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Asia
Japan investor buys Thai insurer
The Japan based investment group, Asia Partnership Fund (APF), has acquired Advanced Insurance Company of Thailand for Baht200.0mn (US$5.9mn). The purchase represents Asia Partnership Fund’s first direct..
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Europe
French insurers count cost of Solvency II
Implementation of the requirements of the European Union’s Solvency II for risk-based capital requirements will cost French insurers in the region of €1.2bn ($1.75bn), according to a study..
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
US
Firms “not prepared” for catastrophes: survey
While many large North American corporations are exposed to natural disasters, many are not well-prepared for such events, according to a new survey. In addition, the survey found that many..
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Aviation
12.8, crash, fatalities
US: a small aircraft carrying a patient to Boston for medical treatment crashed in a grocery store parking lot, killing all three people on board. The single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza went down in the parking lot at a..
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Natural catastrophes
18.8, Tropical storm Kammuri
Vietnam: authorities used army helicopters to evacuate thousands stranded by tropical storm “Kammuri”, which killed at least 113 people, as forecasters warned of more bad weather ahead. Disaster relief..
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Marine
12.8, capsizing, fatality
China: general cargo vessel Shun Qian No.1
(3600 gt), carrying iron ore, capsized in the Beibu Gulf, south of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, leaving one dead and two others missing. Rescuers saved 14 of the crew..
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Liability, awards and settlements
13.8, submarine collision, indictment
India: an Indian Navy court martial indicted a submarine commander and served him with loss of seniority for a collision the submarine had with a merchant vessel during a Naval exercise in the Arabian Sea in..
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Property damage and business interruption
12.8, strike
Belgium: a baggage handlers’ strike caused chaos at Brussels international airport for the second day, after management and unions failed to reach a deal over working conditions. The Aviapartner and Flightcare staff, who handle..
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Late reports
11.8, sinking, fatality
Indonesia: one person was killed and three are missing after general cargo vessel Palangkaraya
(291 gt, built 1961) carrying 17 crew members, 13 passengers, staple food and cement sank 11 miles southwest of Bawean Island,..
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Growth driven by increase in popular understanding of insurance
With around 80% of Bangladesh’s population classified as poor, it is not surprising that the demand for life insurance is limited. However, the optimism expressed by life market practitioners at the beginning of the decade seems to have been justified. Seven years later, in 2007, companies reported satisfactory growth in life business, not only amongst clients in the expanding middle class but also amongst the less well-off in both urban and rural areas, where a good deal of progress has been made in promoting special, low price microinsurance schemes
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Insurance stocks retreat in face of concerns about Fannie Mae
For the three weeks ending 28 August, insurance and reinsurance stocks lost much of the momentum gained over the previous periods, although there were strong gains by more than a few individual stocks.
This very much reflected the uncertainty on the..
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Exchange rate drives increase in net premium income of top 10
Last year saw a further decline of the US dollar against other currencies, and this factor had a significant impact on the figures of companies that converted their results at year-end exchange rates. For example, Swiss Re Group posted a 3% rise in net written premiums in its reporting currency, but a 10% increase in US-dollar terms, and fifth-placed Hannover Re Group recorded a 6% decline in non-life net premiums on a Euro basis, but a 5% rise in US dollars
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Colombian court orders health reforms to standardise services
The differences in compulsory health cover plans should be phased out over the next year
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Hanover Finance imposes freeze on investor funds
Investors are unhappy at the revelation that the firm’s owners have collected huge multi-million dollar dividends
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Storms fail to break underwriting profit streak
For the fifth consecutive year Australia’s insurers have kept profits out of the red, despite a 6.3% fall in 2007
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Life now accounts for nearly 60% of total insurance market income
However, demand for personal pension products in Poland remains very small; accounting for only 0.2% of life business
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Allianz offloads Dresdner Bank for €9.8bn
Dresdner Bank has weighed heavily on Allianz’s share price, which has lost 60% of its value since 2001
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Sector outlook downgraded on pricing concerns
Standard & Poor’s says without a reversal in the downward rating trend, underwriting results are certain to suffer
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
The UK Equality Bill and rating by age group
At present insurance companies are free to set premium rates using a range of rating factors, including age. This practice, according to the Actuarial Profession (which is governed jointly by the Faculty of Actuaries in Edinburgh and the Institute..
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Tax blow for insurers
French government wants to impose another 1.1% on insurers’ investment income
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Irish reserve harvest ends
The market’s deteriorating underwriting results were blamed on intense competition, which senior executives say is unsustainable
Online Published Date:
08 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
845 - 08 September 2008
Asia
Navigators in China
The US specialty insurer and reinsurer, the Navigators Group has established a reinsurance presence in China through its Lloyd’s Syndicate 1221 via the Navigators Underwriting Division of Lloyd’s Reinsurance Company..
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Europe
Ironshore completes Lloyd’s buy
Ironshore Inc, the Bermuda-based p/c insurer, has marked its entry to the Lloyd’s insurance market by completing the purchase of Pembroke Managing Agency Ltd. The agency, previously owned by Chaucer..
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
North America
Not enough to drive change in market rates
Insurance sector advisory firm, Deloitte believes that that Hurricanes Fay, Gustav and Ike were not large enough to drive a change in the market rates. Deloitte insurance partner Lis Gibson said it would..
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
International
Endurance boosts non-US underwriting teams
Bermudian insurer and reinsurer Endurance Specialty Holdings has made several underwriting appointments in its international reinsurance operations serving non-US clients. Laurent Beauregard and Patrizio..
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Security
29.8, armed robbery
Corsica: an investigation was started into an armed robbery on board a luxury yacht off the coast of Corsica in which more than €130,000 was stolen. Yacht Tiara
(428 gt, built 2004), was boarded off the Corsican coast, in..
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Aviation
28.8, crash, fatalities
Macedonia: four people were killed when a small aircraft crashed near Leskovac on Mount Galichica. The aircraft, a Z3-DCL belonging to a flight academy based near Skopje crashed into a churchyard. Only the identity of the..
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Natural catastrophes
2.9, Hurricane Gustav
US: the energy industry began to breathe a sigh of relief as assessments of onshore refineries and offshore oil rigs and platforms revealed no significant damage from hurricane “Gustav.” Several companies conducted..
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Marine
2.9, search for toxic chemical call off
Solomon Islands: the search for the toxic cargo carried by the sunken general cargo vessel Ocean Papa
was called off by Oceanic Container Lines Inc which owns the vessel. The company said the search..
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Liability, awards and settlements
26.8, ferry crash, wrongful death claim settlement
US: the widow of a victim of a deadly ferry crash settled a wrongful death claim against the city of New York for $8.7mn. Kathy Healy’s husband, John Healy, died in the Oct. 15, 2003,..
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Property damage and business interruption
27.8, chemical plant explosion, fatalities
China: the death toll from explosions that ripped through a chemical plant in south-west China rose to 20. The victims were employees of the plant in Yizhou city in Guangxi province. Another 60 people were..
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Late reports
21.8, sinking, fatality
Sri Lanka: general cargo vessel Badulu Valley
, carrying 3,609 tonnes of bagged rice loaded at Kakinada and consigned for Bangladesh, sank at Chittagong following a collision with chemical tanker Heng Zhou
, which was lying..
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Hiscox Ltd
The 4.6% decline in Hiscox Global Markets division’s gross premium income in 2007 was entirely due to Dollar/Pound currency translation losses. In US Dollar terms, the division’s gross premium income actually increased by 2.0%
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Increase in competition as long standing monopoly declines
Despite generally good claims experience, rates were kept at a conservative level by the anti-competitive structure of the market, which is characterised by a high degree of concentration and the widespread use of reciprocal coinsurance. These factors have allowed insurers to make substantial underwriting profits every year since 2003, an achievement which has not only attracted new competitors into the marketplace, but has also unleashed an increasingly aggressive battle for market share
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Market’s fragile composure disrupted by AIG and Lehman Brothers
The two week period ending 11 September was particularly tough for the insurance and reinsurance stocks tracked by WIR
. Interestingly, and in stark contrast to earlier periods, the price of oil was only briefly a consideration for investors, and..
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Acquisition will be the key to INS’s strategy of regional expansion
The former state monopoly has formed a new holding company to acquire new businesses in neighbouring countries
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Natural catastrophes call for strengthened crop insurance scheme
Early autumn frosts alone are estimated to have lost farmers US$250mn
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Insurers issue riot cover warning as political tensions mount
Insurers have said they will not consider claims for deaths or injuries to policyholders involved in anti-government rallies
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Regulator keeps insurance growth expectations in check
There are plenty of firms interested in entering China’s insurance market but global financial turmoil has curbed over-expansion
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Critics oppose plan to open up workers’ compensation market
A review by PricewaterhouseCoopers has listed the benefits of the ACC monopoly and it has advised against reform
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Insurance market growth driven by increase in economic activity
Although six of the 16 insurance companies in the market are foreign, their market share remains modest
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Lack of consumer knowledge behind increase in complaints
Ombudsman said it received 4,000 complaints from policyholders last year, up 45% since 2007
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Investment markets overshadow cat losses as top industry concern
In 2008, the capital base of the global insurance industry is expected to shrink for the first time after five years of growth
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
The business of process administration in the takaful market
As the global takaful market grows and matures, several key issues are emerging for insurers seeking to enter this market and for the solutions providers with whom they partner. According to Catherine Stagg-Macey and Ashley Evans
, respectively senior analyst and analyst in the insurance division of information technology research and consulting firm, Celent, these include questions about choosing the right takaful model; the role of “first movers” in the space; the regulation and standardisation of Islamic insurance products; and questions around how to calculate the policyholder surplus. They argue that insurers who can get the answers right are well positioned not only to achieve early success in this new product area but also to set standards for a field that is likely to see significant global growth in upcoming decades
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Marine insurance: threats and opportunities
While there are still opportunities for insurers in the shipping and energy sectors, the circumstances are very different to a year ago. The performance of the shipping sector is closely linked to the health of the global economy which, according..
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
China Re IPO delayed
The regulator intervenes to postpone the planned $2.5bn stock market listing
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008
Top five premiums up 18%
The credit crisis and turbulent financial markets did not significantly affect life insurance sales last year
Online Published Date:
22 September 2008
Appeared in issue:
846 - 22 September 2008