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EC approves exchange
Europe
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
14–27 May 2002
Late Reports
10.5, derailment, fatalities
UK: seven people were killed and three critically injured after a train derailed at Potters Bar just outside London. Nine people were seriously injured and between 20 and 30 people were trapped. The..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
World insurance stock prices
Company/group
Currency
31/12/01
16/5/02
30/5/02
Change from
16/5/02 %
Capitalisation US$ mn
© World Insurance Report
Ace
US$
40.15
33.39
34.13
2.2
8,949
AIG
US$
79.40
68.71
67.10
(2.3)..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Company profile: Faraday Re
London market reinsurer Faraday Re saw its pre-tax profit fall by 79% to £1.8mn (US$2.6mn) in 2001. The downturn was mainly due to unrealised investment losses of £1.4mn compared with investment gains of £8.0mn in 2000.
Faraday, which..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Company profile: Thai Re
Thai Re saw its pre-tax profits fall by 13% in 2001 to B403mn. This deterioration was mainly due to a decline in investment income as the company’s underwriting operations continued to show a profit, although this was slightly down on the..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
RenaissanceRe
Bermuda-based reinsurer RenaissanceRe Holdings was one of the very few reinsurers exposed to the events of 11 September to report an underwriting profit in 2001.
The company saw its pre-tax profits rise by 37% to US$180mn for the year. RenaissanceRe..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Market looks to 2002 underwriting year for profit after WTC losses
No real surprises from Lloyd’s on the publication of its global results for 2001. The closed 1999 underwriting year, marking the bottom of the insurance cycle, turned in a loss of £1.9bn but continuing poor trading conditions followed by..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Colombia
Colombia’s Insurance Superintendency reported that nonlife insurers produced a profit of US$40mn in 2001. This compares with a loss of $65mn in 2000. Similarly, life insurers generated profits of $13mn compared with a loss of $12mn in..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Tokio Marine to lead Asian nonlife alliance
The three biggest nonlife insurers in China, Japan and South Korea (People’s Insurance Company of China, Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Company) are in the process of establishing an alliance.
This..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Marsh buys Latvian broker Visu
Marsh is to acquire Visu Polise, Latvia’s biggest insurance broker. The company will be renamed Marsh Latvia according to Jerry Manner, head of Marsh’s European operations. The size of the deal is confidential. This represents the first..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Battle for Bulgarian state insurer commences
The names of the bidders for Bulgaria’s State Insurance Institute (SII or DZI) are being bandied about the market. Three offers are said to have been submitted so far by Allianz, Ceska Pojistovna and a consortium of Rosseximbank and the Greek..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Strong 1st qtr growth for Hungarian market
After a lucklustre performance in 2001, the Hungarian insurance market has demonstrated a remarkable recovery during the first quarter of this year, with most market segments improving on last year’s rates.
Following a negative development in..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Axa signals plans for ACS businesses
AXA’s plans for the unbundling of its large risks and reinsurance division, Axa Corporate Solutions (ACS) have become a little clearer.
Firstly, ACS’s large industrial risk business, Axa Grands Risques, will be put under pressure to..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Lloyd’s of London, shareholder value and the optimisation of capital
The timing could not have been better. On the day WIR
interviews Charles Philipps, chief executive of the Lloyd’s based insurance group, Amlin, Standard & Poor’s restores the status of the market’s single-’A’..
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07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Insurers phlegmatic about Pan Am 103 settlement
Aviation underwriters continue to seek compensation from the Libyan government for the $500mn they paid to the families of the 270 victims of the 1988 mid-air explosion of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
The underwriters are not party to..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
State insurer up for sale
Asia Pacific
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
US insurers face storm bill
North America
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Recovery of nonlife sector in 2000 contributes to market growth
Gross premiums for the Botswana insurance market grew by 29% to P491mn (US$71mn) in 2000, according to the Registrar of Insurance, the industry’s governing body which operates as a department of the Ministry of Finance.
The main driver of..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Mexican pension funds to invest abroad
Mexican pension funds will be able to invest in overseas assets through a wide range of investment instruments after a bill, now under consideration by Congress, is approved. The bill has already been approved by the House of Representatives, and..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Tough first quarter for Chilean insurers
During the first quarter of 2002, Chile’s life and general insurance markets increased their combined premium income by 9.4% to the equivalent of US$654mn, but claims paid increased at an even faster rate (up by 13.9% to $395mn). Operational..
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07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Japan increases scope for bancassurance
Japan’s Financial System Council (FSC) recently gave its agreement to widening the range of insurance products to be offered for sale by banks.
Until now these were confined to policies associated with housing loans and overseas..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Tower exits China as hope of licence continues to recede
Tower Corporation, the New Zealand based insurance and financial group, has given up its two and a half year effort to win an insurance operating licence in China. Tower spent nearly NZ$7mn (US$3.08mn) establishing a presence in China and persuading..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
French mutual Maif ‘satisfied’ with 2001 result despite fall in profits
The management of the French teachers’ mutual Maif has declared itself as satisfied, given market conditions, with the company’s 2001 results.
Maif’s turnover (which includes that of the nonlife mutual Filia-Maif which insures..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
French reinsurers suffer net operating loss
Members of France’s Association des Reassureurs Francais (ARF) saw aggregate premiums rise by 38% last year to more than €11bn (US$10.1bn). But their net result was still a combined loss of €575.9mn which compares with a net profit..
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07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Continent profits
The Continent Assurances group has reported increased sales and a profit for 2001. Turnover was up by 4.5% to €750.7mn (US$690mn) last year. Of this figure, nonlife insurance generated €472.1mn ($434.3 million), a rise of 8.9%, while..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Azur-GMF agreement
Azur-GMF has signed an agreement with the Credit Cooperatif banking group to distribute Azur-GMF insurance and savings products to its customers. Personal insurance products will include life and ‘accident de la vie’ (expanded personal..
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07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Caribbean study calls for standardisation of motor insurance terms and conditions
The cost and terms of motor vehicle insurance, one of the two main sources of premium income for Caribbean nonlife companies, varies so widely that it is virtually impossible to make a meaningful comparison among companies, according to the Trinidad..
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07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
EBRD invests US$1mn in Estonian private pension fund management company
In a move to develop the Estonian pensions market, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is paying EKr16.5mn (US$1mn) for a 35% share in Lõhmus, Haavel & Viisemann Asset Management (LHV AM), a private pension fund..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Models of governance
Since the collapse of Enron, there has been an increased focus on corporate governance and the effective regulation of corporate activities by governments.
Sir Howard Davies
, chairman of the UK’s Financial Services Authority, believes that..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Ostankino tower insured
Almost two years after the Russian based Ostankino Tower was engulfed in flames, the television tower has been insured for US$114mn.
The state-owned Russian Television and Radio Network, which controls television and radio transmission, took out the..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002