan’s non-life players have reported reduced premium revenues for 1999 after a year in which they strove to come to terms with a liberalised insurance market.
Premium income for the 14 listed companies was down 0.8% for the year..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
China WTO membership to push reform
With China now assured of membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) following the passage through the US House of Representatives of a ‘permanent normal trade relations’ agreement, insurers are gearing up to reap the benefits.
The..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
Towers Perrin offers quick assessment
Services and consulting company Towers Perrin Re has announced that is to use the Riskonline facility from Risk Management Solutions to track and estimate the financial impact of hurricanes as they approach land. The service will give the..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
New Zealand Call for e-changes
A call for changes to the New Zealand legal structure to allow insurance companies to extend their internet operations has been made by the president of the New Zealand Insurance Council, John Balmforth. He says insurance companies must keep abreast..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000
US AIA hails e-signature compromise
The American Insurance Association (AIA) has hailed a tentative agreement on electronic signature legislation now before a House-Senate conference committee, saying it opens the door for the effective elimination of the legal uncertainties that have..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
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639 - 09 June 2000
India Central bank in quandary
Punjab National Bank (PNB), one of the major government-run banks, has put the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s central bank, in a fix by asking whether its ownership of some loss-making subsidiaries would stand in the way of its..
Online Published Date:
09 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
639 - 09 June 2000