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Groupama scraps sale
Europe
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Midwest disaster cover
North America
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
World insurance stock prices
Company/group
Currency
31/12/01
7/2/02
21/2/02
Change from
7/2/02 %
Capitalisation US$ mn
* Formerly NRMA Insurance Group
© World Insurance Report
Ace
US$
40.15
38.96
41.82
7.3
10,853
AIG
US$
79.40..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Company profile: LG
LG Insurance, South Korea’s fourth-largest nonlife insurer, saw its pretax result slump to a loss of W204.4bn (US$154mn) for the year ending 31 March 2001. The profit reversal was largely due to a decline in investment income, which fell by..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Korean Re
Korean Re’s profitability dipped in fiscal 2000 as declining investment earnings offset a turn-around in the company’s underwriting result.
Pretax profit for the company’s financial year ending 31 March 2001 stood at W37.7bn..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Nonlife market recovers during 2000 but more challenges lie ahead
The Hong Kong general insurance market recorded growth of 8% to HK$17.8bn (US$2.3bn) in 2000 after two years of contraction, according to figures produced by the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI). Premium income in the buoyant life..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Generali profits falter
Generali Group has made provisions of about €100mn (US$86.5mn) in its accounts for 2001 to cover its exposures in Argentina. Generali has a 47.5% stake in Argentinian insurer Caja de Ahorro y Seguro.
Without the provision, profits would have..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Pool starts operation
Premiums for large industrial risks in France have risen by around 18% during the first two months of this year. A few insurers have limited their rate rises to just 15% but others have asked for 21% or more. Meanwhile, the pool for reinsuring..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
AIG aims to provide greater transparency
American Insurance Group (AIG) will alleviate investors’ worries by releasing future quarterly results in conference calls and not just press releases in order to increase transparency and improve the clarity of the information provided by the..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
New York state regulators move against fraud
The New York State Supreme Court has ruled in favour of changes to a no-fault motor insurance regulation to settle claims quicker and cut down on insurance fraud, which has become the second-largest economic crime in the US, according to a study..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
US clamps down on discriminatory policies
The US Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pension Committee is looking to pass a bill that would prohibit discrimination based on genetic information. The committee met on 13 February to discuss the prospects of the bill, which could prevent..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Market awaits results of Enron legal cases
Insurance policies covering shareholder lawsuit liabilities have increased dramatically following the Enron scandal, highlighting the need for insurers to be more careful about the companies they issue cover to and about the risks involved.
Two..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Restricted cover at greatly increased costs outrages businesses
The relationship between UK insurers and their corporate clients has deteriorated significantly over the last six months. Companies not only resent the steep premium rate increases and the strict limits on coverage imposed on them but are also very..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Atrium’s Lloyd’s syndicates double capacity
With serious rate increases now characterising the London marine market, a number of syndicates at Lloyd’s have upped their 2002 capacity to a significant extent.
One such is quoted insurer Atrium, which has doubled the capacity of its two..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Pinning down cyberrisk
According to a report last September by PricewaterhouseCoopers, viruses alone are costing industry US$1.4trn worldwide. But insurance underwriters have another reason to fear the consequences of this type of risk – the havoc their..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Iranian privatisation
Middle East
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
CGNU grows in Hong Kong
Asia-Pacific
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Mexican car insurance
Latin America
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
5–18 February 2002
Late reports
01.02, collapsed factory, fatalities
Thailand: at least eight Thai workers were killed and more than 57 others injured when part of a Delta Electronics factory collapsed. The accident, which took place in the Bang Pu industrial estate..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Company profile: Syrian Insurance
State-owned Syrian Insurance (SIC) recorded a pretax profit of S£3.3bn (US$61.2mn) in 2000, up 114% from S£1.5bn in 1999. SIC writes all lines of general insurance plus individual and group life and pensions.
SIC saw a modest 2% rise in..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Company profile: Qatar Insurance
Established in 1964, Qatar Insurance Company (QIC) is the largest insurer in Qatar, writing over 50% of the country’s direct local business.
QIC writes all major lines of business including property, casualty, marine, engineering, motor,..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Zero growth as market comes to terms with competitive environment
The liberalisation of the Tanzanian insurance sector in 1997 introduced the market to the practice of rate cutting as well as to a number of other challenges associated with the sudden introduction of competition in a market as small as..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Japanese insurers attack Moody’s for unfair ratings
Japanese insurers have accused Moody’s Investors Services of rating local companies unfairly, sometimes up to eight notches lower than Japanese rating agencies.
Moody’s recently placed the financial strength ratings of seven Japanese..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Taiwanese government puts NT$200bn earthquake scheme in place
Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance has allocated earthquake insurance capacity worth NT$2bn (US$57mn) to 23 local and foreign nonlife insurance companies under a state-supported four-layer scheme that comes into effect on 1 April.
These companies..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
French mutuals look to further consolidation
The 36 members of France’s association of mutual insurers, Gema (Groupement des Entreprises Mutuelles d’Assurances), have produced a reasonable set of aggregate results. Their nonlife business rose by 5.1% to €7.1bn (US$6.2bn) of..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
SEB Trygg stays resilient in market downturn
Single-premium endowment policies have borne the brunt of the downturn in sales by SEB Trygg Liv, the life insurance offshoot of Swedish bank SEB.
Premium income was down by 16.2% to SKr15.53 bn (US$1.48 bn) in 2001 from SKr18.53bn the previous..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
MetLife sets aside funds for asbestos
The ongoing problem of asbestos liability claims has recently taken another turn, with US insurer MetLife setting aside US$600mn to cover 100,000 claims.
Insurers incurred losses of $42.9bn from 1991 to 1999 for asbestos and other environment..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Aetna remains upbeat despite $188mn loss
US health insurer Aetna suffered a loss of US$187.6mn in the fourth quarter of last year as a result of its refusal to renew unprofitable business and charges related to the restructuring of its business.
The result included a $11.4mn gain in the..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Citic Industrial set to distribute insurance products in China
Citic Industrial bank has signed an agreement with Ping An Insurance to sell the products of China’s second-largest insurer through its branches.
This cooperative agreement is a common device used by commercial banks in China to get around the..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Romania expects insurance regulatory revolution in 2003
New Romanian regulations covering the insolvency of insurance companies will only be enforced in 2003, as the new method to calculate the solvency margin is based on an account plan endorsed this year, a source within the Insurance Overseeing..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002
Guyana strengthens defences against floods
Countries in and around the Caribbean are now beginning to take the management of natural catastrophe risk more seriously, much to the relief of the region’s insurers, which are hard pressed to make money from their primary underwriting..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2002
Appeared in issue:
682 - 01 March 2002