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Asia
Sony in talks with Aegon
According to a report in the online edition of Japan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper, Sony Corporation is looking to dispose of a 50% stake in its life insurance subsidiary to the Dutch insurance group Aegon NV for..
Online Published Date:
13 September 2002
Appeared in issue:
696 - 13 September 2002
Europe
European Re settles with Trenwick
Trenwick Group Ltd and European Reinsurance of Zurich have settled their dispute over an option contract that required the Swiss Re subsidiary to purchase $55mn of Trenwick convertible preference shares (WIR
..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
North America
Hartford raises $600mn
Hartford Financial Services raised $600mn through a combined equity and convertible bond offering. The group will use half of the proceeds to support its property and casualty businesses. Hartford said that balance of the..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Company profile: International Insurance Company of Hannover
London Market insurer International Insurance Company of Hannover (Inter Hannover) saw an upsurge in its premium volume in 2001 following the successful launch of its new programme business account. Wholly owned by Hannover Re, Inter..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Company profile: Commercial Risk Re
Bermuda-based ART provider Commercial Risk Re reported consolidated net income of US$24mn for 2001, down by 6% on the previous year. Commercial Risk, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of French reinsurer Scor, said its result benefited from $15.5mn..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Royal & SunAlliance
The UK’s second largest general insurer Royal & SunAlliance (RSA) had a difficult year in 2001. The company’s result was hit by substantial losses arising from the 11 September terrorist attacks in the US and the need to increase..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
New wave of consolidation as foreign groups descend on region
Asia is set to see a new wave of insurance consolidations some of which are already taking place. International insurance companies are rapidly entering Asian markets largely through mergers and acquisitions as several Asian countries are in the..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
China
German and Swedish insurers are making renewed efforts to enter the Chinese market. The growing interest of German insurers was confirmed recently by Bernd Michaels, president of the German insurers’ association. The association recently..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Tradition, innovation and the maintenance of service standards
For Ron Carlier, managing director of RK Carvill & Co, maintaining a low profile is very much part of the company’s commitment to deliver the best possible service to its clients. But this policy has not prevented the privately owned,..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Swiss Re and Munich Re results cast shadow over industry’s prospects
Munich Re’s and Swiss Re’s half year results suggest that the European insurance industry is still not out of the woods. Hopes that higher rates since the beginning of 2002 would produce encouraging results have been disappointed. Munich..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Hannover Re denies involvement in corporate bond guarantee market
Hannover Re has issued a statement denying that the German reinsurance group was involved in the issuing of insurance cover to the corporate bond offerings organised by investment banks. The statement was prompted by an article in the German edition..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Slovenia nonlife insurance market
According to the Slovenian Insurance Association, 2001 was a very successful year for its 16 members companies.
Companies in the market collected SIT230bn (€550mn) in premium income, with those in the life sector generating SIT49.2bn, a rise..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Axa splits up reinsurance and big risk division
The Axa group is underlining its commitment to reinsurance by splitting up its combined large risks and reinsurance division, Axa Corporate Solutions. The group’s reinsurance operations will be conducted under the revived Axa Re brand. Axa was..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
ZFS combines capital injection with jobs cuts to improve prospects
Zurich Financial Services faced up to its problems by announcing that it would increase its capital base by at least US$2bn, cut 4,500 job and refocus on its traditional business of insurance. These measures were revealed along with the..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Lack of terrorist insurance cover contributes to economic downturn
The US insurance and commercial real estate sectors have stepped up their campaign to reduce the considerable political resistance to the legislation which would permit the federal government to give financial support to the insurance industry in..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Electricity giant Edison files last minute World Trade Centre loss suit
Well over a thousand individuals and businesses filed law suits on 10 September to claim compensation for losses resulting from the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre last year.
The suits, against the Port Authority of New York and New..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Asian insurers resort to car repair analysis
Bangkok Insurance has become the third major insurer in the Far East to enter the motor insurance repair analysis business.
This business, which involves the analysis of claims of by customers on damages caused in vehicle accidents, is growing..
Online Published Date:
13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Vietnamese insurance market sees rapid expansion
Gross premium income written by the ten insurers in Vietnam jumped by 60% during the first half of 2002 to VND3,488bn (US$231mn), according to the Vietnam National Reinsurance Company.
The big rise is mainly due to a resurgence on the market’s..
Online Published Date:
13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Wake up call for London
The last five years have produced largely unsatisfactory results for London Market insurers. Poorly controlled exposures have forced many London market organisations to re-examine the operational basis of risk, reward and value management...
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Hungary frees up motor TPL
The Ministry of Finance in Hungary has decided to fully liberalise the pricing of compulsory third party motor insurance from the beginning of next year, following the gradual easing of control in previous years.
This class of business, which has an..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
20 August–2 September 2002
Late reports
17.8, robbery
France: robbers armed with explosives and a rocket launcher attacked an armoured delivery van in southeastern France, making off with up to $1mn in euros. Five or six attackers, driving several vehicles, stopped the truck..
Online Published Date:
13 September 2002
Appeared in issue:
696 - 13 September 2002
World insurance stock prices
Company/group
Currency
31/12/01
22/8/02
5/9/02
Change from 22/8/02 %
Capitalisation US$ mn
© World Insurance Report
Ace
US$
40.15
34.00
30.77
(9.5)
8,074
AIG
US$
79.40
67.50
58.32
(13.6)..
Online Published Date:
13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Company profile: Egyptian Re
Egyptian Re, Egypt’s sole domestic professional reinsurer, saw a further reduction in its premium volume during the year ending 30 June 2001. Total gross written premiums for the company’s combined nonlife and life operations fell by 4%..
Online Published Date:
13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Company profile: London Life & General Re
Based in Dublin’s International Financial Services Centre, London Life & General Re (LLGRe) provides traditional and finite life and property/casualty reinsurance products to the UK, continental European and Asian markets. The company,..
Online Published Date:
13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Company profile: GE Frankona Re (Denmark)
Danish reinsurer GE Frankona Re saw a further decline in its pre-tax profits in 2001 as a reduction in capital gains offset an improvement in its underwriting result. The decrease in capital gains reflected the company’s withdrawal from the..
Online Published Date:
13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Chinese firms enter into collaborative arrangements with each other as foreign competition in financial services market increases
Faced with rising competition from foreign firms in the Chinese financial services market, local companies are increasingly entering into collaborative arrangements with each other. The latest such association involves the country’s largest..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Indian public sector insurers look to cut war premiums to see off competion in oil market
India’s nonlife insurers are seriously considering a cut in the war risk premium rates which they imposed on oil installations in the aftermath of 11 September as the possibility of an India-Pakistan war recedes.
Such a move was indicated by..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
French market reluctant to extend global liability cover to sporting federations
The French rugby federation was disappointed to receive just one offer of global cover for its players before the current season started on 31 August. The federation had applied for quotes from some 36 mutual companies, but only Garantie Mutuelle..
Online Published Date:
13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
US Reinsurers
Market’s prospects put in perspective by 117.6% combined ratio
The heady sense of optimism inspired by the Reinsurance Association of America’s (RAA) survey of US reinsurers’ statutory results for the first quarter of this year..
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13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
Mild El Niño season spells mixed results for insurers
With only three months of the hurricane season left, the ‘El Niño effect’ has so far treated the Caribbean extraordinarily kindly this year, with no hurricanes having yet made land fall in the region.
But Caribbean insurance..
Online Published Date:
13 September 2002
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696 - 13 September 2002
India looks to scrap foreign insurers’ investment limits
Direct investment restrictions on foreign insurers operating in India might soon be withdrawn. The indication has come from a senior official of the finance ministry in New Delhi. At present, foreign companies are allowed to take no more than a 26%..
Online Published Date:
13 September 2002
Appeared in issue:
696 - 13 September 2002