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Middle East
Arig profits climb after summer of hectic activity
Bahrain s Arab Insurance Group (Arig) has reported nine-month net profits to end-September of $19mn, well up on the group s 2003 full-year result of $7.6mn. Buoyed by its increased profitability and..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Europe
Lloyd s to raise £500mn in long term debt
Lloyd s insurance market is to raise £500mn in long-term subordinated debt on the capital markets. Funding had previously been restricted to corporate members, individual names and bank lending...
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
North America
Senate delay could jeopardise US terror insurance Act
The US Congress s passage of an extension to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) appears less likely this year following Senate banking committee chairman Richard Shelby s statement that he..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Mapfre Re
The company was one of the few reinsurers to receive an upgrade in its financial strength rating in 2003
Spain s leading reinsurer Mapfre Re had a good year in 2003 with both turnover and profitability significantly up on the previous year.
Gross..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Marsh contingency payment investigation creates uncertainty
Aon, Willis, Benfield and JLT share prices impacted as investors fear that Spitzer probe will spread
US insurance stocks fell sharply on 14 October, the date of WIR s market snapshot, after New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed a civil..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Argentinian funds forced to take 25 cents in the dollar
The government has reportedly offered fund managers a face-saving concession
Pension fund managers in Argentina have accepted a deal on defaulted government debt estimated at more than $16bn.
The deal, brokered by Minister of the Economy Roberto..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Insurance market expected to grow by 24% in 2004
An announcement in 2003 hinted at reducing state ownership in the three main companies but has yet to be implemented
The vigorous economic growth experienced in Far Eastern economies, lead by China, is more than being matched by Vietnam, which..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Geoff Bromley, Chairman of European opereations, Guy Carpenter
There is still a lot of work to be done to better understand the dynamics of the credit risk represented by reinsurers
There is increasingly the feeling among cedants and reinsurance brokers that while reinsurance companies have demanded the most..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Allianz sells personal lines subsidiary
But Canadian industrial lines business retained as part of Allianz Global Risks
ING Canada is to buy, for an undisclosed sum, the property and casualty business of Allianz in that country.
This will involve ING purchasing Allianz of Canada Inc., as..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Gender to remain factor in rate setting
But any difference in treatment has to be based on relevant actuarial data
Insurers in the European Union will continue to be allowed to charge different premium rates for men and women. The draft European directive requiring equal treatment..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Converium
Reinsurer s prospects improved by successful capital increase
Troubled reinsurer Converium AG has recovered part of its pride as rating agency Standard & Poor’s raised its long-term counterparty credit of the parent company to BBB+ from..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
CCR to reduce writing of non-guarantee business
The government is pressing CCR to achieve returns similar to private reinsurers
The drive for profitability is pushing the French state reinsurer Caisse Centrale de Reassurance (CCR), one of only three reinsurers in the world with an AAA-rating..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Caribbean
Jamaican insurers warn of 20% increase in rates for 2005
The damage inflicted in the Caribbean during this year s hurricane season could see property insurance rates climb in Jamaica, according to Andrew Levy, chairman of the Jamaica Association of..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Asia
Chinese insurers must improve data-gathering
The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) will from next month require local insurers to adopt new standards for the compilation of insurance statistics. The move aims to turn around the current..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
25 SEPTEMBER — 8 OCTOBER 2004
Late reports
16.9, hurricane, damage
US: hurricane Ivan will end up costing US property/casualty insurers around $6bn as a result of 600,000 claims, according to figures compiled by the Property Claim Services (PCS) unit of New Jersey-based..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Life reinsurance up 15%
Life reinsurance represents a sizeable portion of R+V s premium volume. In 2003 premiums for the segment rose by 15% to 369mn, increasing the line s share of the company s total gross premiums from 33.6% in 2002 to 38.2% last year.
Domestic business..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
R+V Versicherung
R+V s technical result improved from a deficit of 82mn in 2002 to a loss of 19mn last year
Based in Wiesbaden, Germany, R+V Versicherung (R+V) serves as both the parent company of the R+V insurance group and the reinsurer for the group s direct..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Reaseguradora Patria
Patria s gross written premiums for 2003 grew by 25% to US$100mn, recording double-digit increases in all lines
Mexico s insurance market had a mixed year in 2003. Total direct premium income fell by 8% to P118.5bn (US$10.5bn) but profits rose by..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Call for reduction in the capital requirements for health insurers
The industry is calling for mandatory health cover for all and the removal of barriers to increased foreign investment
The Indian healthcare industry wants the Government to reduce the stipulated capital requirement for health insurers from the..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Swiss Life
The life insurer wants its assets in more accessible forms
Swiss Life is selling the majority of its private equity (non-listed share) portfolio, valued at some SF400mn to the Russell Investment Group s private equity specialist Pantheon..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Use of service placement agreements not the same as bid rigging
But rates could fall if customers believe that deceptive practices by their insurer led to higher past premium costs
Few people would proclaim that the insurance sector is well regarded by the general public. Insurance policies are generally seen..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Book review
Reinsurance Essentials
is both the more transportable companion volume, as well as the update, to the heavier tome
Reinsurance
, first published in 1979
While Reinsurance Essentials
takes into account changing trends in the industry since..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Tough market for power companies
The hardening of the international reinsurance markets as a result of the spate of recent hurricane claims in the US and Mexico is making it difficult for the Indian public sector insurers to find reinsurance cover for big energy risks. The sudden..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
The importance of testing the clarity and quality of advice
Harvie Brown, the newly-installed President of the Faculty of Actuaries, on the challenges the Actuarial Profession needs to address in the 21st century. Here he looks at the need for the introduction of a formal peer review process within the..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004
Extending TRIA for two more years
The catastrophic terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, fundamentally changed the way the world looks at risk and changed the insurance industry forever. The previously unimaginable losses sustained by insurers and reinsurers were more than one and..
Online Published Date:
22 October 2004
Appeared in issue:
750 - 22 October 2004