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World insurance stock prices
Company/group
Currency
2000 year-end
19/04/01
03/05/01
% change from 19/04/01
Capitalisation US$mn
source: iiudata
Ace
US$
42.44
36.51
34.99
(4.2)
8,119
AIG
US$
98.56
81.65
82.70
1.3..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Company profile: Hannover Re Group Africa
Hannover Re Group Africa was created by the merger of Hannover Re’s South African service office Hannover Services with Hannover Re’s subsidiary Hollandia Re at the beginning of last year.
Following the merger, Hannover Re increased its..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Company profile: Transatlantic Holdings
Transatlantic Holdings continued to expand its international operations in 2000, opening a representative office in Warsaw to serve the company’s client base in Poland and other central and eastern European countries. The company also acquired..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Royal & SunAlliance
Royal & SunAlliance (RSA) increased its general insurance premium income by 22% to £10.1bn in 2000. Much of the rise was due to the acquisitions in late 1999 of Orion Capital in the US and Trygg-Hansa in Sweden.
While RSA achieved..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Liability premiums 1999
WIR
starts its annual analysis of major reinsurers’ accounts by line of business for 1999 with a look at liability business for companies from both the US and elsewhere. The survey has appeared in previous years in Reinsurance Market..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
aviation insurance
The business of catastrophe
After being stuck at unprofitable levels for four years, aviation premium rates rose marginally in the early part of 2000 and steadily gathered momentum as the year went on (see WIR
653/8). The good news for insurers is..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
BIBA conference: a war of words between brokers and insurers
‘People and technology pulling together’ was supposed to be the theme of the recent conference of the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA), held in Belfast, but the most animated part of the proceedings – the conference..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
IUA delegates debate their global presence
If the debates at the recent biennial meeting of the International Underwriting Association of London (IUA) held in the UK golf mecca of Gleneagles are anything to go by, insurers are as divided as ever on the issue of globalisation. The theme for..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Skandia funds hit by stock market
Swedish insurer Skandia reported a strong increase in new sales of annual premium unit-linked assurance products outside the US during the first quarter of 2001. But sales of single premium unit-linked policies continued to drop, driven by the..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Latin American round-up
Seguros La Seguridad, the main subsidiary of Spanish group Mapfre in Venezuela
, expects its premium income to grow by 28% this year to at least Bs174bn (US$250mn) from Bs136.2bn last year, according to its president Alberto Sosa.
The Instituto de..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Skandia encouraged by rising insurance sales
Chief executive Lars-Eric Petersson emphasised the importance of the increase in sales of insurance products for Swedish financial services group Skandia during the first quarter of this year.
For the group’s insurance business this was seen..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
AIG increases links with Chinese banks
American International Assurance (AIA), the Chinese subsidiary of American International Group (AIG), has signed an agreement with Shanghai’s Guangdong Development Bank to provide insurance and credit card services, customer support and staff..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Prudential in Asia
Prudential, the biggest life insurer in the UK, is busily implementing plans to expand its presence in Asia. The company recently announced it was acquiring life companies in Indonesia and the Phillipines. Both companies are subsidiaries of US life..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
DP Mann rebrands as Faraday
German reinsurer GeneralCologne Re has continued its rebranding exercise, this time giving a new single name to its Lloyd’s operations. DP Mann and Cologne Re of London will now be known as Faraday.
A spokesman for the company said the name,..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
World loss log 17–30 April 2001
Late reports
11.4, missing vessel (believed sunk), fatalities
Japan: m bulk carrier Honghae Sanyo,
carrying a crew of 28 and a cargo of sea sand from Inchon for Ieshima Island in Hyogo Prefecture, went missing. A solitary lifeboat from the vessel..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
St Paul forms new risks management consultancy
Brokers are making the move from their traditional commission-based activities into the fee-based area of consultancy.
But so are insurers. Two years after it acquired Professional Risk Management (PRM), St Paul announced it had formed Octagon Risk..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Internet cover slow to develop in Caribbean
Caribbean insurers have been slow to develop products for risk associated with the e-commerce revolution but claim this is because there is only modest demand for them so far.
“The availability of such products requires an environment that..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Tower readies itself for China
Tower Corporation, the New Zealand-based insurance and financial group with assets of more than NZ$22bn (US$8.8bn), hopes to be operating in China by the middle of next year.
The group set up a business presence in the country, with an office in..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Bumper year for Chilean medical insurers
Chile’s private medical cover companies, known as Isapres, shook off the loss of subscribers and stricter regulation by the authorities, to post record earnings last year.
On slightly higher revenue (up 4.6% to US$1,164mn), they increased..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
SEB Trygg Liv blames stock market
Poor stock market performance has hit the results of Sweden’s SEB Trygg Liv. The company saw sales decrease by 36% during the first quarter of this year to SwKr2.79bn from SwKr4.37bn in the first three months of 2000. Premiums written dropped..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Sampo a likely target for Danske
Danske Bank is ready to buy Finnish financial group Sampo, according to the Danish newsletter Oekonimisk Ugebrev
. The publication points out that Finland represents a major hole in Danske’s pan-Nordic financial services strategy and that the..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Scientists in Montserrat warn of threat posed by volcano to shippers in the Caribbean
The volcano in the British Caribbean territory of Montserrat, now into its seventh year of activity, poses a danger not only to property and lives but to coastal shipping too – a fact that will be of concern to hull and cargo insurers both..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Premium income falls in Argentina
Based on the latest premium figures released by Argentina’s Insurance Superintendency, motor insurance premium income – representing 35% of total market income – has shown signs of decline over the last few months.
The trend was..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Alecta suspends pensions repayment
The board of Swedish insurer Alecta (formerly SPP) has suspended the repayment of funds in excess of its capitalisation needs because a row has blown up over the SwKr75bn (US$7.3bn) already returned to members of its corporate pension..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Insurance companies cancel backing
Ten New Zealand insurance and investment companies have cancelled their financial backing for the Office of the Retirement Commissioner. This was set up three years ago by the previous government to encourage people to start planning and saving for..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Peru in limbo
Peru’s electoral uncertainties in recent months have compounded an already depressed economy that has shown negative growth since the closing months of 2000.
Last year premium income for the general insurance sector dropped 12%. For the first..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Insurers in breach of transparency rules
India’s insurance regulator has pulled up the four state-run general insurers for lack of transparency in their dealings and for failing to furnish adequate information on a variety of issues, including their claims settlement decisions. The..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Russia to open motor market
Despite initial doubt, Russia’s introduction of compulsory motor third-party liability insurance will more than likely allow participation from foreign insurers when it finally passes into law by the end of this year.
The prediction was made..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
INdeR proposals challenged
The final stages of the liquidation of Argentina’s former state reinsurer INdeR was described as a success by liquidator Sergio Bunin. The company was put into liquidation in the early 1990s by the Argentinian government.
But there are..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Monitoring liability
Joe Hockey,
the Australian Minister for Financial Services and Regulation, tells the general insurance industry there that it must accept change to prudential standards in the wake of the collapse of a number of companies. He was speaking at the..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Australian minister proposes government-owned insurer
The treasurer of New South Wales has floated the idea of setting up a new government-owned insurer in order to restore confidence in the Australian insurance industry following the collapse of HIH.
Speaking on Australian television, Michael Egan..
Online Published Date:
11 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
662 - 11 May 2001
Thai Re
Thai Re reported a 6% increase in gross premiums to B2.7bn (US$59mn) last year. Domestic business generated gross premiums of B2.6bn, 97% of the company s total volume.
Of this figure, fire and industrial all-risks accounted for 66%, with gross..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
Overseas Partners
Bermudian reinsurer Overseas Partners (OPL) recorded a pre-tax loss of US$538mn in 2000, compared with the previous year s profit of $244mn.
The deterioration was almost entirely due to the loss of the United Parcel Service of America (UPS) shippers..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
Chubb
Chubb Corporation saw its pre-tax profit rise by 28% to US$803mn in 2000, largely because of an improved underwriting result.
The company writes most lines of property/ casualty business through its subsidiaries in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
Motor premiums 1999
Following the survey of the international liability reinsurance market in WIR
622, the annual analysis of major reinsurers accounts by line of business for 1999 continues with a look at motor business for companies from both the US and..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
Argentinian insurers get tough on crime
Crime is on the increase in Argentina, especially in and around Buenos Aires. One store owner complained of being robbed every week. Last month thieves shot and killed two policemen who entered a store in cold blood. This year alone over 20..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
AMP makes first move into India
Australian insurance group AMP has announced its first move into India by acquiring a stake in Indian financial services group Sanmar. AMP will purchase 26% of the company.
The combined Australian-Indian venture will employ 3,000 insurance agents..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
Patrick Smith: retailing the web
These are tough times for the fledgling UK online insurance market. Operations such as RapidInsure, Ironsure.com and Inspop.com, which were launched with great enthusiasm and high expectation over the last 18 months, are now struggling.
This is..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
RSA profits increase
A strong performance from British composite insurer Royal & SunAlliance s general insurance operations contributed significantly to the increase in the group s operating profit. This rose 22% from £138mn to £168mn for the first..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
United India to transform its business culture
Cut off from the protection of their parent company and now forced to compete with a set of aggressive foreign players, India s state-run general insurance companies are changing their business culture.
For instance, Chennai-based United India..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
Chubb in talks with third Indian partner
India s Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) has entered into joint venture negotiations with Chubb Corporation of the US. HDFC, the country s largest housing finance company, has already floated a life insurance venture in collaboration..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
Scor secures Sorema acquisition
French reinsurer Scor has finally completed negotiations for the purchase of fellow French reinsurer Sorema. The sale excludes the past activities of fellow Groupama subsidiary Gan and Sorema s Lloyd s underwriting agency Broadgate.
Scor will pay..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
India set to boost market by reducing capital requirements for health insurers
India s insurance regulator is expected to halve the minimum capital requirement for setting up health insurance companies to Rs500mn (US$11mn). The idea is to make it more attractive to foreign insurers that have been examining the market for years..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
World insurance stock prices
Company/group
Currency
2000 year-end
03/05/01
17/05/01
% change
from 03/05/01
Capitalisation US$mn
* figures changed to reflect four-for-one stock split on 16 May
source: iiudata
Ace
US$
42.44
34.99
36.73
5.0..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
Malaysia
Consolidation boosts operating profits
Malaysia s non-life insurance market performed much better in 1999 than the official figures suggest.
According to the latest annual report published by the country s insurance regulator, Bank Negara Malaysia,..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
ESG Re begins to show signs of hope
First-quarter results from troubled Bermuda and Europe-based reinsurer ESG Re seem to indicate the company may be finally turning the corner. While the company posted a loss of US$3.9mn, it said most of this related to business written in 1999 and..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
EU to settle differences on marine liability
Details of new EU legislation on liability for shipping accidents are to be settled in conciliation talks between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, representing the 15 EU member states.
The disagreement concerns the extent to..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
Foot-and-mouth prompts new cover in NZ
The repercussions of Britain s foot-and-mouth epidemic and increased awareness of the disastrous consequences should it ever occur in New Zealand have prompted the introduction of the first-ever foot-and-mouth disease insurance cover.
New Zealand..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
Caribbean insurers ride the waves of change
What does the hole in the ozone layer portend for Caribbean insurers? They will find out from at least one expert when they gather for the annual general meeting of the Insurance Association of the Caribbean (IAC) in Antigua from 4 to 6 June.
Mark..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
Sweden to raise rates
The Swedish non-life market is getting ready to raise premium rates again.
A number of the companies have increased their premiums in the past 12 months — notably If Skadef rs kring (by between 10% and 15%) and Trygg-Hansa (between 7% and 8%)...
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001
The insurance wildcard
‘The role of computer software has changed radically over the last decade, expanding into virtually every area of life. It s found in medical devices, cars, communications systems, hospitals, aeroplanes, next-generation payment cards, business..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2001
Appeared in issue:
663 - 25 May 2001