American International Group, Inc. (AIG) has announced that it is reorganising its global property casualty business, Chartis, and has appointed Peter D. Hancock as Chartis’ new chief executive officer. Hancock, presently AIG’s Finance, Risk and Investments executive vice president, replaces Kristian P. Moor, who becomes executive vice chairman of Chartis and will report directly to [...]
British banks and financial traders are morally obliged to increase their charitable contributions due to their role in sparking the financial crisis and ensuing recession, according to more than half of Britain’s charities. The research, commissioned by specialist insurer Ecclesiastical, found that 53% of charities thought that banks had a moral duty to offer more [...]
Crawford & Company has announced the appointment of Ricardo Ortega as manager of its Brazilian claims operations. Ortega is based in São Paulo and is directly responsible to Senior Vice President and Regional Managing Director for Latin America Mauricio Alonso. Prior to joining Crawford, Ortega worked as managing director of the Interbrok Group of insurance [...]
CNA Insurance Company Limited (CNA Europe) has announced the appointment of Roy Alexander to the post of Operations and Information Technology director. Alexander is to be based in the firm’s London headquarters in Minster Court, and assumes his new position with immediate effect. He joins the firm from Amlin plc, where he worked for the [...]
A new report from Willis Re suggests that many reinsurers are facing an immediate challenge because losses suffered to date in 2011 have “largely exhausted” their catastrophe loss budgets for the year. The firm states: “In response, reinsurers are trying to proactively manage their underwriting results for the remainder of 2011 by applying rate increases [...]
Beazley is expanding its specialty professional and management liability lines in the US with the launch of a fidelity and crime insurance offering. The Lloyd’s insurer has formed a new team headed by Bill Jennings, who has joined from AXIS where he also headed the fidelity and crime team. He is supported by Juliet White, [...]
Commercial law firm, Beechcroft, is advising insurers to “take stock” following a Supreme Court ruling yesterday that the general immunity from suit previously enjoyed by experts is to be abolished. In the leading judgment in Jones v Kaney, Lord Phillips said there was “no justification for continuing to hold expert witnesses immune from suit in [...]
JLT Specialty Limited is predicting construction growth in the Nordic region over the next three years. The firm has already been the broker to a number of major projects in the region, including the Stockholm City Line, the Malmö City Tunnel and the Copenhagen Metro, as well as providing annual services to the region’s largest [...]
Thatcham, the British motor insurers’ research centre, has signed a two-year contract with Thailand’s General Insurance Association (GIA) , for the delivery of vehicle premium risk rating and alternative parts accreditation, to the Thai market. The GIA is the country’s equivalent of the Association of British Insurers and the move will create opportunities for insurers [...]
Lloyd’s has announced pre-tax profit of £2.2 billion for 2010 “despite a challenging year of significant claims”. The result compares with 2009′s record-breaking £3.9 billion. However, the London insurance market reported a combined ratio of 93.3%, which compares favourably with competitors. Commenting on the market, Lloyd’s chairman, Lord Levene, said that the catastrophes of both [...]
A survey of 20 UK councils by Aviva’s RAC unit has revealed that road conditions across the country continue to decline. Government cuts have forced many councils to undertake short-term repairs, rather than the permanent variety, with 12 of the councils questioned (including nine in rural areas) having made the switch. The strain is being [...]
Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke, has unveiled proposed reforms to the civil justice system including changes to the “no win, no fee” agreements that have been blamed for soaring car insurance premiums. The proposals, which have been launched for public consultation, include ending the recoverability of success fees and awarding successful claimants a 10% uplift in [...]
Half of employers questioned in a recent survey consider long-term sick leave to be an issue for their business, with 27% admitting it gives them a major staffing headache. However, new research from Aviva UK Health also indicates that employers feel the strain emotionally when managing more complex illnesses in the workplace. While musculoskeletal problems [...]
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has welcomed Justice Secretary Ken Clarke’s confirmation that “no win, no fee” rules will be reformed, saying this will “put the brake on runaway legal costs and mean a better deal for genuine claimants and insurance customers”. The ABI has long been campaigning for reforms to the current system, [...]
Leading broker solutions provider Open GI has announced the appointment of Kristina Wilkins as its new product manager. Wilkins has worked for the firm for more than a decade, and in her new position will be tasked with a managing a team consisting of product specialists Sean Garfield and Jennifer Love. Prior to joining Open [...]
Leading specialist (re)insurance underwriting firm Canopius Group Limited has announced that it has acquired the businesses of K. Drewe Insurance Brokers Limited and Look Insurance Services Limited. K. Drewe is a wholesale broker operating within the UK leisure industry and specialising in caravan, holiday home, park home, marine leisure and pet insurance. Look, an appointed [...]
Lockton MENA has achieved Chartered Broker status from the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). The Dubai-based subsidiary is only the third overseas insurance broker to make the Chartered grade, gaining benefits that include client and associate recognition of capability and commitment to ethical practice. Commenting on the award, CII chief executive officer, Dr Alexander Scott, says: [...]
According to Swiss Re’s latest “sigma” study, worldwide economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters stood at $218 billion in 2010, more than triple the 2009 figure. The cost to the global insurance industry amounted to over $43 billion, an increase of more than 60% over the previous year. Natural catastrophes cost the industry [...]
The Chubb Corporation has established a fund of $750,000 to benefit disaster relief efforts in Japan following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck the country. Chubb has stated it will give the International Red Cross $500,000 and has indicated that it will match employee contributions to qualified relief organisations on a two-for-one basis, up [...]
Dermot Dick has been named by XL Re, the global reinsurance operations of XL Group plc, as the new manager for the Middle East. Dick brings extensive knowledge of the insurance and reinsurance market in the Middle East to his new position, and was recently chief executive officer of Q-Re, the international reinsurance operation of [...]
