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Arig restructures capital
Middle East
Online Published Date:
19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Prudential in Mexico
Latin America
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Tawa acquires CNA Re business in the UK
Europe
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
GE to delay spining off Employers Re
North America
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
25 June–8 July 2002
Late reports
22.6, floods, wind damage
New Zealand: the north of the island was hit by gale-force winds and heavy rain, sparking thousands of insurance claims running into millions of dollars, according to New Zealand Insurance Council chief..
Online Published Date:
19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
World insurance stock prices
Company/group
Currency
31/12/01
27/6/02
11/7/02
Change from
27/6/02 %
Capitalisation US$ mn
Ace
US$
40.15
30.00
29.28
(2.4)
7,677
AIG
US$
79.40
66.90
63.51
(5.1)
165,945
Allianz
€
266.00..
Online Published Date:
19 July 2002
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Company profile: Folksamerica Re
US broker-market reinsurer Folksamerica Re provides reinsurance cover for property/ casualty and accident/health risks in the US, Canada, Continental Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Liability risks accounted for about 65% of the..
Online Published Date:
19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Max Re Capital
Bermudan alternative reinsurer Max Re saw its gross premium income rise by 73% to US$711mn in 2001, its second year of operation. The company started underwriting on 1 January 2000, providing alternative cover in both the life and nonlife markets,..
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Market looks to bancassurance legislation for premium growth
The total premium income of the Philippines insurance market grew by 9.5% to P37.6bn (US$752mn) in 2000, according to data recently released by the Philippines Insurance Commission, the country’s insurance regulator.
Per capita expenditure on..
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Reinsurance in Asia
• Both Munich Re and Swiss Re have now been granted licenses to operate in China. The two will compete with the state owned China Re which is currently the only reinsurer in the market.
Although Munich Re was granted a license back in April,..
Online Published Date:
19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Munich Re’s rating put on CreditWatch
Analysts are increasingly concerned about the demands on Munich Re’s capital resources. The German reinsurer has announced a US$2bn recapitalisation of its US subsidiary, American Re. Munich Re is also making a further provision of $500mn for..
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Den norske drops bid for insurer Storebrand
Den norske Bank has dropped its plans to buy insurer Storebrand. The ostensible reason is that the bank had concerns about the loan portfolio of Storebrand’s banking subsidiary, Finansbanken.
But some analysts think that this was a convenient..
Online Published Date:
19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Hungary sees increase in insurance sales
A consumer market survey suggests that one in three adults had some kind of personal insurance cover, with mixed life policies (a combination of savings and term life insurance) the most popular.
One in ten people had a pension policy, while one in..
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Underwriting philosophies and the quest for profitability
Last week, the Bermuda based Trenwick Group bestowed a single corporate identity on its Lloyd’s and London companies’ market operations. But the reorganisation and the strategic repositioning of the two businesses that the re-branding..
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Regional reinsurer to be based in Argentina
Ariel Fernandez Dirube is a high profile figure in the Argentine insurance and reinsurance market. His last position was as director of General Cologne Re (Sur) Cia. de Reaseguros SA, the Buenos Aires reinsurance subsidiary of the Berkshire Hathaway..
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Trenwick challenges Swiss Re over $55mn share option contract
Trenwick Group Ltd, the Bermuda-based insurance and reinsurance group, has initiated arbitration proceedings against European Reinsurance Company of Zurich, a Swiss Re subsidiary, over the latter’s alleged failure to honour an option contract...
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Company profile: Copenhagen Re
Copenhagen Re had a hard year in 2001, primarily due to the impact of the 11 September World Trade Center (WTC) attack and other large losses on its London facultative property portfolio.
Pre-tax losses stood at DKr1.5bn (US$187mn) in 2001 compared..
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Authorities focus on motor insurance sector
The motor insurance sector in Asia is undergoing rapid market and regulatory change. However, in most cases, measures have focused on restoring the sector to profitability.
For instance, illegal registration of vehicles is a major problem in..
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Risk based capital for Singapore insurers
The Singapore government will introduce a system of risk based capital requirements for insurance companies by the end of 2003. It will also establish a new regulatory framework for health insurance in 2003, according to Lee Hsien Loong, the..
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
French Post Office to offer old age cover
The French post office is planning to introduce an expanded personal accident policy which will also offer financial benefits to the aged.
Patrick Werner, La Poste’s general manager in charge of financial products, noted that 75% of accidents..
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
UK friendly societies enjoy growth in funds
UK based friendly societies, which operate under different statutes from proprietary insurance companies and which write primarily life assurance business, reported a good year in 2001, despite the fluctuations in the capital markets.
Many societies..
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Competition commissioner excludes social clause from EU mergers rules
Competition Commissioner Mario Monti has rejected suggestions that EU merger rules should include a ‘social clause’ requiring Brussels to take into account risks of heavy job losses, such as those produced by consolidation in the..
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
South Korea prepares ground for industrial groups to own insurers
South Korean authorities are drastically restructuring the country’s insurance regulatory framework to permit the country’s top five industrial groups to enter the insurance sector by March next year.
The government plans to introduce a..
Online Published Date:
19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
US regulatory update: the Life Insurance Suitability Model Act
The proposed controversial Life Insurance and Annuities Suitability Model Act and Model Regulation continued on a rocky course at the June National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) meeting in Philadelphia recently.
At a previous NAIC..
Online Published Date:
19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
CDB acts as insurer of last resort in Caribbean region
While the World Bank and the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) slowly work through their catastrophe insurance fund proposals for the region, the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is finding itself having to continue to perform an..
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Indian insurers to be penalised for late payment of claims
India’s insurance regulator has ruled that insurers will have to pay their customers a penal interest in case of delay in the settlement of claims. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority has fixed the rate of interest at 2% above..
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
EU liability law on schedule
A European Parliament dispute that threatened to delay the progress of EU legislation on environmental liability has been settled by an unprecedented vote.
For the first time in the 23-year history of direct elections to Strasbourg, the full..
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Under pressure to reform
‘There are currently enormous pressures on international finance centres or ‘tax havens’ within the European Union to reform their tax regimes so that there is no discrimination between resident and non-resident finance and..
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19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002
Irish insurers under scrutiny
Irish motor insurers are facing another investigation, this time into the cost of commercial motor insurance. Following its report into the private motor insurance market earlier this year, the state-sponsored Motor Insurance Advisory Board (MIAB)..
Online Published Date:
19 July 2002
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692 - 19 July 2002