Reinsurance News

Willis Re adds Dan Melanson as SVP, health practice leader

26th March 2020

Willis Re, the reinsurance business of Willis Towers Watson, has appointed Dan Melanson as senior vice president and Health Practice leader. Melanson will serve on the Life, Accident and Health senior management team and be responsible for creating and executing strategies to grow the Willis Re LAH business. He begins immediately and ... Read the full article

Kinsale promotes Jamie Secor to lead Commercial Property division

26th March 2020

Kinsale Insurance Company has announced the promotion of Jamie Secor to Division Manager for Commercial Property. Secor has held several underwriting positions of increasing responsibility within Kinsale since 2010. She has also held positions with CapSpecialty, James River Insurance Company, and Virginia Farm Bureau. “Jamie has played an important role in the growth ... Read the full article

COVID-19 business interruption legal action expands

26th March 2020

US states Massachusetts and Ohio have joined New Jersey in pushing for legal action to eliminate ‘virus’ exclusions on existing business interruption insurance policies. Legislation is aiming to provide more financial support for smaller businesses affected by the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, which has now reached almost 70,000 cases in the ... Read the full article

Analysts forecast “very little” COVID-19 impact on property cat reinsurance

26th March 2020

Analysts at JMP Securities have said they expect to see “very little impact, good or bad” on property catastrophe reinsurance lines due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and the resulting recession. Looking at property and casualty (P&C) lines more generally, JMP Securities believes COVID-19 and its accompanying economic volatility will be ... Read the full article

Lloyd’s falls to 2019 underwriting loss, COVID-19 drives down solvency ratio

26th March 2020

The specialist Lloyd's of London insurance and reinsurance marketplace has reported an unprofitable underwriting performance for 2019, with its full year results also revealing a decline in its central solvency ratio as a result of financial market volatility driven by the COVID-19 outbreak. Albeit improved on the previous year, Lloyd's has ... Read the full article

European life insurers shifting to capital-light products: Fitch

26th March 2020

European life insurers are gradually shifting away from traditional guarantees towards more capital-light products, transferring part of the investment risk to policyholders, according to analysts at Fitch Ratings. The rating agency noted that the shift is the result of the protracted low interest rate environment, which it sees as posing major ... Read the full article

Aon’s Eric Andersen, WTW’s Julie Gebauer to lead integration

25th March 2020

Global insurance and reinsurance broker Aon has confirmed to Reinsurance News that Eric Andersen, President of Aon and Julie Gebauer, Head of Human Capital & Benefits at Willis Towers Watson (WTW), will lead the integration of the two brokerage firms. On the 9th of March, 2020 Aon announced that a ... Read the full article

K2 Insurance Services appoints Mark Smith as President

25th March 2020

K2 Insurance Services LLC, a specialty insurance holdings company, has announced the appointment of Mark Smith as the company’s President. Smith brings almost 30 years of insurance experience to K2, including underwriting, actuarial and finance leadership roles at single state, national and international carriers. Most recently, Mark spent four years at Marsh-owned ... Read the full article

Manulife partners with digital health platform dacadoo

25th March 2020

Canadian multinational insurer Manulife has announced a collaboration with dacadoo, a Swiss-based digital health platform provider, to enhance its digital offerings in Asia. Under this new partnership, dacadoo will strengthen Manulife’s existing health engagement platform, ManulifeMOVE, to help customers understand their health and develop better habits. “We are delighted to be partnering ... Read the full article

AIG life operations may require $3bn extra capital, stress test shows

25th March 2020

New stress tests from Goldman Sachs show that AIG’s life entities could require a capital infusion of up to $3 billion from the holding company, if the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak results in major financial market pressures. Analysts felt that the preferred funding options for such a scenario would be a suspension ... Read the full article

Zurich expands roll out of marine insurance platform

25th March 2020

Global insurer Zurich is accelerating the broader roll-out of a new marine insurance platform for small and medium cargo. The Zurich Swift Insurance Platform provides web-based access to insurance that users can tailor to their needs. The platform leverages automation technologies to allow marine insurance brokers and intermediaries to manage the full ... Read the full article

Markel invests in building product firms Lansing & Harvey

25th March 2020

Markel Corporation has entered into an agreement to acquire a majority interest in Lansing Building Products, a supplier of exterior building products and materials in the US. At the same time, Lansing has enhanced its geographic reach via the acquisition of the distribution business of Harvey Building Products. Established in 1955 in ... Read the full article

Kingsbridge set to acquire NSM Insurance Group

25th March 2020

The Kingsbridge Group, a UK provider of specialist insurance services to contractors, has agreed to acquire NSM Insurance Group for an undisclosed sum. NSM is based in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, and is an industry leader in the development, implementation, marketing and underwriting of profitable, industry-specific insurance programs. The deal marks an exit for ... Read the full article

AM Best revises US disability market to negative

25th March 2020

AM Best is revising the outlook to negative for the US disability segment as a low interest rate environment looks set to result in adjustments to the discount rate used in setting reserves/pricing disability income business. Additionally, while most disability income writers had reported improved morbidity, AM Best is expecting the ... Read the full article

L&H insurers should avoid major COVID-19 impact: KBRA

25th March 2020

Kroll Bond Rating Agency analysts do not generally expect a major impact from COVID-19 on underwriting results in the Life and Health segment while the mortality rate remains substantially lower among the younger age groups than in those over 50. Furthermore, KBRA expects potential mortality spikes to fall within risk management ... Read the full article