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Hannover Re
Hannover Re is set to become the first professional reinsurer of substance to take more in life reinsurance premiums than it does from its property/casualty operations. In an outlook for the year ahead the company predicted an overall 20% increase..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
IRB
Brazil’s insurance industry has expressed concern that an imminent ruling by the country’s federal courts could delay the sale of state-owned reinsurer IRB yet again. The government has delayed several attempts at privatising the..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Ace Bermuda
Ace Bermuda is to expand the operations if its Tailored Risk Solutions subsidiary into a new division to be called Ace Financial Solutions International. The unit will provide non-traditional insurance and finance-related packages to international..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Bavarian Re
Swiss Re group member Bavarian Re is to set up a new office in Oslo in mid-2000. It already has a company in Dublin, Bavarian Re Ireland, and is reorganising its internal structure, with a new holding company based in Luxembourg.
Chief executive..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Guy Carpenter
Recent comments from Tom Hopkinson, managing director of Guy Carpenter’s Canadian operations, suggest that reinsurance rates there are unlikely to register a significant turn around in the near future. Figures for reinsurers in Canada last..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Willis
UK based intermediary Willis has been granted a licence to operate a new unit in Korea. It will become the first of the large broking houses to cater for the risk management needs of Korean companies worldwide.
The new Willis Korea Global will have..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
RSA
Royal & SunAlliance (RSA) has a serious problem on its hands in India as the country’s central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has issued a set of entry rules that disqualifies domestic insurance partner, Sundaram Finance.
RBI has said..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Allianz
Allianz is at pains not to be associated too closely with talks between German banks Commerzbank and Dresdner Bank. The banks are engaged in talks over close co-operation or a merger, but are at a very early stage. Allianz owns 21.7% of Dresdner and..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Elmonda
The Elmonda Group, which embraces Switzerland’s Elvia Travel Insurance and France’s Mondial Assistance, has taken over US travel insurance and assistance group World Access (WA).
The acquisition strengthens Elmonda’s position in..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
The Hartford
The Hartford has reached agreement to sell car, home and other personal insurance to the customers of Sears, Roebuck and Co, one of the largest retailers in the US.
The multi-year deal will see The Hartford offer a Sears branded insurance programme..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
ING
Dutch financial services player ING Group has failed in its current bid to acquire the financial services and international business of leading US health insurer Aetna. The two companies terminated their exclusive discussions after failing to agree..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Groupama dedicates
Groupama Personal Insurances, a UK division of the French group, has created a dedicated e-commerce team to help Groupama brokers and intermediaries exploit the potential of e-commerce. The new team will assist the 70% of UK brokers and..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Big is better, says S&P
More capacity equals better performance for syndicates at Lloyd’s, says a new report from ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P). In its annual ‘bell’ ratings of syndicates, S&P says that the larger composite..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Brokers merge
Lloyd’s brokers Edgar Hamilton (EH) and FE Wright are to form a new partnership, following the acquisition of FE Wright from Lonmin by Edgar Hamilton’s parent, the Sterling Insurance Group. The merger is expected to be completed by the..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
PI assistance
Nelson Hurst Professional Indemnity (NHPI), a Lloyd’s broker for solicitors’ professional indemnity, has introduced an online risk-management questionnaire and proposal form to assist solicitors in the task of assessing their..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Jaffray case update
Former Lloyd’s chairman Sir David Rowland is the latest witness to deny the existence of a conspiracy to conceal the true extent of the market’s asbestosis liabilities and to recruit new Names to Lloyd’s syndicates from the late..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Marine warning
Lloyd’s marine underwriters at the Posidonia 2000 shipping event have told shipowners they will be seeking premium increases.
“Our product has been underpriced and we have accumulated severe losses,” said London Underwriting..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Moody’s downgrades
Ratings agency Moody’s has downgraded the performance ratings of six syndicates, placing two on negative outlook
Moody’s revised the rating of Syndicate 329 in view of Markel’s announcement that the syndicate no longer forms part..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Limit spurns revised QBE advance
The board of Limit is continuing to urge shareholders to support the buy-out bid made by fellow Lloyd’s managing agency Wellington, despite a superior cash offer from Australian insurer QBE.
The revised QBE cash offer of 135p (US$2.03) per..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
UK FSA established
After two years and some 2,000 amendments, the UK’s Financial Services and Markets Bill has finally won its way through parliament and established the Financial Services Authority (FSA) as the unitary regulatory body for the UK’s..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
US Class action threat to insurers
After winning multi-million-dollar verdicts against the tobacco industry, class action attorneys are setting their sights on the property/casualty insurance industry, legal experts have warned.
Speaking at the National Association of Independent..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
China Insurance
China Insurance International Holdings (CIIH), a subsidiary of China Insurance (PRC), is to make a HK$418mn (US$53.6mn) initial public offering. Swiss Re is expected to be among corporate investors taking a strategic stake in the issue. Public..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Holocaust-claims legislation on hold
A US federal judge has temporarily barred California officials from enforcing a state law requiring insurers, under pain of losing their business licences, to submit lists of their unpaid Holocaust-era insurance claims. Judge William Shrubb moved to..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Cat bond market set to grow
US insurer State Farm has arranged $100mn in reinsurance for its Florida hurricane risk exposure through a catastrophe securitisation agreement with Arrow Re, the Bermuda-based reinsurance arm of Goldman Sachs. The State Farm securitisation comes at..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Kwelm increases payout despite falling income
Despite a year of falling investment income and an average year for reinsurance recoveries, the administrators of the UK-based Kwelm companies have made their seventh and largest payout to their mostly US creditors. Money set aside for payment has..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
RSA in new If rumour
There is speculation in the market that Royal & SunAlliance’s Danish subsidiary Codan might buy If, following the withdrawal of Finland’s Pohjola from the supposedly pan-Nordic non-life insurer (WIR638/01)
. The unofficial reports..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Pressman to head Employers Re
GE Capital, the parent of Employers Re, has appointed another reinsurance market outsider to replace Dave Calhoun as chief executive. Ronald Pressman, currently the president of GE Capital Real Estate, will take over the position on 3 July. He was..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
World Loss Log 30 May – 12 June
Natural Catastrophe
31.5-7.6, flooding, fatalities
China: flooding and landslides in separate regions of China left 74 dead and thousands homeless. Torrential rains triggered floods and landslides that left 38 people dead and 12 missing in Sichuan..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
OECD
The OECD has added six jurisdictions to the list of countries committed to eliminating harmful tax practices. The decision means that prominent reinsurance jurisdictions Bermuda and the Cayman Islands along with aspiring insurance centres Cyprus,..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Eqecat to investigate Taiwan earthquake pool
Eqecat has been named as the organisation that will carry out investigations into setting up an earthquake insurance pool in Taiwan on behalf of the soon to be privatised Central Re. EQE president Peter Yanev told WIR
that he expected the study to..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Travelers
Travelers, the subsidiary of US giant Citigroup, is forming an international division to expand the company’s operations outside the US. Jay Fishman, chief executive of Travelers Insurance, said the division would accelerate the..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
DEVK
Cologne-based mutual DEVK, which was originally the railwaymen’s insurer, does not see its future within a combination or merger of mutuals but says it is seeking partnerships and active shareholdings.
This could involve insurance but also..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
QM4 launches
QuoteMe4 (QM4), a free online service, has been launched in the UK to provide personal lines consumers with a convenient access to a quotes for a range of tailored insurance services. Details of the desired cover, which are provided online by the..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Supermarkets dominate
‘Supermarket’ sites are set to dominate the UK’s online market for personal lines insurance products, a new report has concluded. The report by Forrester Research, based on an industry survey, claimed that around 20% of personal..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
China CIRC flexes its muscles
The Chinese regulator has suspended the Beijing representative offices of three foreign insurers. The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) said the local offices of PingAn Insurance (US), Travelers Insurance Group and Guijiang Insurance..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
US Electronic signature enacted
Congress has overwhelmingly approved the passage of a new electronic signature bill seen as a vital step in facilitating online insurance business.
The Millennium Digital Commerce Act,
S 761, means that records and signatures can no longer be..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Finland Insurers await EC ruling
The insurance industry is waiting to see whether the European Commission will seek a ruling from the European Court of Justice forcing the Finns to comply with the Third Non-Life Insurance Directive
in respect of the compulsory insurance against..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
India IRDA consults on ground rules
India’s Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has formulated new ground rules covering solvency margins and investment and accounting regulations. The new rules also define the amount of rural business that new players will be..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
US Alliance slams ‘untested’ federal alternatives
Now that the US has a financial services law that allows banks and securities firms to compete with insurers, the state insurance regulators are asking the industry to come up with proposals to streamline the system of state regulation. The aim is..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
EU New moves to enhance information flow
Plans to ease EU rules on exchange of confidential information between national and third-country financial regulators look set for a smooth passage.
Prompted partly by the rise of international financial conglomerates, the reforms aim to make it..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Way almost clear for NRMA float
The members of Australia’s largest non-life insurer, the mutual NRMA have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the constitutional changes necessary for the insurer to de-mutualise.
The vote clears the way for the A$4mn (US$2.34mn) float that is..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
P/c income drops
The US property/casualty industry’s net income fell 35.4% to $5.8bn in the first quarter 2000, the National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII) and Insurance Services Office (ISO) have reported.
The quarter saw the industry’s net..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
China broker established
China’s first insurance brokerage, Jiangtai Insurance Broking (JIB), has been established in Beijing with the backing of major domestic commercial groups. JIB, which has already commenced operations, will serve as an intermediary for all..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
New move on global solvency
The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), the industry’s top regulatory body, has announced the goal of establishing international capital adequacy standards for insurance companies by the end of next year.
IAIS secretary..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Government to delay PZU sale
Eureko’s hopes of gaining control of Poland’s PZU appear to have been dashed in the short term following the collapse of the East European country’s ruling coalition. The Polish government appeared earlier to have agreed to sell a..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
Gerling Re business grows
The reinsurance business of Germany’s Gerling insurance group grew strongly in 1999 with premium income rising 39.6% to DM8.86bn (US$4.31bn). Of this growth, 21.9% came from the first-time consolidation of the American subsidiary Constitution..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
On the up?
Robert Hartwig
, vice president and chief economist of the Insurance Information Institute (III) argues that the property/casualty industry is over the worst.
‘The p/c insurance industry reported a statutory rate of return of 7.0% (on an..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000
GIC set to keep cessions
The role of General Insurance Corporation (GIC), the only non-life player in India, is about to undergo a drastic change.
On the cards is a move by the regulator to declare GIC the national reinsurer and to grant it an obligatory cession of 20% of..
Online Published Date:
23 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
640 - 23 June 2000