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Data Update
Stock name
Number of shares
Closing price US$
Market capitalisation
% weighting
XL
121161848
43.75
5300830850
41.47253
Ace
194059000
14.9375
2898756313
22.67923
Partner..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Security
8.3, shootings, fatalities
US: a gunman killed his wife and then shot dead 2 firefighters and a police officer when they arrived at his house which had been set on fire. The killer was wounded and apprehended. 4 dead.
8.3, banditry, fatalities
Mali:..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
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633 - 17 March 2000
Natural Catastrophe
5.2, volcano, evacuation
Philippines: some 70,000 people fled the region around Mayon volcano as scientists predicted that a major eruption was due after 4 days of relative quiet. A major eruption event did not immediately follow.
8.3, tornado,..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Liability, Awards, Settlements
1.3, pollution damages
US: Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines ordered to pay the state of Alaska $3.5m for dumping toxic chemicals and oil-contaminated water into the state’s waters. This followed $6.5m federal fines.
3.3, racial..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
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633 - 17 March 2000
Aviation
6.3, runway accident
US: 6 people including the pilot were injured when a Southwest Airlines 737 skidded off the end of the runway and onto a local road after its front landing gear had collapsed as it attempted to land at Burbank Airport north of..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Road/Rail
2.3, rail accident, fatalities
Denmark: 3 people were killed and more than 20 injured when 2 local trains collided at the village of Koelker in northwest Denmark. One of the trains was waiting on a sidetrack for the other to pass when the other..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Marine
1.3, vessel hijacked
Thailand: Japanese chemical tanker Global Mars
with 17 people aboard reported missing near Thailand and feared hijacked. The 6,600-ton tanker left Malaysia’s Port Klang on 22.2 bound for India’s Haldia carrying..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Property and Business Interruption
7.3, Chemical plant leak, fatality, shutdown
Thailand: the authorities shut down a chemical plant east of Bangkok – operated as a joint venture by Japan’s Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co and TOA Plant Thailand – for 1 month for..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Late Reports
27.2, collision
UAE: the crew of 7 were forced to abandon the supply vessel Inchcape 14
after she collided with US Navy refuelling ship Yukon shortly after leaving Jebel Ali port. No injuries.
28.2, collision, fire
US: one of 4 barges carrying..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Company Profile: Arab Insurance Group
The Bahrain-based Arab Insurance Group (Arig) was founded by the governments of Kuwait, the UAE and Libya. Their objective was to build an Arab reinsurer with sufficient strength both to staunch the outflow of Arab reinsurance premiums and to..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Signet Star Re
Signet Star Re, Florham Park NJ, is withdrawing from Latin America and the Caribbean as it seeks to concentrate on core US business.
“Signet Star and its affiliate companies are committed to the reinsurance industry,” said a company..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
IRB
The Brazilian government has set a new date of 25 April for the privatisation of reinsurer Istituto de Resseguros do Brazil (IRB), Rio de Janeiro – and market analysts are relatively confident it will stick to this one.
Development Minister..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
News in Brief
Migdal Group,
Tel Aviv, saw the profits on its non-life operations soar more than six-fold to IS118m (US$29m) in 1999. Group chief executive Izzy Cohen said the result reflected both the strict underwriting criteria adopted for non-life..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Trygg-Hansa
Swedish non-life insurer Trygg-Hansa – which was purchased by Codan, Copenhagen, from SEB, Stockholm, for DKr3.4bn (US$439m) last year – showed a huge loss of SwKrl.2bn (US$136m) for 1999.
Trygg-Hansa made a technical loss of..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
If
Nordic property and casualty insurer If is to increase its rates to improve its technical result for this year, said chief executive Bo Ingemarson. The technical results for last year were unsatisfactory – although the rest of the Nordic p/c..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Independent
Independent Insurance Group, London, saw its 1999 operating profit rise 25% to £69.8m (US$110m). Premium income for the year was up 11% to £506.9m.
In 1999 the company withdrew from the London market subscription general liability..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
CGU
CGU, the London-based insurer merging with Norwich Union (NU), is the frontrunner to buy NatWest fund manager Gartmore. The acquisition of the fund would see a merged CGNU well placed to exploit the UK’s emerging stakeholder pension market..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Colonial in A$9bn merger
Trading in die shares of insurer Colonial, Melbourne, was suspended in the first week in March following the announcement of a friendly takeover deal between the company and Australia’s largest bank, the Commonwealth Bank (CBA). The takeover..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Dai Tokio/Chiyoda
Dai Tokio Fire & Marine and Chiyoda Fire & Marine, both Tokyo, have confirmed market speculation by announcing they are to merge in 2001. The consolidation of the two companies – respectively the seventh largest and ninth largest..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Euler
French credit insurer Euler, Paris, saw its 1999 net profits fall to Euro74.9m (US$72m) despite a 28% improvement in its technical result to Euro137m. The apparent decline in net earnings was largely due to an exceptional 1998 gain of Euro34m..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
MAAF/Eureko
French mutual MAAF, Niort, has become the eighth member of the Amsterdam-based pan-European insurance group Eureko. The addition reinforces Eureko’s status as the continent’s top motor insurer and makes it the fourth-biggest European..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Rapidlnsure
Rapidlnsure.co.uk has launched an online insurance service offering life, personal and office lines to focus on the needs of both domestic and small businesses. The products have been designed specifically for the internet and the company claims..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
State Farm
Net profits at State Farm Mutual Automobile, Bloomington IL, fell 22% to US$1.03bn in 1999 as direct and internet-based competition forced down motor rates. State Farm said it had lowered rates by 4.2% in 1999 following reductions of 6.5% the..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Arig
Arab Insurance Group (Arig), Bahrain, the Arab world’s leading insurance firm, has reported a net loss for 1999 of US$98m, saying it was the first time it had dipped into the red since 1991. The loss compared with a small profit of..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Sampo
Two Sampo Group subsidiaries – Sampo Enterprise and Industrial Insurance – are to be merged with the parent company. The move comes as part of Sampo’s preparations for entry into the new Sampo-Leonia grouping. The mergers must be..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Länsförsäkringar Wasa
Länsförsäkringar Wasa Group, Stockholm, reported a substantial rise in 1999 earnings and said it intended to maintain both non-life and life businesses under the same roof. Managing director Tommy Persson said the group relied on the..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Ergo
Munich Re is feeling the positive impact of its commitment to primary insurance. While the company is suffering from worsening figures in reinsurance, its primary insurance group, Ergo, (of which Munich Re owns 62.9%) achieved a considerable..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
XL Capital
XL Capital, Hamilton, plans to establish a London-based subsidiary holding company to oversee expansion of its insurance businesses outside the Americas. The new company will encompass the operations of several of XL’s existing subsidiaries,..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Zurich Agrippina
Zurich Agrippina (ZA), the German arm of Zurich Financial Services Group (ZFSG), is clearly unhappy with its size in Germany. The company, which had a turnover of DM5.8bn in 1998, is neither small enough to be a niche player nor big enough to play..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
RSA
Troubled composite Royal & Sun Alliance (RSA), London, has denied that it is seeking a buyer despite posting a 6% fall in 1999 operating profits.
RSA, which has been the subject of persistent acquisition speculation following the lacklustre..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Wren posts losses
The five Wren managed syndicates (which were acquired by Brit Insurance Holdings in 1999) made an aggregated loss for 1997 of £293m (US$463m). Syndicate 250 was the worst performer, producing a loss at the upper end of earlier forecasts..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Amlin profits
Amlin’s two Lloyd’s managing agencies, Amlin Underwriting and Angerstein Underwriting, achieved a consolidated profit of £14.8m (US$23.4m) for their three managed syndicates for the 1997 year of account. The consolidated figure..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
SOC buys Richmond
Sedgwick Oakwood Capital has acquired members’ agent Richmond Underwriting for £1.4m (US$2.2m). The acquisition positions Sedgwick Oakwood Lloyd’s Underwriting Agents as the second largest with a combined capacity of £715m...
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Jaffray case update
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P’s) said that a verdict against Lloyd’s in its current High Court battle with dissident names would tarnish the image of the market, but that any resulting damages would be..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
US business grows
Lloyd’s grew its US business across almost all lines in 1999, pushing total US premium income up 17% to US$4.8bn compared with $4.1bn in 1998. Growth was most pronounced in property, liability and health lines.
Lloyd’s surplus..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Moody’s increases loss forecasts
Ratings agency Moody’s has increased its estimate for the pure-year bottom-line losses of the Lloyd’s market for the three years of account from 1997 to 1999. Moody’s has more than doubled its forecast for 1997 pure-year losses to..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Italy Government may cap motor rates
The Finance Commission of the Italian parliament has concluded that year-on-year rises in motor insurance rates are not fully justified, prompting speculation that the government may step in to set motor liability tariffs.
Motor liability rates were..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
New Zealand ACC bill to go ahead
The Labour government has introduced legislation banning private insurance companies from writing new workplace accident insurance policies after 1 April. All existing private insurance contracts will be cancelled from 1 July, exactly one year after..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
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633 - 17 March 2000
EU Parliament demands insolvency clarification
The European Parliament is demanding Clarification as to how draft European Union (EU) legislation on insolvency will apply to the insurance sector.
Members of the assembly accept that insurers should be excluded from the scope of the legislation,..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
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633 - 17 March 2000
India IRDA reformed
BK Chaturvedi, Special Secretary (Insurance) in India’s Ministry of Finance, has announced that the Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (IRDA) will be reconstituted with the appointment of two full-time and four part-time members..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
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India Clinton to press for US-style regulation
Lobbying by American insurance companies to persuade the Indian authorities to adopt the US model of insurance regulation is expected to reach a climax when Bill Clinton arrives in India for a five-day official visit on 15 March.
“We have..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
US Insurers call for closure of tax loophole
Chubb, The Hartford, Kemper and Liberty Mutual have all called on the government to close a legal loophole that leaves domestic players at a tax disadvantage compared with offshore-parented insurers.
Under current law, domestic insurers writing US..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Malaysia Consolidation expected to continue
Six more mergers involving general insurance companies are expected to be completed by the middle of this year, Malaysia’s Deputy Finance Minister Chan Kong Choy, said in Kuala Lumpur recently.
The mergers are in line with the..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
BVI Captives grow
The number of pure captives licensed in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) rose from 83 in 1998 to 131 by the end of 1999. Peter Bates, BVI inspector of insurance, said the total was due both to the attraction of the BVI as a domicile for smaller..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Finland Mutuals grow market share
Finnish policyholders favoured mutual insurers last year. Mutuals the Tapiola Group and Lahivakuutus (Local Insurance Group) both increased their share of the non-life market in 1999, according to preliminary returns for the companies compiled by..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Argentina Surety market hopes for upturn
Argentina’s surety-market players are hoping for an economic upswing after the recession of 1999 hindered their business development. Last year, economic recession was compounded by a traumatic national election in October that brought the..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Travelers acquires Reliance Surety
Travelers Property Casualty (TPC), Hartford CT, has signed a letter of intent to acquire the surety business of Reliance Group Holdings, Philadelphia PA, for US$580m. “Reliance Surety brings to Travelers a team of international surety..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Lloyd’s wins case
Lloyd’s is expected to begin recovering debts of more than £20m (US$31 m) from Canadian Names following a court case in Ontario. The Superior Court of Justice in Ontario granted an order that allows Lloyd’s to register..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Regulator seizes Superior National
The California Insurance Department has taken control of the Calabasas-based Superior National Insurance Group – the largest workers’ compensation insurer ever to be taken over by the state. The department’s move followed a..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Munich Re subpoenaed
Californian insurance regulator Chuck Quackenbush has subpoenaed Munich Re officials to appear before a hearing on 20 March that will investigate the German reinsurer’s efforts to resolve unpaid Holocaust-era insurance claims. Mr Quackenbush..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Costly year for catastrophes
Both Munich Re and Swiss Re have concluded that 1998 was the second most costly year in insurance history.
Swiss Re, Zurich, believes that natural catastrophes and man-made disasters claimed more than 105,000 lives across the globe last year, and..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Running into the future
Paul Jardine
, commutations director and chief actuary of Equitas, asks if there is a future for run-off in the reinsurance market.
It is my belief that the trends we are seeing today will lead directly to a vast increase in the incidence of the..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Berkshire earnings tumble
Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of the Berkshire Hathaway investment group, offered his personal apologies to shareholders after a 45% fall in profits at the group’s insurance units contributed to what Mr Buffett called the worst year..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000
Allianz winner in bank deal
Allianz, Munich, has achieved a coup that makes other allfinanz
or bancassurance
schemes look distinctly pale. In future, Europe’s largest insurer will not only control Germany’s main life and property and casualty insurers, but will..
Online Published Date:
17 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
633 - 17 March 2000