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Asia Pacific
Aviva moves jobs to India
Aviva has joined the growing trend amongst financial services companies and will create 3,700 jobs in India by the end of next year to support both its UK and Canadian businesses. About 1,200 staff are expected to be up..
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Latin America
RSA sells Chilean life stake
La Camara Chilena de la Construccion has bought the remaining 51% stake in Compania de Seguros de Vida La Construccion from its current owner, Royal & SunAlliance (RSA). La Camara will pay about £44mn for the..
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Europe
UK profits to lead into 2004
The outlook for the UK non-life market remains stable, but rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) said several negative business trends have emerged. The current level of profitability will continue..
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12 December 2003
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Scor UK
Scor UK’s treaty premiums grew by 88% as a result of the hard market in the property and motor markets
In contrast with its French parent, Scor UK had a good year in 2002, posting a pre-tax profit of £21mn (US$34mn), up from £14mn..
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CNA Financial Corp
CNA’s 2003 result will be heavily impacted by a $1.5bn charge to cover claims deterioration on prior years’ business
US property/casualty insurer CNA Financial is to receive a significant capital boost from its majority shareholder..
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Axa Re Group
Axa Re remains exposed to reinsurance recoverables, leaving it vulnerable to liquidity risks, according to AM Best
Axa’s reinsurance operations have undergone a major restructuring in 2003 in an effort to return the group’s..
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Rating agencies divided over Scor’s outlook
Scor’s bad run of luck was interrupted by a successful rights issue for €150mn over the initial proposal
Scor’s fortunes finally took a turn for the better when its rights issue proved to be more popular than expected and rating..
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London brokers see marked fall off in brokerage and profitability
Sector was only able to increase its combined revenue by 11% in 2002. This compares with an increase of 32.4% in 2001
The top 50 London market brokers saw their combined pretax profits go up by around 22% to £579mn in 2002. By way of..
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Profit boost for non-life companies
Seven of Japan’s nine largest general insurers have increased their net profits as a result of the surge in stock prices
Japanese non-life insurers have seen dramatic rises (50% to 150%) in their net profits compared to the sector’s..
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Private companies in aviation cover bid
But cover is for aircraft hull only • Outsourcing companies provide new market
In a departure from traditional Indian insurance market practice, private domestic general insurance companies are tendering to provide risk cover to the maiden..
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12 December 2003
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Report blames Skandia management
Lack of transparency in accounting methods contributed to mismanagement
A few of Skandia’s top managers behaved extremely unethically, and possibly even criminally. This was the conclusion of the report prepared by the independent..
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ZFS profits boosted by asset sales
Fresh provisions made by Zurich Financial Services (ZFS) in the third quarter caused analysts some concern, but they did not mask the overall improvement in the company’s financial position.
Operating profit for the third quarter was $701mn,..
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12 December 2003
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Vida Plena is put into sequestration
The company’s 77,000 members have been distributed among the nine other private medical companies
On 5 December, after months of uncertainty, Chile’s Superintendent of Isapres (private medical insurance providers) finally liquidated..
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Independence of auditors key to reform
The second phase of Australian insurance industry reform is now under debate
The waves created by the collapse of HIH, the Australian general insurer, in 2001 are propelling the country’s regulatory authorities to further increase powers.
The..
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Scor on €751mn road to recovery
Increased investment prompted S&P to upgrade Scor’s rating by two notches
Scor has started its comeback. It has persuaded its shareholders and three major banks to inject €750.99mn ($911.70mn) in place of an initally envisaged..
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Munich Re/Executive Life
Munich Re predicts loss • Executive Life negotiations continue
Munich Re has warned that it will show a post-tax loss in 2003, the first since 1906, when its accounts were hit by the San Francisco earthquake. This year it is the depreciation..
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TRIA seen as success. But what happens after it expires in 2005?
US insurers and risk managers have been marking the first anniversary of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act
Although most regard the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) legislation as having been a success there are already concerns that commercial..
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12 December 2003
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Binding authorities: Russian Roulette
Delegated authorities – and binding authorities in particular – are generating the biggest problems for the insurance and reinsurance sector today, costing the industry billions of dollars. Indeed, delegated authority accounts for around..
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Brokers’ 11% rise in income
But the sector’s year-on-year performance was well down on 2001
The top 50 London market brokers increased their brokerage income by an estimated 11% to about £4.7bn (US$7.5bn) in 2002, based on WIR
’s latest analysis of company..
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North America
Marriott settles WTC claim
The Marriott chain of hotels has accepted a US$370mn settlement of property damage and business interruption claims from its two, unnamed, insurers in connection with two of its properties affected by the 11 September..
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18 NOVEMBER–1 DECEMBER 2003
Late reports
14.11, fire, fatalities
Turkey: a fire that tore through a café in Izmir killed nine people. An electronic fault was blamed for the blaze which trapped its victims in the kitchen of the café.
14.11, explosion,..
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Steady decline in the cost of fire losses
Progress with fire safety has been most marked in those countries which in the 1980s had been suffering high losses
Over the 22 years that the London based World Fire Statistics Centre (WFSC) has presented its annual report on the human and..
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12 December 2003
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Genetic damage compensation scheme rejected by EU Parliament
Questions of liability for damage caused by genetic engineering have been raised yet again in the EU
The European Parliament has rejected a call for a special insurance scheme to compensate producers of organic food who suffer losses due to..
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12 December 2003
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Post Office in life business
Japan Post will issue a fixed-term, whole-life insurance product in January
Despite the strong objections of the European Union and the United States, the Japanese government is sticking by its decision to allow the country’s state run postal..
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