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EC approves exchange
Europe
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
14–27 May 2002
Late Reports
10.5, derailment, fatalities
UK: seven people were killed and three critically injured after a train derailed at Potters Bar just outside London. Nine people were seriously injured and between 20 and 30 people were trapped. The..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
World insurance stock prices
Company/group
Currency
31/12/01
16/5/02
30/5/02
Change from
16/5/02 %
Capitalisation US$ mn
© World Insurance Report
Ace
US$
40.15
33.39
34.13
2.2
8,949
AIG
US$
79.40
68.71
67.10
(2.3)..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Company profile: Faraday Re
London market reinsurer Faraday Re saw its pre-tax profit fall by 79% to £1.8mn (US$2.6mn) in 2001. The downturn was mainly due to unrealised investment losses of £1.4mn compared with investment gains of £8.0mn in 2000.
Faraday, which..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Company profile: Thai Re
Thai Re saw its pre-tax profits fall by 13% in 2001 to B403mn. This deterioration was mainly due to a decline in investment income as the company’s underwriting operations continued to show a profit, although this was slightly down on the..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
RenaissanceRe
Bermuda-based reinsurer RenaissanceRe Holdings was one of the very few reinsurers exposed to the events of 11 September to report an underwriting profit in 2001.
The company saw its pre-tax profits rise by 37% to US$180mn for the year. RenaissanceRe..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Market looks to 2002 underwriting year for profit after WTC losses
No real surprises from Lloyd’s on the publication of its global results for 2001. The closed 1999 underwriting year, marking the bottom of the insurance cycle, turned in a loss of £1.9bn but continuing poor trading conditions followed by..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Colombia
Colombia’s Insurance Superintendency reported that nonlife insurers produced a profit of US$40mn in 2001. This compares with a loss of $65mn in 2000. Similarly, life insurers generated profits of $13mn compared with a loss of $12mn in..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Tokio Marine to lead Asian nonlife alliance
The three biggest nonlife insurers in China, Japan and South Korea (People’s Insurance Company of China, Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Company) are in the process of establishing an alliance.
This..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Marsh buys Latvian broker Visu
Marsh is to acquire Visu Polise, Latvia’s biggest insurance broker. The company will be renamed Marsh Latvia according to Jerry Manner, head of Marsh’s European operations. The size of the deal is confidential. This represents the first..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Battle for Bulgarian state insurer commences
The names of the bidders for Bulgaria’s State Insurance Institute (SII or DZI) are being bandied about the market. Three offers are said to have been submitted so far by Allianz, Ceska Pojistovna and a consortium of Rosseximbank and the Greek..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Strong 1st qtr growth for Hungarian market
After a lucklustre performance in 2001, the Hungarian insurance market has demonstrated a remarkable recovery during the first quarter of this year, with most market segments improving on last year’s rates.
Following a negative development in..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Axa signals plans for ACS businesses
AXA’s plans for the unbundling of its large risks and reinsurance division, Axa Corporate Solutions (ACS) have become a little clearer.
Firstly, ACS’s large industrial risk business, Axa Grands Risques, will be put under pressure to..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Lloyd’s of London, shareholder value and the optimisation of capital
The timing could not have been better. On the day WIR
interviews Charles Philipps, chief executive of the Lloyd’s based insurance group, Amlin, Standard & Poor’s restores the status of the market’s single-’A’..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Insurers phlegmatic about Pan Am 103 settlement
Aviation underwriters continue to seek compensation from the Libyan government for the $500mn they paid to the families of the 270 victims of the 1988 mid-air explosion of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
The underwriters are not party to..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
State insurer up for sale
Asia Pacific
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
US insurers face storm bill
North America
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Recovery of nonlife sector in 2000 contributes to market growth
Gross premiums for the Botswana insurance market grew by 29% to P491mn (US$71mn) in 2000, according to the Registrar of Insurance, the industry’s governing body which operates as a department of the Ministry of Finance.
The main driver of..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Mexican pension funds to invest abroad
Mexican pension funds will be able to invest in overseas assets through a wide range of investment instruments after a bill, now under consideration by Congress, is approved. The bill has already been approved by the House of Representatives, and..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Tough first quarter for Chilean insurers
During the first quarter of 2002, Chile’s life and general insurance markets increased their combined premium income by 9.4% to the equivalent of US$654mn, but claims paid increased at an even faster rate (up by 13.9% to $395mn). Operational..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Japan increases scope for bancassurance
Japan’s Financial System Council (FSC) recently gave its agreement to widening the range of insurance products to be offered for sale by banks.
Until now these were confined to policies associated with housing loans and overseas..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Tower exits China as hope of licence continues to recede
Tower Corporation, the New Zealand based insurance and financial group, has given up its two and a half year effort to win an insurance operating licence in China. Tower spent nearly NZ$7mn (US$3.08mn) establishing a presence in China and persuading..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
French mutual Maif ‘satisfied’ with 2001 result despite fall in profits
The management of the French teachers’ mutual Maif has declared itself as satisfied, given market conditions, with the company’s 2001 results.
Maif’s turnover (which includes that of the nonlife mutual Filia-Maif which insures..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
French reinsurers suffer net operating loss
Members of France’s Association des Reassureurs Francais (ARF) saw aggregate premiums rise by 38% last year to more than €11bn (US$10.1bn). But their net result was still a combined loss of €575.9mn which compares with a net profit..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Continent profits
The Continent Assurances group has reported increased sales and a profit for 2001. Turnover was up by 4.5% to €750.7mn (US$690mn) last year. Of this figure, nonlife insurance generated €472.1mn ($434.3 million), a rise of 8.9%, while..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Azur-GMF agreement
Azur-GMF has signed an agreement with the Credit Cooperatif banking group to distribute Azur-GMF insurance and savings products to its customers. Personal insurance products will include life and ‘accident de la vie’ (expanded personal..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
Caribbean study calls for standardisation of motor insurance terms and conditions
The cost and terms of motor vehicle insurance, one of the two main sources of premium income for Caribbean nonlife companies, varies so widely that it is virtually impossible to make a meaningful comparison among companies, according to the Trinidad..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
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689 - 07 June 2002
EBRD invests US$1mn in Estonian private pension fund management company
In a move to develop the Estonian pensions market, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is paying EKr16.5mn (US$1mn) for a 35% share in Lõhmus, Haavel & Viisemann Asset Management (LHV AM), a private pension fund..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Models of governance
Since the collapse of Enron, there has been an increased focus on corporate governance and the effective regulation of corporate activities by governments.
Sir Howard Davies
, chairman of the UK’s Financial Services Authority, believes that..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Ostankino tower insured
Almost two years after the Russian based Ostankino Tower was engulfed in flames, the television tower has been insured for US$114mn.
The state-owned Russian Television and Radio Network, which controls television and radio transmission, took out the..
Online Published Date:
07 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
689 - 07 June 2002
Employers’ Re
Asia Pacific
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Lloyd’s new chairman
Europe
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
WTC case referred to jury
North America
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
World insurance stock prices
Company/group
Currency
31/12/01
30/5/02
13/6/02
Change from 30/5/02 %
Capitalisation US$ mn
Ace
US$
40.15
34.13
32.15
(5.8)
8,430
AIG
US$
79.40
67.10
62.84
(6.3)
164,195
..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Company profile: IPC Holdings
Bermuda-based IPC Holdings recorded a net loss of US$3.9mn in 2001, the company’s first negative result since it commenced operations in 1993. IPC, which primarily provides property catastrophe reinsurance through its wholly-owned subsidiary..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Swiss Re Group
Swiss Re posted a pre-tax loss of SF104mn (US$63mn) last year. This compares with a SF3.7bn profit for 2000. The company’s net loss for 2001, its first since 1868, stood at SF165mn, compared with a net profit of SF3bn the year before.
The 11..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Double digit premium growth as insurers step up marketing efforts
Direct written premiums for the South Korean nonlife market grew by 14% to W16.5trn (US$12.4bn) for the fiscal year 2000 (12 months ending 31 March 2001), according to the latest figures put out by the Bank of Korea. South Korea is the..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Foreign groups undeterred by economic and political uncertainty
The new Swiss Re sigma report on the insurance industry in Latin American published last week very much emphasises the role of foreign insurance groups in the region over the last 10 years. The foreign presence is particularly marked in the six..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Mapfre America
Mapfre America, which comprises the Spanish insurance group’s subsidiaries in 11 Latin American countries, generated a profit of US$11.14mn before writing off goodwill, acquisition costs, taxes and minority interests during the first quarter..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Insurers challenge Virgin Islands’ rating tariff
The United States Virgin Islands in the Caribbean is set to become the subject of a test case as to whether insurance premium rates are set by insurance companies or by the regulatory authorities.
The US Virgins is probably the one territory in the..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Allianz set to take advantage of changing demographics and radical reforms in South Korean financial services market
While AIG and MetLife of the US have walked away from South Korea, Allianz of Germany has invested more than US$1bn in the world’s sixth-largest life insurance market.
Allianz conducts 70% of its business outside Germany. Its takeover of..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
The Future of the Japanese Life Insurance Industry
T
he Japanese life insurance industry is undergoing significant transformation. Regulatory change, the severe condition of the economy and increased competition from foreign entrants are leading to change at an ever-increasing pace.
Stephen..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Czech life market to maintain double digit growth over next decade
Favorable legislation, increased competition and changing public attitudes toward the role of insurance – and of the state – are responsible for the seemingly unstoppable growth of the insurance industry in the Czech Republic. “The..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Axa to cut life business acquisition costs
Axa’s embedded value is down for the third year running. As of 31 December 2001, it stood at €34.9bn ($33bn), down by 1.4% from €35.3bn a year earlier. But the good news is that it was down less than expected. Analysts had been..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Airlines call for state backed insurer
The European airline industry is lobbying the European Commission, as well as the constituent governments of the European Union, for the creation of a state-backed European captive insurer to cover them specifically against war and terrorism risks...
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
28 May–11 June 2002
Late reports
25.5, fire, fatalities
India: a fire which engulfed a shoe factory in northern India killed at least 40 people and injured several others. The death toll could still rise as many people were trapped inside the factory in Agra, 110..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Pension funds
• Pension fund managers (OPCs) in Costa Rica
are analyzing the possibility of investing part of their assets abroad. This move was prompted by the low level of private bond issues in the country.
The Workers Protection Law establishes that..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Santiago broker on trial for policy fraud
Falsification of policies by a Santiago insurance broker has apparently left up to 5,000 urban transport buses in the capital without passenger accident cover. According to the case put before the courts in early June, the broker had used the..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Freedom of intermediaries seen as key to integrated market
New EU rules on insurance agents and other forms of ‘insurance mediation’are likely to be approved in the near future. European Commission proposals published in January 2001 cleared their second reading in the European Parliament on 13..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
EC attempts to unpick tangle over liability for marine pollution
MEPs voted on 11 June to support attempts by the European Commission to unravel a legislative tangle over EU policy on liability for marine pollution.
In a related vote on 12 June, the European Parliament completed the second reading of proposals to..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Demographics and the development of pension systems in Baltics
The Baltic states inherited pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pension systems from the former Soviet Union. Under a PAYG system, those who work pay for current pensioners’ benefits. These systems rapidly became unsustainable after independence because of..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
CNP identifies Chinese market as important target in its international expansion plan
France’s largest personal lines insurer, CNP Assurances, plans to expand abroad, according to CNP board president, Gilles Benoist. Mr Benoist was speaking during the company’s recent annual general meeting.
CNP is negotiating with a..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Market takes heart from discipline demonstrated by the new capital
After the US reinsurance market posted the worst results in its history in the fourth quarter of last year, things could only improve given the absolute determination of the industry over the last six months to increase premium rates and to..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
NZ’s Southern Cross offers premium discount to elderly customers
Faced with a flood of policy resignations, especially from long standing elderly clients in response to increased premiums, New Zealand’s largest health insurer, Southern Cross, has announced loyalty discounts for people over the age of 65...
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
OECD supports insurers’ call for terror backstop
A new economic study by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) confirms the international insurance industry’s claim that it could not survive another terrorist attack on the scale of the attrocity which..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Ukraine removes limits on foreign stakes in insurers
The new amendments to Ukraine’s insurance law are expected to have a tremendous impact on the development of the market.
The new rules make the market signficantly more attractive to foreign companies. It is anticipated that the more than 300..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002
Corporate risk reporting
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) believes that there are important benefits for companies in providing better information about what they do to assess and manage key business risks. As well as making available..
Online Published Date:
21 June 2002
Appeared in issue:
690 - 21 June 2002