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Allianz unit in Egypt
Middle East
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
Aegon to shut Manila office
Asia-Pacific
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12 April 2002
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Victoria to outgrow market
Europe
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
Anderson insurer insolvent
North America
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12 April 2002
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CGNU
CGNU is the leading general insurer in the UK and Ireland.
The group also has a significant presence in the Netherlands, Canada, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia.
The group’s strategy is to concentrate on leadership in personal lines..
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
South Africa
Primary insurers increase gross income at expense of the bottom line
The gross premium income of the South African nonlife primary insurance market grew by 8.6% in 2000, according to the latest annual report issued by the Registrar of Short-term..
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12 April 2002
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Health sector takes off
The private health insurance sector seems finally set to take off in India. Four private nonlife insurance companies have tied up third-party administrators (TPAs) to help service policyholders. They are Iffco Tokio General Insurance, ICICI Lombard..
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12 April 2002
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Tenet Insurance seeks organic growth
Singapore-based Tenet Insurance, part of giant Hwa Hong Corporation, has announced plans to double its gross premium income to S$45mn within two years.
The company was known as Hartford Insurance until last year, when it produced a gross premium..
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12 April 2002
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Thai bancassurance set for rapid expansion
The recent deregulation of the financial services sector in Thailand has given rise to huge opportunities in the area of bancassurance.
The Bank of Thailand, the country’s central bank, has recently allowed commercial banks to broker and..
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
News roundup
• Colombia
: Liberty Seguros had 15.1% of the local motor market, with Col$132.8bn (US$57.7mn) in premium income. The company reported pretax profits of Col$20.2bn on an overall premium income of Col$320.2bn. Claims costs spiralled by 93% from..
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
Chilean Isapres show slow earnings growth
Chile’s private medical insurers, known as Isapres, saw their earnings grow by only 0.3% to US$18.92mn in 2001.
Premium income increased by just 2.6% to US$1,064mn. Although administrative costs were cut by 7.8%, claim payments rose by 7.2%..
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
RI3K
Trading ambivalence for conviction in the London market
RI3K, the London-based reinsurance online settlement and trading service provider, has only been in business for just over two years. But during that period it has rethought its strategy and..
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
Generali moves east
Generali Group is buying the central European operations of Zurich Financial Services in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.
No price was given for the deal. Zurich’s insurance operations in these four countries generated gross..
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
Mapfre to extend holdings in Latin America
Spanish insurer Sistema Mapfre plans to make more acquisitions in Latin America and will invest between €150mn (US$131mn) and €185mn in the privatisation of Mexican insurer Hidalgo.
The acquisition would be made in collaboration with..
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12 April 2002
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French bank takes majority stake in Coface
Natexis Banques Populaires, the investment bank of France’s Group Banques Populaires, has made a bid to buy the 35.26% stake in credit insurer Coface until now held by French reinsurer Scor.
Since Natexis already has a holding of 19.14% in..
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12 April 2002
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New insurer offers terrorist cover to business
Six of Europe’s biggest insurance groups – Allianz, Hannover Re, Scor, Swiss Re, XL Capital and Zurich Financial Services – have set up a specialist terrorist insurer.
The new company, Special Risk Insurance & Reinsurance..
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12 April 2002
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Aviation insurers call for an end to backstop
Graham Nichols, who retired this month as chairman of the Aviation Insurance Offices’ Association (AIOA), has said governments should stop or reduce their support in supplying backstop terrorist cover to airlines.
The aviation world is awash..
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
Loss development and insurance accounting
Insurance holding company Berkshire Hathaway includes General Re, one of the biggest reinsurers in the US, among its subsidiaries. Like other major reinsurers, the company had significant exposures to the events of 11 September. In the following..
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
Assurex adds new partners
Latin America
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12 April 2002
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Road and rail
24.03, train deaths
Egypt: 11 Railway Authority workers have been charged with gross negligence for a train fire that killed 361 people in Egypt’s worst train disaster. The workers allegedly failed to ensure the train was equipped with..
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12 April 2002
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19 March – 1 April 2002
Late reports
14.03, helicopter crash
Germany: five passengers of a rescue helicopter were killed when their Bell UH-1D crashed in a suburb north of Hamburg. The helicopter was on its way to the scene of a car accident when the crash took place...
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
World insurance stock prices
Company/group
Currency
31/12/01
21/3/02
4/4/02
Change from
21/3/02 %
Capitalisation US$ mn
Ace
US$
40.15
41.91
43.00
2.6
11,222
AIG
US$
79.40
72.40
73.15
1.0
191,103
Allianz
€
266.00
277.70..
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
Company profile: Ghana Re
Composite (life and nonlife) reinsurer Ghana Re posted pretax profits of C28.2bn (US$3.9mn) in 2000, compared with a C14.6bn surplus for 1999.
The profit increase stemmed from exchange gains of C18.1bn, due to the depreciation of the Ghanaian cedi,..
Online Published Date:
12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
India backtracks on motor rate rise decision
India’s Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (IRDA) has issued another ruling bound to disappoint foreign companies looking to enter the motor insurance market. Foreign insurers are currently deterred by the extremely low motor..
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
Brazilian funds increase by 4.8% in January
In a survey published by Thompson Financial Investment Tracker (TFIT) on pension funds in Latin America, Brazil once more tops the list for the country with the fastest-growing funds.
According to the TFIT’s January 2002 figures, the value of..
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
Bolivia experiences drop in unpaid pension contributions, but delinquency issue remains
The latest figures from Bolivia’s Superintendency for Pensions, Securities & Insurance (SPVS) indicate a relatively low rate of non-payment by employers into these pension schemes. This is possibly thanks to a system of close monitoring..
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12 April 2002
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Argentinian insurers gain permission to approach banks for loans to pay claims
Argentinian insurers have until 7 June to file their first-quarter results after a special ruling by the country’s Insurance Superintendency. Although news of the ruling has only recently surfaced, the decision had already been made by the..
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12 April 2002
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$8.8bn underwriting loss puts a strain on sector’s capital resources
The figures in the Reinsurance Association of America’s (RAA) 2001 fourth-quarter underwriting report not surprisingly confirm last year as the most traumatic ever for US reinsurers’ bottom lines.
But although the sector’s..
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
Fire tariffs change
All holders of fire and engineering insurance policies in India will now have to pay an additional premium towards terrorism cover.
This follows a clarification from the Tariff Advisory Committee (TAC) that any insurance policy issued earlier than 1..
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
Belarus directive threatens survival of private insurers
Viktar Khamyarchuk, president of the Belarusian Insurance Union, has warned that a recent directive by the country’s president, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, may lead to the ‘total nationalisation’ of insurance business in..
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
Caribbean sets about creating disaster fund
While the World Bank is proceeding slowly with its proposed catastrophe insurance fund for Barbados and the seven members of the subregional Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the Trinidad-based Association of Caribbean States (ACS) is..
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002
Chilean insurers set to move into consumer credit market
In a surprise move, Chile’s Superintendency for Securities & Insurance has announced that both life and nonlife insurance companies will be able to operate in the consumer credit market in competition with banks and other entities already..
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12 April 2002
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685 - 12 April 2002