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Europe
Generali plans Chinese and East European growth
Italian insurer Generali has said that it has asked for a third licence in China and for authorisation to sell non-life policies. The company is currently authorised to sell life policies in Shanghai..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
Generali Group
The group’s management is confident that its current strategy should allow it to increase its market share in the eurozone
Generali’s result for the first half of 2004 continued the positive trend of the previous year and exceeded the..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
Brokers dominate market but are not legally recognised
A new insurance law, intended to bring brokers into scope of current legislation, has been on hold for the last 3 years
As at January 2004 there were 18 insurance companies operating in Guatemala including the government financial services..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
Reinsurers expect hurricane damage to boost catastrophe retrocession rates
Munich Re, however, says that hurricanes will make it much more difficult to achieve 2004 profit targets
Relatively few of the insurance stocks monitored by WIR
moved higher during the fortnight ending 30 September. Of those that did,..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
The world’s largest professional non-life reinsurers
Below is a corrected version of tables 9 and 10 in WIR’s survey of the World’s Largest Professional Non-life Reinsurers (WIR747/9
). Table 9 ranks the top 35 reinsurance groups by their 2003 pre-tax results and table 10 ranks the groups..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
Oriental Insurance wrests Indian Airlines account from New India
Competition between public and private sector insurers • New study hails potential of health insurance market • ICICI
The upheaval in the non-life insurance sector in India began with the Kolkata-based National Insurance Company..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
Reinsurers unsettled by intensity rather than frequency of storms
Loss estimates for Ivan make it the second most destructive cyclone after Andrew which caused over $20bn of damage
It seems that this year's windstorm season in the Atlantic and the Pacific will keep in check any tendency for reinsurance premiums..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
Brokers overwhelmingly opposed to idea of federal regulation
Emphasis on ‘functional’ state-based insurance regulation • Willis is quietly, but diligently, pursuing the acquisition trail
The row over the future regulation of the US insurance industry is continuing unabated.
In recent days..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
India to increase FDI cap
But opposition from leftist parties means government has difficult task ahead
The Indian prime minister, Mr. Manmohan Singh, has once more emphasised the government’s determination to raise the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
New look Converium will seek profits in Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific
Analysts noted that the capital increase was essential for an improved rating without which the company would be forced out of business
Converium's shareholders have given it the go-ahead to conduct a rights issue. The move was approved by an..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
AM Best seeks assurances over Aspen changes
Agency concerned that changes might impact Aspen’s rating
Ratings concern AM Best is to open talks with Bermuda-based p/c insurer and reinsurer Aspen Insurance Holdings, after Aspen revealed last week that it plans to boost the capital of its..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
European motor insurers resist pressure on rates
Current practice is creating a ‘severe and arbitrary’ division among carriers
Rival companies are accusing insurer Allianz of threatening a price war in the German motor insurance market. One company, HUK Coburg, said that Allianz's..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
Asia
Chinese market to open fully by end of year
China’s insurance market will be fully open to the rest of the world by the end of the year, just three years on from the country’s full accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The..
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08 October 2004
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North America
House of Representatives panel votes to extend TRIA
The US House of Representatives’ financial services committee has approved the extension of the federal terrorism insurance backstop, known as TRIA, for two years until end-2007. The..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
11 – 24 SEPTEMBER 2004
Late reports
2, 9, fire, damage
Germany: the fire that burnt a historic library in Weimar destroyed twice as many books as previously thought, with some 50,000 works suffering irreparable fire damage. The fire at the Duchess Anna Amalia Library..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
Central Re
The company sees room for expansion in the reinsurance markets of South Korea, Japan, China and Southeast Asia
Premium growth for Taiwan’s non-life insurance market slowed down in 2003. Direct written premiums for the sector grew by 8% to..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
Company profits down in rapidly growing market
Death and endowment cover is the most important segment in the life sector, accounting for 54% of life premium income
The robust development of the Slovenian insurance market continued in 2003, recording a rise in premium income of 11.7%, to SlT..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
The pros and cons of offshoring customer facing functions
The question is not whether to offshore or not to offshore, says Ashley Bailey, managing director, Pitney Bowes Management Services, but how well off-shored functions are integrated with those processes best administered at home
Forrester, the..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004
Regulating wholesale financial markets
According to
Callum McCarthy
, chairman of the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA), the Authority works on the principle that regulatory action should be taken when there is market failure. Indeed, Mr McCarthy believes that the strong..
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08 October 2004
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749 - 08 October 2004