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Company Profile: Swiss Re UK
Swiss Re UK increased its gross premium income by 51% to £173mn in 1999. Although this increase reflects the high number of multi-year contracts that the company had entered into over the previous two years, there was also significant growth in..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Company Profile: Toa Re
Toa Re and the Japan Earthquake pool were the only professional reinsurers in Japan until the market was deregulated in 1998. But despite the entry of foreign reinsurers into the Japanese market, Toa Re remains the reinsurer of choice for..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
GeneralCologne Re Europe
GeneralCologne Re Europe (part of the Berkshire Hathaway-owned General Re Group) produced a consistent run of profits over the last six years, but like most reinsurers floundered in 1999 as a result of falling premium rates, escalating claims and..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
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648 - 13 October 2000
Reinsurer ratings review
Rating agency downgrades over the last three months focused, in the main, on companies that are going into run-off namely Unionamerica and certain subsidiaries of Odyssey Re. Upgrades were handed out to two Bermudian operations, finite reinsurer..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Swiss Re launches earthquake site
Swiss Re have launched a new website designed to ensure that insurers are equipped with the latest tools available to assess earthquake risks. The site provides information about recent developments in seismological research that Swiss Re says..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Munich Re buys CNA Life Re
Through subsidiary Munich American Reassurance, Munich Re has extended its reach into the US life reinsurance market by acquiring the life reinsurance unit of US insurer CNA. The deal also includes the AgoraRe.com life reinsurance online site set up..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
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648 - 13 October 2000
AIG finds Indian partner
After some expectation, the American International Group has filed an application for a license to operate a general insurance business in India.
Its chosen partner is one of the country’s largest companies, the Tata group of industries. The..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
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648 - 13 October 2000
Stressing the bottom line
The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), which last week staged its annual conference in London for the first time in a decade, not only took the opportunity to celebrate its achievements as a professional body, but also to stress the bottom line to..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Lebanon toughens regulations
Lebanon has the reputation of being one of the most unregulated and undisciplined insurance markets in the world. The market is easily as chaotic as the one in Saudi Arabia where insurance legislation (including the need for insurance companies..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
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648 - 13 October 2000
No US upturn in sight, says ISO
According to the figures put out by the Insurance Services Office (ISO) and the National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII) for the first six months of 2000, the US property/casualty industry remained burdened by overcapacity. More..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
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648 - 13 October 2000
Guernsey PCCs win bank backing
In a first for protected cell companies based in the leading UK offshore domicile of Guernsey, the Royal Bank of Scotland has transacted a capital markets deal to eliminate the bank’s credit risk to an underlying portfolio of global..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
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648 - 13 October 2000
Canadian insurers enter India
Two Canadian insurers emphasised their commitment to the Indian insurance market last week. Canada Sun Life Assurance and Lombard Canada will enter the life and non-life markets respectively through joint venture partnerships with local industrial..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
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648 - 13 October 2000
Frontier warned by NYSE
The New York Stock Exchange has threatened the Frontier Insurance Group with delisting unless it can lift its share price to over US$1 by 16 December and ensure it has a market capitalisation of at least $50mn. Based on the current total of 41.6..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
US offshore tax debate resurrected
The chairman of the US House Ways & Means Committee, Bill Archer, has denied reports that Congress is imminently set to reintroduce a bill that would tax companies that reinsure a large portion of their book to offshore subsidiaries,..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
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648 - 13 October 2000
Storebrand sacks its chief
Norwegian insurer Storebrand has sacked its chief executive Age Korsvold after the country’s financial regulator, Kredittilsynet, concluded that Mr Korsvold’s private transactions involving options on Storebrand shares were..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
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648 - 13 October 2000
World Loss Log 19 September – 2 October
Late reports
17.9, floods, fatalities
Guatemala: floods and mudslides from 4 days of torrential rain wrecked buildings and bridges and swept through villages leaving at least 20 people dead and dozens injured. Authorities evacuated more than 200..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
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648 - 13 October 2000
World Insurance Stock Prices
Company/Group
Currency
1999 year end
22/09/00
05/10/00
% change from 22/09/00
Capitalisation US$mn
Ace
US$
16.69
38.25
37.00
(3.3)
8212
AIG
US$
72.09
88.69
96.00
8.2
225216
..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Gerling launches online credit insurance
Gerling Kredit, the Gerling reinsurance group’s credit insurance subsidiary is looking to add another e-commerce initiative to its portfolio in November. This month, it presented Trusted Trade, which comes in addition to Trusted Shops unveiled..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Folksam to go online
Swedish insurer Folksam is planning a financial portal for the Internet through which it will offer insurance policies as well as banking and investment services such as pensions.
The company has been talking about starting a bank for some time.
The..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Algeria considers bancassurance
Algeria’s parliament is reported to be considering further reform of its insurance laws to allow banks to issue insurance policies. The move would represent the most significant change to the Algerian industry since the abolition of the state..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Tribunal to speed up disputes
The tribunal set up by the General Insurance Association of Singapore (GIA) to resolve motor third party property claim disputes last week received overwhelming support from the 38 insurers in the market as well as from the island’s main..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
South Korea to reintroduce deposit guarantee
South Korea will return to the partial deposit insurance scheme that it operated before the financial crisis; it will open again in January.
The current scheme, which guarantees all bank deposits in full, was implemented to maintain public..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
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648 - 13 October 2000
Industry in conflict with regulators over privacy
Last week’s testimonies by insurers’ organisations before the US House of Representatives Commerce Subcommittee on Finance and Hazardous Materials, emphasised the extent to which the regulation of the US insurance industry will be..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Merging the German mutuals
Signal Iduna, the mutual group which sprang from the merger of Signal, Dortmund, and Iduna Nova, Hamburg, is having talks with other mutuals over further mergers, chief executive Reinhold Schulte confirmed to WIR
. This follows a successful deal..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
VHV to grow
VHV, the German mutual which last year moved all its private customer business to a separate joint-stock company, is set for a strong rise in business this year. Premium volume would go up 4.5% to DM2.01bn (US$0.9bn), despite the tough market, chief..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Indian Airlines takes rate increase
India’s biggest domestic airline, Indian Airlines is faced with a huge 65% increase in its insurance premium for the current year.
This follows increased losses and a general hardening of the aviation reinsurance market. A major reason is the..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Belize donation ignites debate
The US$20,000 donation to the Central America nation of Belize from the Organisation of American States (OAS) for immediate relief following the passage of hurricane Keith last week, once more raises the question of how governments in..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Crop insurance to be sold online
Producers Lloyd Insurance Company and the Rural Community Insurance Company (RCIC), have become the first insurers to have their plans to sell crop insurance over the internet approved by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) since the E-File Act..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Kemper takes on Superior business
Kemper Insurance is to take on the renewal rights of the five Superior National Insurance companies, currently in conservation, on what it calls “a profitable basis” after receiving the final nod from the California Department of..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Iran mulls liberalisation
The liberalisation of the of the state-run Iranian insurance market is entering a new phase. The Central Insurance Council of Iran (CICI) is to recommended to the Iranian Parliament that private insurance companies be allowed to operate in the..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Ping-an in e-commerce joint venture
Ping-an Insurance and the China Construction Bank have signed an agreement to develop jointly their e-commerce businesses. Both companies have already made considerable investments in setting up their individual internet and IT infrastructures.
The..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
EU looks at pension funds
The European Commission (EC) will make its third attempt in 10 years to transform EU pension fund regulations. This week the EC embarks on a two-year process to persuade member countries that the rules on asset diversification and currency holdings..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
US companies overcapitalised, says AM Best
Around 60% – 70% of US insurance companies currently rated by AM Best, and that includes almost all major property/casualty groups, could shed capital without risking their current rating level. And almost 50% have capital in excess of what..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Rating the agencies
A survey of US property/casualty insurers commissioned by the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (Namic) has identified a high level of dissatisfaction with agencies rating the industry. The participants, 95% of which had a rating..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
UK get into the Act
The Human Rights Act 1998
which incorporates the European Convention of Human Rights into UK domestic law, came into force on 2 October 2000. Jennifer McDermott
, partner at City law firm, Lovells, believes that the Act will transform the landscape..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000