Violence related to Mexico’s battle against organized crime and drug traffickers continues to escalate, with the most recent attacks aimed at disrupting the municipal elections with the killing of governor candidate, Rodolfo Torre Cantu, on June 28. "The majority of gun-related deaths in Mexico occur during shootouts between the military and the cartels," noted Sarah [...]
A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of A (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of "a+" of Lloyd’s of London (Lloyd’s) (United Kingdom) and Lloyd’s Reinsurance Company (China) Limited (China). At the same time, A.M. Best has affirmed the ICR of "a" of the Society of Lloyd’s (United Kingdom) and debt ratings [...]
According to Swiss Re’s latest “World insurance in 2009” sigma study, world insurance premium volume fell 1.1% on an inflation-adjusted basis. Life premiums fell 2% while non-life stagnated. Premium growth in the emerging markets slowed but remained positive. The industry’s profitability and capital recovered significantly, but have not yet reached pre-crisis levels. In most countries, [...]
The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has granted approval to The Chubb Corporation’s wholly owned subsidiary, Chubb Insurance (China) Company Limited, to establish a branch in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Pending additional approvals from CIRC and other governmental authorities, the branch is expected to open in December 2010. Chubb opened its first China branch in Shanghai [...]
Major losses from the Chile earthquake and storms in Australia in the first quarter of 2010 have had little impact on pricing in the global reinsurance market, which continued to soften this renewal season. The exception was on Chilean-specific renewals, which have seen rate increases of between 40 and 70 percent. This assessment of the [...]
Aon Benfield has released its July 1 Renewals Update report, which reveals that rates continue to decline in all major regions without significant catastrophe loss activity in the last 12 months. The effects of the Chilean Earthquake and storms in Australia resulted in localized increases in pricing. Chilean reinsurance renewals increased 45 to 65 percent [...]
Despite a changing and uncertain marketplace, U.S. terrorism insurance take-up rates continued to climb in 2009 as companies of all sizes and across all industries continued to purchase terrorism coverage, according to a report released by Marsh. Sixty-one percent of firms surveyed by Marsh purchased property terrorism insurance in 2009, an increase from 57 [...]
Aegon NV, the bailed-out Dutch insurer, said on June 22 that it is looking to sell the life reinsurance arm of its U.S.-based subsidiary Transamerica and that it will restructure operations in Britain. Transamerica Reinsurance is the third-largest life reinsurer in the U.S., and 7th globally, according to company materials. It wrote $1.93 billion [...]
A watchdog panel says it’s still unclear whether U.S. taxpayers will ever fully recoup the US$182 billion they plowed into American International Group Inc., and the government should have used up all its options before bailing out the crippled insurance titan. The government could have acted sooner and more aggressively to engineer a privately [...]
A new report from Guy Carpenter & Company finds that insurers and reinsurers have become increasingly sophisticated in their use of expert advice to monitor the political climate and dynamic nature of the terrorism threat, even as reinsurance supply continues to outplace demand. The report, Terrorism: Reinsurers Standing By , examines the evolving nature of [...]
In order to address growing concerns around climate change and energy security, Marsh announced that it has formed a International Nuclear Practice, drawing together Marsh’s extensive expertise and skills for all nuclear clients based outside the US and Canada. It will be headed by Mark Popplewell, head of Marsh’s UK power and utilities practice, who [...]
Insurers and reinsurers are likely take a hard look at the assumptions used to price property and liability coverages for drilling platforms in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon loss, said Moody’s Investors Service in a new report. Property pricing has already responded to the event with premiums that are 15%-25% higher for rigs operating [...]
Chubb Insurance Company of Europe SE announced that it has received approval from the Lloyd’s Franchise Board to establish a new Syndicate which will be named Chubb 1882. The new Syndicate will commence underwriting from June 14 for business incepting from July 1, 2010. Chubb 1882 will be managed by a newly created Lloyd’s managing [...]
Lloyd’s announced that it estimates its net claims before tax from the earthquake in Chile to be in the order of US$1.4 billion. It has also announced its current estimates for the net claims from the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. The estimate stands at between US$300 million and US$600 million. As [...]
Prudential PLC has accepted defeat in its ambitious US$35.5-billion plan to acquire Asian insurance company AIA from U.S. insurance company AIG. Prudential said on June 2 that it is negotiating with AIG about terminating the deal, which faltered because of resistance of Prudential shareholders to the high price, and AIG’s refusal to accept less money. [...]
With health care and financial reform on the agenda, 2009 was a record year for insurance lobbying, hitting the mark of $164.3 million in spending for the industry, according to a BestWeek report. Health insurers lead the industry in lobbying spending with Blue Cross/Blue Shield at the top with nearly $15 million spent in 2009. [...]
Billionaire Warren Buffett’s firm says it cut its holdings in a dozen companies in the first quarter, including slashing its stake in Kraft Foods Inc., as it finished raising cash for its US$26.7-billion acquisition of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad. The sale of more than 30 million Kraft shares came after Buffett criticized the [...]
Samsung Life Insurance shares jumped nearly 9 per cent in their first day of trading in South Korea after a $4.3 billion initial public offering that set a record as the country’s largest. The shares opened May 12 at 119,500 won ($104.69), some 8.6 per cent above the IPO price of 110,000 won. They later [...]
XL Capital Ltd announced that at a special shareholder meeting, its ordinary shareholders approved changing the parent holding company’s place of incorporation from the Cayman Islands to Ireland. XL shareholders also approved, among other proposals, the renaming of the Company from "XL Capital" to "XL Group". The name change is expected to be made in [...]
