Reinsurance News
Hiscox hires Stéphane Flaquet as Chief Transformation Officer
5th February 2021
Specialist insurer Hiscox has appointed Stéphane Flaquet as its Chief Transformation Officer for the Group. In this new role Flaquet, who currently serves as CEO of Hiscox Europe, will be responsible for overseeing the delivery of the Group’s multi-year, cross-geography transformation programmes. He will work alongside business units as well as functions ... Read the full article
Anthony Hanes appointed President of RSG’s Stetson
5th February 2021
International specialty insurer Ryan Specialty Group has appointed Anthony Hanes as President of Stetson Insurance Funding. Stetson is a Ryan Specialty Group company which specialises in financing commercial and personal lines insurance premiums for the excess and surplus insurance lines industry. Hanes’ position will come into place effective of this month, with ... Read the full article
CRC Group acquires Federal Employee Defense Services (FEDS)
5th February 2021
CRC Group, a US wholesale distributor of specialty insurance products, has acquired the assets of Federal Employee Defense Services (FEDS). FEDS is a niche MGU that specialises in professional liability coverage for federal government employees and contractors. Following the acquisition, it will continue to be headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland and led by ... Read the full article
Perth Hills bushfire losses exceed $40mn: ICA
5th February 2021
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has declared a catastrophe event for the bushfires that continue to rage around the north-east of Perth. So far, bushfires in the Perth Hills region have destroyed 85 homes, as well as sheds and many kilometres of farm fences. According to ICA data, insurers have received ... Read the full article
Ratings activity normal after H1 stress: Fitch
5th February 2021
Fitch Ratings has reported that its rating activity for Western European re/insurers normalized during the second half of 2020 following a substantial increase in negative rating actions over H1. Coronavirus pandemic-related actions drove a 45% rise in the number of western European insurance rating actions taken in 2020, compared to 2019. Of ... Read the full article
W. R. Berkley hires David Brosnan as CEO of managing agent
5th February 2021
Re/insurance holding company W. R. Berkley has appointed David Brosnan as chief executive officer of W. R. Berkley Syndicate Management, the Lloyd’s managing agent for W. R. Berkley Syndicate 1967. Brosnan has over 35 years of insurance industry experience, serving in various executive leadership roles at a number of global insurance ... Read the full article
Lockton Re adopts Kovrr’s financial cyber risk model
5th February 2021
Lockton Re, the reinsurance arm of global brokerage Lockton, has licensed Kovrr’s cyber risk model as part of the broker's multi-model vendor approach to support its cyber risk initiatives. The Kovrr portfolio exposure management solution utilises a broad set of data sources from multiple cybersecurity vendors, alongside open-source datasets and proprietary ... Read the full article
Palomar secures new $25mn XoL layer, reports on Q4 cat losses
5th February 2021
Specialty insurer Palomar has secured $25 million of aggregate excess of loss reinsurance providing coverage to across all perils above a qualifying level of $2 million. The cover has an attachment point of $30 million. Palomar also announced an estimated range of pretax catastrophe losses of between $15 million and $16.5 million ... Read the full article
Aon reports organic reinsurance revenue growth of 12%
5th February 2021
Re/insurance broker Aon has reported organic revenue growth of 12% in its Reinsurance Solutions division during the fourth quarter of 2020. The Reinsurance Solutions business posted revenue of $197 million in Q4 2020, which was 5% up on the $187 million it recorded for the same period in 2019. And the high ... Read the full article
PartnerRe adds Pohlchristoph to Board of Directors
5th February 2021
Bermuda-based reinsurance company PartnerRe has added Hermann Pohlchristoph to its Board of Directors. Pohlchristoph was most recently at Munich Re as a Member of the Board of Management from 2017 to 2020 and as CFO Reinsurance, Munich Re from 2006 to 2017. Prior to that, he served as Head of Financial Reporting ... Read the full article
Beazley expects reinsurance disputes after Supreme Court ruling, says Horton
5th February 2021
Andrew Horton, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Beazley, has said the company is expecting disputes around reinsurance coverage following the Supreme Court's ruling on business interruption (BI) losses linked to COVID-19 in the UK. Speaking during a Q4 earnings call, Horton explained that there has been a long-held expectation in the ... Read the full article
The Hartford’s net income falls slightly on COVID, A&E reserve charge
5th February 2021
Property and casualty insurer The Hartford has reported a decline in net income to $532 million for the fourth-quarter of 2020, driven by excess mortality in group life as a result of COVID-19 and a charge for asbestos and environmental (A&E) reserve development. Q4 2020 net income fell by 2% when ... Read the full article
Prudential Q4 income falls to $819m as company posts $374m loss for 2020
5th February 2021
Prudential has reported a fourth quarter 2020 net income of $819 million, down from the $1.128 billion achieved in the prior year quarter. Net income in the current quarter included $1.2 billion of pre-tax net realized investment losses and related charges and adjustments, driven by losses on derivatives, and also includes ... Read the full article
Gamestop drama will increase social inflation pressures: AM Best
5th February 2021
Analysts at AM Best have argued that the recent stock market frenzy and social media outrage surrounding GameStop, AMD, AMC and other stock could cause an increase in class action lawsuits. The rating agency noted that disclosures provided by Robinhood will be under intense scrutiny by lawyers. And although it may be ... Read the full article
Beazley’s combined ratio deteriorates to 109% on COVID & ransomware
5th February 2021
Beazley has reported that its combined ratio deteriorated to 109% in 2020 on the back of first-party COVID-19 losses and elevated ransomware reserves, as the firm announces a loss before tax of $50.4 million for the year. The more than $50 million loss for the period compares with profit before tax ... Read the full article