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Investors agree to Gulf Re
Middle East
Online Published Date:
31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Policy surrender rate up
Europe
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Hiscox writes K&R in US
North America
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Space insurers face up to 2007 losses, Aon
International
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Aviation
4.3, helicopter crash, fatalities
Nepal: a United Nations helicopter crashed while flying in bad weather in Nepal’s mountainous east, killing 12 people including at least seven UN staff. The helicopter went down about 125 miles east of..
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Natural catastrophes
4.3, bad weather
Mexico: the government closed the country’s three main crude oil exporting ports for up to three days due to bad weather in the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf ports of Dos Bocas, Cayo Arcas and Coatzacoalcos, which together ship..
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Marine
6.3, capsizing, fatalities
Vietnam: Vietnamese rescue workers struggled to locate 13 missing sailors and stave off a potential major oil slick after Tanker Duc Tri
overturned in the South China Sea. Rescue workers believed that the 13 crew were..
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Liability, awards and settlements
5.3, damages
UK: the owner of the very large crude oil tanker Front Ace
(144652 gt, built 1993) won a Court of Appeal battle to increase the amount of damages it is to receive from the owner of crude oil tanker Vicky I
(50764 gt, built 1981)..
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Property and business interruption
6.3, Coastguard stoppage
UK: the UK was dependent on contingency plans for coastguard cover as workers at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency launched a 24-hour stoppage in pursuit of a pay claim. The Prospect and Public and Commercial Services..
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Berkshire Hathaway
Thanks to the Equitas deal Berkshire’s net earned premiums from its insurance and reinsurance activities jumped by 33% to $31.8bn in 2007. This enabled Berkshire’s total revenue from (re)insurance to rise by 29% to $36.6bn in 2007
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Market reliant on compulsory motor and loan covers for growth
While individuals in Benin tend to go directly to insurance companies, corporate entities tend to buy their insurance through brokers, because they understand better the service brokers provide. The result is that a single major broker can generate anywhere up to half of the turnover of an individual company, depending on the profile (corporate or otherwise) of an insurer’s portfolio of business
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Recovery driven by unstinting commitment of federal authorities
Recovery’ is necessarily a contentious term given the current volatility in the financial markets, but insurance and reinsurance stocks put in their strongest performance over the two week period ending 20 March. The gains (or, in many cases,..
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Premiums continue downward trend in competitive market
Motor insurance, the market’s largest and most competitive class of business, kept premiums low
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Fears rise over private medical insurance slump in Chile
A substantial rise in claims is expected to cast a cloud over the sector’s 2007 results
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Insurers’ fortunes change in line with economic recovery
The Argentine economy is enjoying one of its best periods in history, with annual growth rates of around 9% since 2003
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Allianz premium growth outperforms German market
Premiums rose by 1.6% against a market rise of 0.2% • Generali profits up 21% • Lloyd’s positions for Polish licence
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Insurers’ models fail to keep pace with rising flood losses
The industry’s flood models rely heavily on data from the 1960s and 1970s when floods in Europe were less common
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
US reinsurers record further rise in underwriting profits
Despite improved underwriting results, US reinsurers’ pre-tax income of $9.7bn for 2007 was some $2bn lower than 2006
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Tort cost poll ranks Florida at bottom of US states
However Florida, along with Colorado, Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Indiana and Michigan, are expected to improve ranking
Online Published Date:
31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Wasa V Lexington: reinsurers take note!
On 29 February 2008, the English Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in the case of Wasa International Insurance Co Ltd and AGF Insurance Co Ltd v Lexington Insurance Co (Court of Appeal, 29 February 2008)
, reversing the decision of the judge at first instance and over turning the expected approach of the English courts to ‘follow the settlements’ cases involving US insurers and reinsurance contracts governed by English law. Here, Katy-Marie Wilson
, a partner in the Reinsurance and International Risk team at London law firm, Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, considers the implications of this unexpected, but significant, judgement for the insurance industry
Online Published Date:
31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Regulating the bond insurers
The current problems for the municipal bond market arose when the bond or financial guaranty insurers’ credit rating was threatened by deterioration in the subprime mortgage market. The bond insurers had also insured billions of dollars of..
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31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Beyond bancassurance
Insurance companies in India are now looking more seriously at alternative distribution channels such as insurance brokers, agents and retail chains
Online Published Date:
31 March 2008
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834 - 31 March 2008
Takeover delay saves Scor
Converium’s book since the acquisition benefited from favourable commutations and better than expected results from its Lloyd’s operation
Online Published Date:
31 March 2008
Appeared in issue:
834 - 31 March 2008