Although insured losses as a result of Hurricane Irma will not be as severe as originally forecast, the storm still represents a sizeable catastrophe event that will test the infrastructure and potentially strain the financial wherewithal of some local and regional carriers in Florida, particularly those that are geographically concentrated,...
Insurance CEOs may have lost some confidence in the global economy amidst the current geo-political and economic landscape, but most of them (85 percent) remain confident about their own company’s short-term growth prospects, according to a survey by KPMG. While many believe they can outperform the market over the next...
Key oil and gas facilities along the Texas Gulf Coast have been temporarily closed as Hurricane Harvey plagues the region with torrential rain and high winds, virtually assuring gasoline prices will rise in the storm’s aftermath. Even before Harvey made landfall, dozens of oil and gas platforms had been evacuated,...
The concentration of the global life reinsurance market and high barriers to entry for new players will contribute to the continued profitability of the sector, according to analysis from rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P). In its latest global life reinsurance market report, S&P has pointed out that returns on equity...
Fitch Ratings has said in a new report that it expects German non-life insurers to continue increasing premiums due to declining yields in their investment portfolios. Gross written premiums (GWP) for the sector are expected to grow two percent in 2017 and one percent in 2018 following an increase of...
Data analytics provider Verisk Analytics, Inc., has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sequel from HgCapital and other Sequel shareholders. The purchase price is GBP250 million. London-based Sequel is an insurance and reinsurance software specialist. Sequel had revenue and EBITDA of GBP26 million and GBP12 million,...
Risk professionals’ continued to show confidence in stand-alone cyber insurance policies as the number of practitioners who purchased the coverage increased moderately in 2017. According to the 2017 RIMS Cyber Survey, organisations with standalong cyber insurance policies increased from 2016 by three percent to 83 percent. Among this segment, 84...
Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM) has announced that it intends to headquarter its post-Brexit EU operations in Luxembourg. The move follows a detailed analysis of potential jurisdictions, with the aim of ensuring that LSM’s post-Brexit structure complements its European strategy. LSM will be seeking regulatory approvals to operate via an insurance...
Swiss Re is switching the entire USD130 billion it holds in liquid assets to track ethical indices, the latest move towards principled investments by the insurance industry. The reinsurer is 90 percent of the way through shifting its holdings from tracking traditional benchmarks, a process it expects to complete by...
AIG has become the sole seller of life insurance for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The American insurer will sell several products, including life and critical illness cover, mainly alongside the mortgage business of RBS and its divisions Natwest and Ulster Bank. It is the company’s biggest push back into...
