Reinsurance News
Mid-year renewals expected to be on-time: Priebe, Guy Carpenter
14th April 2020
The mid-year reinsurance renewals at June and July 1st 2020 are expected to proceed without any major issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as the industry prepares to negotiate via video conference, David Priebe, Chairman of Guy Carpenter told us. Speaking with Reinsurance News, the Chairman of reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter ... Read the full article
Todd Germano named MD of Optio Insurance Services NA
14th April 2020
Optio Group, a house of insurance companies, has appointed Todd Germano as Managing Director of Optio Insurance Services North America, effective immediately. Optio is comprised of MGAs Ascent Underwriting, Cove Programs, and brokerage Bay Risk Services. The company notes that this appointment coincides with the development of its U.S. platform as ... Read the full article
JP Morgan reduces income estimates on COVID-19 exposure
14th April 2020
JP Morgan has reduced its net income estimates for the largest four European reinsurers, due to the significant claims that could arise from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. On the P&C side, analysts see event cancellation as the most immediate source of claims, where the outcome for reinsurers should be known fairly ... Read the full article
Moody’s revises Japan life outlook to negative
14th April 2020
Moody's Japan has changed its outlook for Japan's life insurance industry to negative from stable, citing challenges to capitalisation and profitability due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Analysts noted that the virus outbreak has already caused significant disruption to the domestic and global capital markets, and could put strain on insurers’ ... Read the full article
Everest Re adds Poracchia as CFO of Global Markets division
14th April 2020
Bermuda-based re/insurer Everest Re Group has appointed Alex Poracchia as international chief actuary and Chief Financial Officer of its Global Markets division. Prior to joining Everest, Poracchia spent nearly eight years at Deloitte UK as a partner within the firm’s Actuarial, Reward and Analytics practice predominantly supporting international clients' Audits, M&A ... Read the full article
Ed appoints AJG’s Niraj Perera as Head of Transactional Risk
14th April 2020
Global reinsurance brokerage Ed has launched its transactional risk team with the appointment of Niraj Perera as Head of Transactional Risk within its professional and executive risk division. Perera joins the firm from brokerage Arthur J. Gallagher and brings more than two decades of insurance industry experience to the role, having ... Read the full article
Swiss Re makes $5.2mn contribution to support global COVID-19 relief efforts
14th April 2020
Global reinsurance giant Swiss Re, through the Swiss Re Foundation, has donated CHF 5 million (USD 5.2 million) to support global COVID-19 relief efforts. The pledge has been made through the reinsurer's non-profit grant foundation, which will distribute the funds to organisations tackling the current crisis, particularly in emerging countries. Specifically, the ... Read the full article
QBE buys more cat reinsurance amid COVID-19 capital raise
14th April 2020
Australian re/insurer QBE has announced that it plans to purchase additional catastrophe reinsurance as part of a new capital plan to withstand the impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In response to the “unprecedented economic and investment market uncertainty” caused by COVID-19, QBE has said that it will pre-emptively lift regulatory ... Read the full article
U.S. targets federal reinsurance backstop for pandemic BI losses
14th April 2020
The creation of a Federal Pandemic Risk Reinsurance Program, designed to cover insured losses arising from public health emergencies, is reportedly progressing in the U.S. Currently in discussion draft form, the Pandemic Risk Insurance Act of 2020 would develop the new reinsurance program in order to provide a "transparent system of ... Read the full article
Greenlight Re sinks to $43mn Q1 net loss
14th April 2020
Hedge fund-backed reinsurer Greenlight Re expects to incur a net loss of between $38 million and $43 million for the first quarter of 2020. This loss is driven by an investment loss in the Solasglas Investments, LP fund of $42.2 million, representing a loss of 8.1% for the quarter as previously ... Read the full article
Separate billion-dollar events mark active month for US tornadoes: Aon
14th April 2020
The month of March was a particularly active one for US weather losses, with separate billion-dollar tornado events marking significant losses for the re/insurance industry, according to the latest Global Recap report from Aon. Most notably, deadly tornados tracked across central Tennessee on March 3, including an EF4 and EF3 in ... Read the full article
Venbrook recruits Sonia Ahuja as COO
14th April 2020
California-based re/insurance firm Venbrook has announced the appointment of Sonia Ahuja as Chief Operations Officer (COO). In this role, Ahuja will be responsible for growing the company through both organic initiatives and strategic acquisitions and partnerships. She will oversee operations efficiencies and margin improvements for Venbrook Group and its subsidiaries. Most recently, Ahuja ... Read the full article
Munich Re is well placed to manage earnings setback, market volatility: S&P
14th April 2020
S&P Global Ratings expects reinsurance giant Munich Re to maintain its capital adequacy in 2020 and 2021, despite the firm withdrawing its profit guidance for the current year in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the reinsurer expected to achieve profit for 2020 of €2.8 billion. ... Read the full article
Global recession twice as deep as 2008, shorter lived: Swiss Re’s Haegeli
9th April 2020
Swiss Re’s chief economist Jérôme Jean Haegeli believes the global recession facing us in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic could be one of the deepest, but also one of the shortest. Analysis conducted by the reinsurer projects an atypical recession which will be twice as deep and more than twice ... Read the full article
Despite headwinds, A.M. Best holds stable outlook on US health insurance
9th April 2020
Ratings agency A.M. Best has maintained its stable outlook on the U.S. health insurance market despite the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. A.M. Best has held its stable outlook on the sector in light of positive market trends that were evident through year-end 2019 and into the first-quarter of ... Read the full article





