Willis says it is “aligning” its Asia Pacific business with its Middle East and Africa operations under the leadership of Roger Wilkinson as chairman and chief executive officer. Hong Kong-based Mr Wilkinson, who was formerly chief executive officer of Willis Asia Pacific, will continue to report to Sarah Turvill, chairman and chief executive officer, Willis [...]
Direct Line has lost a High Court case brought against the victim of a motorcycle accident. The insurer was ordered to pay £3.4 million in compensation for an incident that occurred in 2003 and left Mark Noble of Wareham in Dorset with extensive injuries, including a fractured pelvis that made him partially wheel-chair dependent. The [...]
The Co-operative Insurance has launched a new Young Driver motor insurance product, which offers premiums based upon the driving behaviour of 17-25 year olds. Young drivers will get lower premiums for safer driving, with the pay-as-you-drive product offering premiums an average of £328 cheaper than the prices of competitors, enabling 82% of young drivers to [...]
Global risk and reinsurance firm Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC has won an award for its thought leadership and innovative research in enterprise risk management (ERM). The Joint Risk Management Section of the Casualty Actuarial Society, Canadian Institute of Actuaries and Society of Actuaries, gave the 2011 Award for Practical Risk Management Applications, which Guy [...]
AEGON has repaid the Dutch government €1.125 billion, having recently completed a 10% equity issue that raised €903 million. In late 2008, a rise in impairment charges and weak markets forced the insurer to strengthen its capital base with a €3 billion injection of cash from the Dutch government, and the group has now repurchased [...]
Zurich has announced that its employee benefits network will in future be working with AIA in the Asian employee benefits market. The cooperation should benefit multinational companies with operations throughout Asia, improving their access to comprehensive employee benefit programmes. Commenting on the deal, Zurich Employee Benefits Network (ZEBN) head, Theo Lutgendorff, says: “Asia is a [...]
Manchester law firm, Croftons, has launched an Accident app intended to help people accurately record traumatic events. Having worked with members of Edinburgh University’s Department of Psychology, the firm is responding to research that shows how people can lose all details of a serious incident permanently, within a few seconds. Furthermore, in any accident, whether [...]
ACE Group has announced that preliminary net after-tax losses in the first quarter of 2011 have been estimated at $210 million from natural catastrophes, including the New Zealand earthquake, the Australian floods and Cyclone Yasi, and the US winter storms. Of the total, $115 million is attributable to the New Zealand earthquake, $80 million to [...]
KPMG is suggesting that there is still much work to be done with regard to Solvency II deadlines. Having welcomed publication of the results of QIS 5, the fifth European-wide quantitative impact study on the forthcoming Solvency II rules, the accountancy firm notes that a significant number of firms did not meet the requirements. Fifteen [...]
Aviva has extended its engineering, marine, construction and operational risks offering to include onshore wind generation, solar and waste power generation (including biomass energy production), environmental consultancy and building technologies. According to the insurer’s commercial product consultant, Yawar Choudhry, the environmental goods and services sector is worth £107 billion in the UK, and is expected [...]
XL Insurance has announced the promotion of Gavin Bruce-Smythe to the position of chief underwriting officer of the International Property & Casualty (P&C) business. He brings more than a quarter of a century of industry experience to his new role with the firm, which he joined 16 years ago as an excess liability underwriter. Bruce-Smythe, [...]
Lancashire Holdings Limited has reported that in the first quarter of 2011 (to date) its operating subsidiaries have incurred pre-tax net losses of around US$45m to $55m. The losses partly relate to property loss suffered due to the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the numerous weather-related disasters that struck Australia earlier this year. The [...]
Groupama Insurances has stated its support for the complete abolition of claims referral fees for personal injury claims following the report from the House of Commons Transport Committee. The firm also called for the early implementation of Lord Justice Jackson’s recommendations intended to combat soaring legal fees. Head of Technical Claims at Groupama Insurances Steve [...]
In its latest statement on the situation in Japan, Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) says: “Lloyd’s underwriters will be assessing their own amounts at risk and using computer-based catastrophe models to quantify the loss potential for their own portfolios. “Loss parameters are expected from the major catastrophe model providers in the near future. “Since the large [...]
Scheme insurance specialist NCI Insurance Services (part of NCI Vehicle Rescue Plc) has partnered with veterinary group Vets4Pets to provide pet insurance to its customers throughout the UK. NCI secured a exclusive three-year deal after working closely with Vets4Pets to develop a bespoke solution, Cover4Pets, to meet the needs of the fast growing veterinary group, [...]
Aviva has reported a 30% year-on-year rise in claims resulting from residential cannabis farming and is warning landlords to be extra vigilant. According to the insurer, there were 758,700 cannabis plants seized by the police in 2009/10, a rise of 18% on a year earlier. Eighty-three per cent of seizures were for 50 plants or [...]
XL Insurance has announced that it has bolstered its Space Underwriting unit with the appointment of Robert C. Schenone as senior vice president and class underwriter. Schenone is to be based in New York and will be directly responsible to the head of Space Underwriting, Chris Kunstadter. Prior to joining XL he worked for Sciemus [...]
Swiss Re has reaffirmed its commitment to the Japanese insurance market and to supporting the country’s recovery from the earthquake and tsunami of last week. Chief executive, Stefan Lippe, says: “Our role is to support the Japanese people in quickly recovering from this unprecedented and tragic event.” The global reinsurer adds that circumstances in Japan [...]
Saving could be encouraged by permitting earlier access to pensions, according to LV=’s retirement solutions director John Perks. Perks explained that he believed allowing people to take advantage of their pensions sooner would promote greater interest in and saving into pensions schemes. His view is supported by recent research which found that many over 50s [...]
QBE has reported preliminary estimated net claims from the earthquake and following tsunami in Japan of around US$125 million. Group chief executive officer, Frank O’Halloran, explains: “The majority of our estimated net claims from the devastating Japanese earthquake will come from the relatively low exposures in our reinsurance, marine and energy operations in Europe.” The [...]
