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Company Profile: Thai Re
Although Thai Re is privately owned (its shareholders comprise a number of local insurers), its position in the market is that of the ‘national’ reinsurer. All local insurers ‘voluntarily’ cede 5% of their reinsurance to the..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Münchener Rück
The annual report of Münchener Rückversicherungs (Munich Re), parent company of the Munich Re Group and responsible for German operations, outlined the strategy divesting its cross holdings in other insurance companies. Principally, the..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Mergers and Acquisitions in 2000
Exclusive research for WIR
looks at recent trends in merger and acquisition activity involving insurers and reinsurers.
Worldwide, for the first six months of 2000, to 30 June, there were 276 merger announcements. This compares with 288 mergers for..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
World disasters report 1999
Last year was a record-breaker for the insurance industry in the number of billion-dollar losses produced by catastrophic events, but how did 1999 compare overall in terms of the devastation caused by cats?
The World Disasters Report
produced by..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
GeneralCologne Re upbeat despite losses
Low premium rates, underwriting losses, and reduced investment income from its insurance operations, have hit the overall operating profits of Berkshire Hathaway, the Omaha-based investment vehicle and holding company for GeneralCologne Re, the..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Cap Re founder takes over ACA
Michael Satz, the founder and former chief executive of Capital Re has been named chief executive of ACA Financial Guaranty. The company is the only A rated financial bond insurer in the US and is now looking to expand into other areas. To this end,..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
RSA and Zurich take on Indian partners as four Indian banks talk of joint venture
Royal & SunAlliance and its Indian partner have restructured the ownership of their non-life venture in India. The restructuring was prompted by a decision of India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, that non-banking companies..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Safeco in search for new leader
A combination of poor results and investor pressure has forced top management changes at Safeco, the sixteenth largest property/casualty insurer in the US. Roger Eigsti, who is credited with transforming Safeco from a Seattle-based insurer into a..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Czech Republic has progressive non-life market says S&P
Although the Polish non-life market is three times the size of that of the Czech Republic, the latter provides more opportunities for insurers, according to ratings agency, Standard & Poor’s. The Czech Republic has been included in..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
EU investigates Chinese insurance license delay
The EU will seek an explanation from the Chinese government for its failure to issue the full set of licenses promised to European insurers as part of the World Trade Organisation agreement reached between China and the EU in May.
Britain, France..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
ICHEIC refusal costs Munich Re deal
Munich Re’s decision not to join the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC) has cost its subsidiary American Re control of the United National Group. United National’s parent, American Insurance Services..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
GDV in negotiations
The German insurance industry association, Gesamtverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft (GDV), has begun negotiations over a co-operation agreement with the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC). GDV’s..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Allianz lowers profit expectations as losses climb
Half-year figures for Allianz’s domestic property/casualty business has forced the group to revise downwards its expectations for the current year. Allianz Sachgruppe said it expects turnover to reach €9.3bn, which would be a slight..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
World Loss Log 25 July – 7 August
Late reports
17.7, crash, fatality
US: pilot killed when Air Tractor AT-401, agricultural aircraft, crashed while manoeuvring Panhandle, TX.
17.7, crash, fatality
US: pilot killed when Beechcraft 58P crashed into Arkabutla Lake, Hernando,..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
World Insurance Stock Prices
Company/Group
Currency
1999
27/07/00
10/08/00
% change
from 27/07/00
Capitalisation US$mn
1. CGU
Ace
US$
16.69
36.69
33.63
(8.3)
7363
Axa
€
71.00
163.90
163.30
(0.4)
49300
AIG
US$
72.09..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Company Profile: QBE International Insurance
QBE International Insurance, the London market arm of the Australian parent, was significantly affected by the high frequency of natural catastrophes in 1999 in its property portfolio. Its marine excess of loss book was also hard hit. The..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Company Profile: Egypt Re
Moves by the Egyptian Insurance Supervisory Authority to reduce then amount of reinsurance ceded to Egypt Re seem to have made little impact on the company’s overall performance.
Egypt Re’s non-life gross premiums written fell by 6% to..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Company Profile: Cologne Re
UK property/casualty reinsurer Cologne Reinsurance, an arm of German reinsurer Cologne Re (now known as GeneralCologne Re) suffered on both the underwriting and investment fronts in 1999.
The company’s underwriting performance deteriorated..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
ESG Re divests healthcare operation
Troubled medical reinsurer ESG Re is to sell its healthcare operation to a related party, HMI Partners. ESG hopes the move will lead to an injection of US$3.6mn of capital into the business by new investors in the second half of this year. ESG..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
German insurers and the internet
German insurers are increasingly using the potential of the internet, according to a survey by the German insurance industry association, the GDV. A total of 290 insurers took part in the study, representing some 90% of the market. The results show..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Motor rates increase
Swedish insurers are raising motor premium rates by around 25%, following losses of some SKr1.2bn (US$130mn) last year.
One of the major players, If, has increased premium levels four times since December, by a total of around 25%. Main rivals..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Svenska in court again
The saga of Svenska Kreditforsakring is not quite finished yet. The liquidator of the credit insurer that went bankrupt in late 1992 with debts of about SKr4bn (US$434mn) will press his claim for a further SKr800mn from up to 65 reinsurers all the..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Indian companies suffer high loss ratios
One of the biggest challenges facing foreign non-life companies seeking to enter India is to make underwriting profits in a market where the existing non-life players have consistently suffered underwriting losses.
The four non-life companies in..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Germany offers greater opportunity to foreign players
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has said that tax changes in Germany could further open the door for foreign players in the country’s notoriously parochial insurance market. Speaking at the launch of S&P’s annual..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Japan: losses up, premiums down.
Non-life direct premiums written by the 33 companies active in Japan totalled ¥9,200bn (US$88bn) for the year ending 31 March 2000, a decrease of 2.8% from the previous period. The figures, published by the Marine & Fire Insurance..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Brazil: New categories for reinsurers
B
eatriz da Costa Viellas, resident Counsel at the London representative office of Brazilian law firm Amaral Gurgel Advogados, looks at the capital and other requirements for the three categories of foreign reinsurers allowed to operate in Brazil...
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
NRMA floats
The long-awaited listing of Australia’s largest general insurer NRMA has proceeded smoothly. At the same time it had boosted the stock market fortunes of the local insurance industry as takeover speculation begins to mount.
NRMA listed with..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
South Carolina enacts captive legislation
South Carolina has joined the growing number of US states to enact captive legislation. The law, signed by the Governor on 11 August, was designed for uniformity and is close to similar legislation in New York and Vermont.
The move had been a key..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Earthquake report dismissed as scaremongering
A study by scientists at Queensland University of Technology has been dismissed as scaremongering by Gordon Woo, a technical consultant with EQE International who described the study as little more than a bid to get additional funding from the..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Citigroup profits up
Citigroup, the US banking, securities and insurance conglomerate increased its second quarter profits by 23% to US$3bn for the first quarter of 2000. This was down on first quarter profits of $3.6bn. But the group’s insurance operations,..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
EBRD takes new tack on nuclear risk
The new director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s nuclear safety unit anticipates an increased role for insurance companies in insuring nuclear power stations in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Vince Novak..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Swedish insurers hit by floods
Swedish insurers will pay out an estimated SKr110mn (US$12mn) to some 1,300 households that have been flooded in Norrland and Dalarna.
In parts of southern Norrland it has rained five times as much as in a normal July, causing extensive damage and..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000
Keeping pace with the net
Simon Lofthouse
, head of marketing at digital certification company InterClear, argues that insurance companies do not have a clear understanding of the risk management issues involved in electronic business transactions.
‘For many years the..
Online Published Date:
18 August 2000
Appeared in issue:
644 - 18 August 2000