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World loss log 19 December 2000–8 January 2001
Late reports
17.12, train collision, fatalities
Japan: 1 person was killed and 27 injured after 2 small local trains collided head on in Matsuoka, Fukui Prefecture, about 220 miles west of Tokyo. About 40 to 50 people were on board the..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Company profile: Lureco
Founded in 1986, financial reinsurer Luxembourg European Reinsurance (Lureco) is part of the General Electric group. On 24 June 1999 ERC Life Re gained control of the company from ERC Frankona Re, Munich.
Gross premiums written stood at €284mn..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Company profile: Swiss Re Southern Africa
After nearly doubling its gross premium income in 1998, Swiss Re Southern Africa radically restructured both its management structure and business portfolio the next year. It reduced the overall volume of business by 36%, largely by turning away..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Korean Re
Korean Re’s pre-tax profits jumped spectacularly from Won4.6bn to Won42.3bn (US$32.8mn) for the year ending 31 March 2000 as the company halved its underwriting losses while increasing its investment income by 269%. The 1999 result, an..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Non-life in doldrums as life booms
Data from the annual Swiss Re sigma
survey of worldwide insurance for 1999 confirms evidence that has been gathered from company annual reports and anecdotally: that rates went nowhere that year as the industry waited for an upturn.
As ever,..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Think global, act local
Donald J Shepard, president and chief executive of Aegon USA and member of the executive board of Aegon NV, talks to
WIR about the group’s position in the North American market in the wake of the Transamerica acquisition.
North America is..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Sweden to offer new scheme
The Swedish government has announced plans to introduce a ‘competence saving’ system from 1 January 2002. To be known by the initials IKS and operating along the same principles as pension funds, the new system will accumulate..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Munich Re closes CNA Life Re deal
Munich Re has joined the growing list of European insurance operations seeking to increase exposure to the US life reinsurance market by completing its acquisition of the life re business of CNA through its subsidiary Munich American Reassurance..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Handelsbanken buys SPP
Swedish banking and insurance group Handelsbanken is to buy insurers SPP Liv and SPP Fond for SwKr7.1bn.
The company plans to demutualise SPP Liv and merge it with Handelsbanken’s currently relatively weak SHB Liv, to create a new entity.
It..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
First private policy issued in India
Royal Sundaram Alliance has become the first private non-life player to issue a policy. Other new players like Tata AIG General Insurance, Hero Zurich General and Iffco Tokio Marine are expected to follow shortly.
“At this point of time we are..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Reinsurers set a ‘harddeck’
Despite increases across the board at the recent renewals season, reinsurance rates have still not reached a level sufficient for underwriting profit. While rate increases in loss-making lines have increased significantly, there has been no general..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
AIG extends in Canada
AIG has acquired Norwich Union Life Assurance Canada, the biggest direct life insurer in the country. The acquisition was facilitated through AIG’s purchase of Norwich Union Holdings from the UK-based CGNU for C$159mn (US$106mn). An AIG..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Hannover Re completes fourth life securitisation
German reinsurer Hannover Re has concluded its fourth life risk securitisation in a €200mn (US$186mn) deal that covers unit-linked life business from Germany and Austria.
Hannover Re has been a trailblazer in the area of life securitisation,..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Lloyd’s capacity increases
The amount of capital provided by individual Names at Lloyd’s is declining, but not as rapidly as many expected. Although the number of Names decreased by nearly 14% from 3,296 in 2000 to 2,852 in 2001, their capital contribution remained more..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
World insurance stock prices
Company/group
Currency
2000 year-end (29/12/00)
Capitalisation US$mn 31/12/00
11/01/01
% change from 29/12/00
Capitalisation US$mn
Ace
US$
42.44
9,419
36.00
(15.2)
7,990
AIG
US$
98.56
228,227
84.31
(14.5)..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Company profile: Kölnische Rück Wien
Kölnische Rück Wien, part of GeneralCologne Re, is responsible for the Austrian and the Central European markets of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania,..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
PZU embroiled in diplomatic row
Pan-European insurance alliance Eureko has accused the Polish government of treating shareholders like cattle over its handling of the country’s largest general insurer, PZU.
The accusation comes in the wake of the latest government decision..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Defining privacy
Michael Skay, insurance partner at New York law firm Chadbourne & Parke, outlines the potential for confusion on the issue of privacy and information sharing after the passage of the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
As the financial world continues to..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
General insurers raring to go
How quickly things change. By far the biggest surprise of the Confederation of British Industry and PricewaterhouseCoopers Financial Services Survey published last week is the astonishing bullishness of UK general insurers at a time when their..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Folksam eyes KP for purchase
Folksam is expected to buy life insurer KP Pension & Försäkring. Folksam managing director Tore Andersson has confirmed a deal is in the offing. He has not named the takeover target but, since he has discounted the possibility of..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Change in EU air liability
A vote in the European Parliament last month was hailed by members as a step toward a worldwide unlimited liability regime for air travel.
European airlines are already subject to an unlimited regime under the terms of EU legislation adopted four..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
OECD in retreat
Following pressure applied by the Commonwealth, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) has agreed to review its procedures for addressing the issue of harmful tax practices. The step back from the controversial report..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Vote speeds up passage of insolvency directive
It now seems that a vote in the European Parliament has brought forward the introduction of the EU Directive on the winding up of insurance companies. But EU financial services legislation, about to be signed into law, has been blocked for so many..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001
Tough on insolvency
The number of the players in the South Korean insurance market has been reduced to 40 from 50 due to the restructuring of financially impaired companies. More insurers are expected to close down in the near future.
Lee Chun-geon
, head of South..
Online Published Date:
19 January 2001
Appeared in issue:
654 - 19 January 2001