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Company Profile: Sorema
Groupama subsidiary, Société de Réassurance des Assurances Mutuelles Agricoles (Sorema) had one of its worst years in 1999 when it produced a pre-tax loss of €95mn (US$83mn) after a profit of €20mn in 1998. The result was..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Company Profile: Singapore Re
Singapore Reinsurance Corporation Limited (Singapore Re) produced record pre-tax profits of S$15mn (US$9mn) last year, despite suffering its first underwriting loss since 1993. Established in 1973, the company is Singapore’s only indigenous..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Robbery insurance in Argentina
Argentine insurers have been forced to take a tougher stance on homeowners, commercial, industrial and banking risks as losses due to robberies which have spiralled over the last 12 months. “We now demand more and better security measures. All..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Largest ever start-up
The largest start-up syndicate in the history of Lloyd’s has been launched at a time when many commentators believe that there is too much capacity in the market.. But with capital of £150mn (US$212mn) former Amlin underwriter David..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
ERC mulls re-entry to US property fac market
After a high-profile exit from the North and Latin American property facultative reinsurance market last year, Employers Re could be set to re-enter the sector as early as next year.
Newly-appointed chief executive Ron Pressman said that the company..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
New Indian company applications
Two more companies have put in applications for non-life insurance licences in India bring the total number of companies seeking to enter the market to three. The new companies are IFFCO-Tokio General Insurance Company and Reliance General Insurance..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Generali exacts price for co-operation
The deal between Generali of Italy and Commerzbank of Germany will result in strong benefits for Generali’s German group led by Aachener und Münchener Beteiligungsgesellschaft (AMB). Generali had agreed to double its stake in Commerzbank..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
ZFS
Zurich Financial Services (ZFS) gross non-life premium income grew by 6% to US$9.7bn and by 12% in local currency terms in the first six months of 2000. These figures exclude the premium generated by the Farmers Exchanges in the US. Aspokesman for..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Allianz faces unlikely loss
Allianz is refusing to comment on a major liability loss likely to reach DM40m (US$18mn) from a very unlikely source. Allianz, which also is one of Germany’s leading private health insurers, is involved in covering parts of the German public..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Indian price rules to be relaxed
General insurers are set to enjoy a relaxation of the tight grip on pricing imposed by the system of controlled tariff in India, allowing them to create new products for the burgeoning market. The current rules are set by the Tariff Advisory..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
GIO: We won’t be skinned again
GIO is to send its reinsurance run-off expert Paul Dassenko to London and will recruit a team of technical experts to back him up. However, the day to day management of the run-off of the Australian group’s reinsurance arm, now owned by AMP,..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Dublin becomes UK’s reinsurer
A survey of UK insurers has highlighted an increasing trend to buy reinsurance protection overseas and, in particular, from domiciles that offer tax incentives. Ireland, through its International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), appears to be the..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
If may be for sale
Rumours have swept the Scandinavian insurance market that the newly-formed If might be for sale. The speculation was encouraged by unofficial reports that experts – believed to be from UK insurer Royal & SunAlliance – were..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Where to next?
It has been many years since any real business was done at the annual September Rendez-Vous in Monte Carlo but the usefulness of the event lies in the networking and the market intelligence gained. Another annual tradition is reinsurers trying to..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Raising the standard
Syndicate 2488 recently became the first Lloyd’s syndicate to be awarded a financial strength rating by Moody’s. John Charman
chief executive officer of Ace Global Markets, the capital provider and managing agent for syndicate 2488,..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Marine
27.8, collision, fatalities
Russia: 6 people have died and at least 16 others injured in a collision between hydrofoil Voskhod-42
and a partly-laden barge in thick fog on the Votkin reservoir in Russia’s Perm region. Voskhod-42
had a total..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
World Loss Log 22 August – 4 September
Late reports
20.8, explosion, fatalities
Kenya: 25 people were killed when a train carrying liquefied gas from Mombassa to Nairobi exploded and caught fire in Athi River town, some 25 km east of Nairobi. Most of the victims were the residents of..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
World Insurance Stock Prices
Company/Group
Currency
1999 year end
24/08/00
07/09/00
% change from 24/08/00
Capitalisation US$mn
1. CGU
Ace
US$
16.69
34.06
33.63
(1.3)
7363
AIG
US$
72.09
84.69
86.81
2.5
230662
Allianz
€..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Company Profile: Millî Re
As Turkey’s largest domestic reinsurer, Millî Reasürans (Millî Re) was bound to be hit in a big way following the Izmit earthquake that levelled a large number of badly designed buildings and caused appalling loss of life. While..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Company Profile: Sava Re
Pozavarovalnica Sava (Sava Re) suffered a massive set back when its share of the Slovenian reinsurance market fell by nearly 40% in 1999 due to the loss of business from its main cedant, Triglav Insurance Company. Triglav established its own..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Africa Re
These are tough but exciting times for the African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re), the inter-governmental reinsurer which recently moved into its new US$9mn headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. Africa Re was established by the member states of the..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
In the eye of the storm
Last year was a mixed one for the French insurance market. After suffering a 7% contraction in 1998, the market recovered sufficiently to increase its total premium income by 11.7% to FF1,143bn (US$150bn) in 1999. But the expansion, driven by strong..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Vietnamese market to grow 44%
The premium income of the Vietnamese insurance market, the fastest growing market in Asia, fell by 5% in 1999. This was due to a number of factors, including the country’s economic problems in the wake of the regional financial crisis, a ban..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Slovenian market surges
Reinsurance business written by Slovenia’s three professional reinsurance companies surged by 33.7% in 1999 to SLT17.8bn (US$80.5m). However, with liberalisation of the reinsurance market this year, doubts remain over the ability of the..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Best Re finds niche
Rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has revised its outlook on the Tunisia-based Islamic reinsurer, Best Re from stable to positive. The announcement comes as Best Re is setting up local reinsurance subsidiaries in a number of..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Brunei seeks Chinese captives
As the number of financial offshore centres continues to increase, financial services companies with global plans are increasingly spoilt for choice. But Brunei’s brand new offshore jurisdiction is seeking to distinguish itself by taking a..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
German brokers in row with public law insurers
A major row has developed between German insurance brokers and the public law insurers that confine their operations to the regions. At issue are the tender procedures for municipalities, a large market which represents billions of deutschemarks in..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Marine insurers downbeat for 2000
German marine insurance has now become the largest industrial line outside liability (where the statistics do not differentiate between private customer business and industrial/commercial business). Marine insurance premium income of DM3.15bn..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Southern Cross to bid again
The New Zealand Commerce Commission has rejected mutual health insurer Southern Cross Medical Care Society’s application to buy Aetna Health (NZ) on the grounds that the acquisition would make it too much of a dominant force in the local..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
China takes broad view
The are now signs that China’s regulation of the financial services sector which up to now has been marked by a rigid separation of the various services, is becoming more flexible. In a landmark announcement, the People’s Bank of China,..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Marine market continues to shrink
Delegates to the International Union of Marine Insurers (IUMI) conference in London were confronted with more evidence of the extent to which the global marine market has shrunk over the last few years. Although the figures presented to the..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Commonwealth chides OECD
The Commonwealth has weighed into the debate on offshore financial centres calling on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to consult the countries concerned. It also said that it would be inappropriate to impose..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000
Sampo chief investigated
Following an investigation on insider trading allegations by the Finnish finance inspectorate the names of five people have been passed to the public prosecutor for further investigation. And Sampo chief executive Jouko Leskinen is among them.
The..
Online Published Date:
15 September 2000
Appeared in issue:
646 - 15 September 2000