Reinsurance News
Hiscox Claims Director Jeremy Pinchin to retire, successor named
22nd November 2018
Specialist re/insurance firm Hiscox has announced that Jeremy Pinchin is set to retire at the end of February 2019, and will be succeeded in his claims responsibilities by Grace Hanson, who will join the company in January. Pinchin joined Hiscox in 2005 as the group’s first Claims Director and has since ... Read the full article
Sun Life a contender in multi-billion dollar FTLife sale
22nd November 2018
Sun Life Financial Inc., the Canadian financial services and life insurance company, is reportedly vying to acquire Hong Kong insurer FTLife Insurance Co. in a deal that could value more than $3 billion, according to sources at Bloomberg. Sun Life is said to be competing in a second round of bidding ... Read the full article
Typhoon Jebi insured losses hit record-breaking $5.2bn, still climbing
22nd November 2018
The amount of insured claims paid out for Typhoon Jebi, which made landfall in Japan on September 4, has reached close to $5.2 billion, making it the most costly Typhoon for re/insurers to ever hit the country. Data from the General Insurance Association of Japan shows that 825,091 insurance claims have ... Read the full article
Upstream energy sector remains profitable, but rate reductions unlikely: WTW
22nd November 2018
The upstream energy re/insurance sector looks set to continue its profitable trend in 2018, although insurers are reluctant to implement any further rate reductions as this fragile dynamic could be reversed by only a modest upturn in claims, according to re/insurance broker Willis Towers Watson (WTW). The November 2018 edition of ... Read the full article
Robus opens post-Brexit European hub in Malta
22nd November 2018
Robus Group, an independent insurance management, fiduciary and financial advisory group, has opened a new office in Malta to ensure that its clients can continue to access the European Single Market once the UK leaves the European Union (EU) in March 2019. Jonathan Abela has been appointed to lead the Malta ... Read the full article
MAPFRE to make €25m insurtech fund investment
22nd November 2018
Spanish insurer MAPFRE has pledged a €25 million (US $28.5 million) investment in the Alma Mundi Insurtech Fund, with the aim of identifying early stage startups whose technology can be applied to the insurance sector. MAPFRE’s role as an anchor investor means it will play a key role in in the ... Read the full article
Methodology update affected just 3% of EMEA re/insurers, says A.M. Best
22nd November 2018
The recent revisions that A.M. Best made to its Best’s Credit Rating Methodology (BCRM) and Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR) resulted in changes for just 3% of re/insurers in the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region, according to analysts at the company. Speaking in an interview with A.M. BestTV, Mahesh ... Read the full article
Liberty Mutual restructures excess casualty operations, increases capacity
22nd November 2018
U.S primary insurer Liberty Mutual Insurance has realigned its excess casualty operations and increased its capacity for the business to $100 million. Effective from 1 January 2019, the company’s excess casualty capabilities will benefit from dedicated underwriting teams on both an admitted and excess and surplus (E&S) basis. All admitted excess casualty ... Read the full article
SCOR sets up P&C specialty insurance unit in Paris to ensure Brexit continuity
22nd November 2018
French reinsurance major SCOR has established SCOR Europe SE, a new Paris-based P&C specialty insurance company which the firm says will ensure continuity for its clients after Brexit. SCOR Europe SE has been approved by the French supervisory authority, the ACPR (Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution), gaining a license ... Read the full article
Insured wildfire losses may exceed highest estimate: Goldman Sachs
22nd November 2018
As the scope of damage from the California wildfires continues to expand, it’s becoming increasingly likely that insured losses will fall in the upper limit of, or exceed, the latest $9 billion to $13 billion RMS estimate, according to analysis by Goldman Sachs. Most of the destruction was caused by ... Read the full article
New tech key in narrowing protection gap: Swiss Re’s Jerome Haegeli
21st November 2018
Speaking yesterday at Swiss Re’s London offices, the firm's Chief Economist Jerome Haegeli, alongside the Head of Insurance Risk Research Dan Ryan, stated that it will take a combination of proactiveness and the deployment of new technologies to narrow the global protection gap. “More technology is a huge upside to the ... Read the full article
Wildfires could boost P&C pricing and reduce risk appetite: Morgan Stanley
21st November 2018
With the recent outbreak of devastating wildfires in California marking two consecutive years of large losses in the state, analysts at Morgan Stanley have suggested that the property and casualty (P&C) re/insurance market could respond by raising prices and reducing its risk appetite. The firm said that the industry will have ... Read the full article
Plug and Play invests in drone Insurtech firm Betterview
21st November 2018
Plug and Play, a Silicon Valley-based innovation platform and venture fund that specialises in the development of early-to-growth stage technology startups, has revealed plans to invest in Betterview, an InsurTech and drone start-up firm backed by Munich Re and Maiden Re. Betterview said that it plans to use the funding to ... Read the full article
Tokio Marine HCC names Darren Carr as Head of Marine Liability
21st November 2018
Specialty insurance group Tokio Marine HCC has appointed Darren Carr as Head of Marine Liability for its London Market division. Carr joins Tokio Marine from AXIS Capital, where he most recently served as Head of Marine and managed various underwriting teams, including Marine Liability, Hull, Cargo and Specie, Reinsurance and Renewable ... Read the full article
Burns & Wilcox partners with cyber security firm
21st November 2018
Burns & Wilcox, the North American wholesale insurance broker and underwriting manager, has announced a partnership with BreachAware, a London-based cyber security firm. The partnership will provide B&W customers with a proprietary risk mitigation tool that scans the web 24/7 and identifies compromised assets such as company email addresses, passwords, and ... Read the full article