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Company Profile: Swiss Re UK
Swiss Re UK increased its gross premium income by 51% to £173mn in 1999. Although this increase reflects the high number of multi-year contracts that the company had entered into over the previous two years, there was also significant growth in..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Company Profile: Toa Re
Toa Re and the Japan Earthquake pool were the only professional reinsurers in Japan until the market was deregulated in 1998. But despite the entry of foreign reinsurers into the Japanese market, Toa Re remains the reinsurer of choice for..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
GeneralCologne Re Europe
GeneralCologne Re Europe (part of the Berkshire Hathaway-owned General Re Group) produced a consistent run of profits over the last six years, but like most reinsurers floundered in 1999 as a result of falling premium rates, escalating claims and..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Reinsurer ratings review
Rating agency downgrades over the last three months focused, in the main, on companies that are going into run-off namely Unionamerica and certain subsidiaries of Odyssey Re. Upgrades were handed out to two Bermudian operations, finite reinsurer..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Swiss Re launches earthquake site
Swiss Re have launched a new website designed to ensure that insurers are equipped with the latest tools available to assess earthquake risks. The site provides information about recent developments in seismological research that Swiss Re says..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Munich Re buys CNA Life Re
Through subsidiary Munich American Reassurance, Munich Re has extended its reach into the US life reinsurance market by acquiring the life reinsurance unit of US insurer CNA. The deal also includes the AgoraRe.com life reinsurance online site set up..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
AIG finds Indian partner
After some expectation, the American International Group has filed an application for a license to operate a general insurance business in India.
Its chosen partner is one of the country’s largest companies, the Tata group of industries. The..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Stressing the bottom line
The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), which last week staged its annual conference in London for the first time in a decade, not only took the opportunity to celebrate its achievements as a professional body, but also to stress the bottom line to..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Lebanon toughens regulations
Lebanon has the reputation of being one of the most unregulated and undisciplined insurance markets in the world. The market is easily as chaotic as the one in Saudi Arabia where insurance legislation (including the need for insurance companies..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
No US upturn in sight, says ISO
According to the figures put out by the Insurance Services Office (ISO) and the National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII) for the first six months of 2000, the US property/casualty industry remained burdened by overcapacity. More..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Guernsey PCCs win bank backing
In a first for protected cell companies based in the leading UK offshore domicile of Guernsey, the Royal Bank of Scotland has transacted a capital markets deal to eliminate the bank’s credit risk to an underlying portfolio of global..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Canadian insurers enter India
Two Canadian insurers emphasised their commitment to the Indian insurance market last week. Canada Sun Life Assurance and Lombard Canada will enter the life and non-life markets respectively through joint venture partnerships with local industrial..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Frontier warned by NYSE
The New York Stock Exchange has threatened the Frontier Insurance Group with delisting unless it can lift its share price to over US$1 by 16 December and ensure it has a market capitalisation of at least $50mn. Based on the current total of 41.6..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
US offshore tax debate resurrected
The chairman of the US House Ways & Means Committee, Bill Archer, has denied reports that Congress is imminently set to reintroduce a bill that would tax companies that reinsure a large portion of their book to offshore subsidiaries,..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Storebrand sacks its chief
Norwegian insurer Storebrand has sacked its chief executive Age Korsvold after the country’s financial regulator, Kredittilsynet, concluded that Mr Korsvold’s private transactions involving options on Storebrand shares were..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
World Loss Log 19 September – 2 October
Late reports
17.9, floods, fatalities
Guatemala: floods and mudslides from 4 days of torrential rain wrecked buildings and bridges and swept through villages leaving at least 20 people dead and dozens injured. Authorities evacuated more than 200..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
World Insurance Stock Prices
Company/Group
Currency
1999 year end
22/09/00
05/10/00
% change from 22/09/00
Capitalisation US$mn
Ace
US$
16.69
38.25
37.00
(3.3)
8212
AIG
US$
72.09
88.69
96.00
8.2
225216
..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Gerling launches online credit insurance
Gerling Kredit, the Gerling reinsurance group’s credit insurance subsidiary is looking to add another e-commerce initiative to its portfolio in November. This month, it presented Trusted Trade, which comes in addition to Trusted Shops unveiled..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Folksam to go online
Swedish insurer Folksam is planning a financial portal for the Internet through which it will offer insurance policies as well as banking and investment services such as pensions.
The company has been talking about starting a bank for some time.
The..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Algeria considers bancassurance
Algeria’s parliament is reported to be considering further reform of its insurance laws to allow banks to issue insurance policies. The move would represent the most significant change to the Algerian industry since the abolition of the state..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Tribunal to speed up disputes
The tribunal set up by the General Insurance Association of Singapore (GIA) to resolve motor third party property claim disputes last week received overwhelming support from the 38 insurers in the market as well as from the island’s main..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
South Korea to reintroduce deposit guarantee
South Korea will return to the partial deposit insurance scheme that it operated before the financial crisis; it will open again in January.
The current scheme, which guarantees all bank deposits in full, was implemented to maintain public..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Industry in conflict with regulators over privacy
Last week’s testimonies by insurers’ organisations before the US House of Representatives Commerce Subcommittee on Finance and Hazardous Materials, emphasised the extent to which the regulation of the US insurance industry will be..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Merging the German mutuals
Signal Iduna, the mutual group which sprang from the merger of Signal, Dortmund, and Iduna Nova, Hamburg, is having talks with other mutuals over further mergers, chief executive Reinhold Schulte confirmed to WIR
. This follows a successful deal..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
VHV to grow
VHV, the German mutual which last year moved all its private customer business to a separate joint-stock company, is set for a strong rise in business this year. Premium volume would go up 4.5% to DM2.01bn (US$0.9bn), despite the tough market, chief..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Indian Airlines takes rate increase
India’s biggest domestic airline, Indian Airlines is faced with a huge 65% increase in its insurance premium for the current year.
This follows increased losses and a general hardening of the aviation reinsurance market. A major reason is the..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Belize donation ignites debate
The US$20,000 donation to the Central America nation of Belize from the Organisation of American States (OAS) for immediate relief following the passage of hurricane Keith last week, once more raises the question of how governments in..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Crop insurance to be sold online
Producers Lloyd Insurance Company and the Rural Community Insurance Company (RCIC), have become the first insurers to have their plans to sell crop insurance over the internet approved by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) since the E-File Act..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Kemper takes on Superior business
Kemper Insurance is to take on the renewal rights of the five Superior National Insurance companies, currently in conservation, on what it calls “a profitable basis” after receiving the final nod from the California Department of..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Iran mulls liberalisation
The liberalisation of the of the state-run Iranian insurance market is entering a new phase. The Central Insurance Council of Iran (CICI) is to recommended to the Iranian Parliament that private insurance companies be allowed to operate in the..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Ping-an in e-commerce joint venture
Ping-an Insurance and the China Construction Bank have signed an agreement to develop jointly their e-commerce businesses. Both companies have already made considerable investments in setting up their individual internet and IT infrastructures.
The..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
EU looks at pension funds
The European Commission (EC) will make its third attempt in 10 years to transform EU pension fund regulations. This week the EC embarks on a two-year process to persuade member countries that the rules on asset diversification and currency holdings..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
US companies overcapitalised, says AM Best
Around 60% – 70% of US insurance companies currently rated by AM Best, and that includes almost all major property/casualty groups, could shed capital without risking their current rating level. And almost 50% have capital in excess of what..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Rating the agencies
A survey of US property/casualty insurers commissioned by the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (Namic) has identified a high level of dissatisfaction with agencies rating the industry. The participants, 95% of which had a rating..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
UK get into the Act
The Human Rights Act 1998
which incorporates the European Convention of Human Rights into UK domestic law, came into force on 2 October 2000. Jennifer McDermott
, partner at City law firm, Lovells, believes that the Act will transform the landscape..
Online Published Date:
13 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
648 - 13 October 2000
Company profile: Axa Global Risks (UK)
Axa Global Risks (UK) had a difficult year in 1999, partly as a result of exceptionally large losses on its property portfolio as well as the depressed market. Commenting in the company’s annual report, chief executive James Morgan noted that..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Company profile: CNA Re
CNA Re is one of the few, perhaps the only, company honest enough to publicly admit it will increase its retrocession capacity for 2001. The move is bold but could prove very successful as rates in that market climb steadily. Speaking to WIR
a few..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Arab market poised for growth
The reasons why the Arab insurance market is attractive to international reinsurers are not immediately apparent. For a start, it is conspicuously small compared with other emerging insurance markets. The Arab market’s premium income of..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Irish insurance market 1999
Motor losses remain the preoccupation of Irish insurers. Figures just released by the Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) show motor accounted for more than two-thirds of the I£211mn total non-life underwriting loss in 1999. IIF president John..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Catastrophe reinsurance: Braced for the upturn
While the soft catastrophe reinsurance market has ended – or is at least ‘temporarily suspended’ – rates are in no hurry to climb. And the extent of increases depends on geography. So says reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter in..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
PartnerRe appoints new chief
Bermudian reinsurer PartnerRe has announced the replacement for outgoing chief executive Herbert Haag, who retires at the beginning of December. His successor is Patrick Thiele, group development director for CGNU. Mr Thiele, who was also..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Ace sets up in Gibraltar
London-based Ace subsidiary Ace Global Markets has formed a new subsidiary to write business in the UK colony of Gibraltar. The new company, Ace Gibraltar, will write a range of products aimed at both the local, but mainly the international, markets..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
New reinsurer aims for $1bn capital
Canadian financial services company Trilon is spending US$200mn to set up a new reinsurer in Bermuda. Imagine Re would be a so-called ‘second-generation’ finite reinsurer paying special attention to asset management, it said. The two..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Political risk: Tough love
A
lthough the main aim of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (Miga) is to facilitate economic development in the world’s poorest countries, it is no charitable institution.
WIR profiles the political risk insurance arm of the World..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Grant resigns over downgrade
The head of QBE’s European operations, Bob Grant, has resigned following a disagreement with Sydney-based chief executive Frank O’Halloran. QBE said in a statement that the two had clashed over the future management of the business.
But..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Skandia sales up
Money and pension manager Skandia sees great potential in the Japanese market. The company’s sales there have already risen 300% to SwKr400mn (US$40mn) in the first six months of this year.
However, the result is a drop in the ocean compared..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
German industrial insurers begin to see turn in market
German industrial insurers are confident they will stop the five-year slide of prices and conditions in the 2000 renewals. They have made a good start in the motor fleet sector where the market has tightened noticeably, and are now tackling the..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Half-year US reinsurance results
The main message from the recent spate of reinsurers’ interim results was a blunt one for an industry desperately wanting good news: there is still some way to go before the market turns and embarks on the long road to recovery. But while it..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Gerling launches e-cover for oil cargo insurance
The Gerling group’s Lloyd’s subsidiary – Gerling at Lloyd’s – has launched an internet-based trading system for oil cargo insurance. Gerling at Lloyd’s chairman Felix Zaccar said that the new system, called..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Buyers must involve trade unions and employers
Swedish pension company SPP, which is planning to sell its life subsidiary SPP Liv and its fund subsidiary SPP Fonder, is imposing a number of conditions on potential buyers.
One of the main conditions is that the new proprietor or proprietors of..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Pru sets up in Guangzhou
UK life company Prudential has formed its third office in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, in the prosperous southern province of Guangdong.
Prudential’s partner in the venture will be the state-owned China International Trust & Investment..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Allianz acquires Nicholas-Applegate
German insurer Allianz is to pay up to US$2.1bn to acquire US asset manager Nicholas-Applegate. The acquisition will bring Allianz’s assets under management to $750bn, an increase of around $150bn since 30 June this year.
The move confirms..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
India grants licences
India’s Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (IRDA) has finally thrown open the doors to the country’s insurance market. IRDA has granted licences to six new insurance companies: three life and three non-life. This formally..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
World Loss Log 3 October – 16 October
Late reports
1.10, fire, property damage
Taiwan: a fire broke out at a factory of Wus Printed Circuit inside the Kaohsiung Export Processing Zone, causing at least NT$50mn (US$1.5mn) in damages. The damage meant the plant had to shut down for 3..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
World Insurance Stock Prices
Company/group
Currency
1999 year end
05/10/00
19/10/00
% change from 05/10/00
Capitalisation US$mn
1. CGU
Ace
US$
16.69
37.00
37.81
2.2
8392
AIG
US$
72.09
96.00
94.63
(1.4)
..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Company profile: Muslim Insurance Company
Despite its name, Muslim Insurance Company is not an Islamic or takaful insurer. Listed on the Karachi stock exchange, the company is run along strictly conventional lines, but with enviable success.
A non-life insurer, Muslim Insurance is..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Bimeh Markazi Iran
Established in 1971 by an act of parliament to oversee the development of local insurance, Bimeh Markazi Iran today functions as both the country’s insurance regulatory authority and official reinsurer. All insurers in Iran are obliged to cede..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Miga insures plant in Bosnia
The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (Miga), part of the World Bank group, provided a US$23.3m guarantee for a Coca-Cola plant in Bosnia. The five year guarantee which covers the plant against currency transfer restrictions, expropriation,..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Gibraltar will comply with OECD
Gibraltar’s trade and industry minister has confirmed that the domicile will comply with the standards required by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) to avoid being named as an uncooperative tax haven when the..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Genetic testing to open more traps
WIR looks at the contrasting approaches towards genetic testing by insurers in the UK and Australia.
Insurance companies are to be allowed to use genetic tests when assessing life and health insurance applications in the UK following..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Vietnam set for growth
Final agreement on the Bilateral Trade Agreement between the US and Vietnam is set to give a huge boost to the Vietnamese economy. After a drying-up of foreign investment in the country in the wake of the Asian crisis, news of greater access to the..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Swedish plans ignore inflation
Many of the funds taking part in Sweden’s complementary premium pension plan (PPM) failed to take account of inflation and exchange rate risks, the head of Sweden’s National Debt Office, Thomas Franzen, told the newspaper Dagens..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Government breaks up GIC
India’s government has taken the first step towards spinning off the four subsidiaries of the state-run General Insurance Corporation. Last week it issued a notification raising the authorised share capital of each of the four subsidiary..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Gothaer Re launches electronic reinsurance market
One of the smaller German reinsurers, Gothaer Rück (Gothaer Re) has mustered all its courage and set up what it believes is the world’s first neutral reinsurance exchange on the internet.
The facility, called Reway, should be up and..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000
Corporate slaughter
Ellen Fleming,
partner and Graeme Payne,
trainee solicitor at Field Fisher Waterhouse Solicitors in London warn that a new law on corporate homicide means that unprepared companies could be liable to huge payouts.
‘A new corporate homicide..
Online Published Date:
27 October 2000
Appeared in issue:
649 - 27 October 2000