Hiscox – Superstorm Sandy claims £90m
by Gill Montia
Story link: Hiscox – Superstorm Sandy claims £90m
Hiscox has announced an estimate for the impact of Superstorm Sandy, which made landfall in the US on 29th October 2012. Net claims are expected to be in the region of £90 million based on an insured market loss of $20 billion. According to the specialist insurer, the estimate is within its overall budgeted loss [...]
Zurich’s Storm Sandy estimates hit $700m
by Gill Montia
Story link: Zurich’s Storm Sandy estimates hit $700m
Zurich Insurance Group has estimated aggregate claims net of reinsurance of around $700 million for Storm Sandy, which made landfall in the US on 29th October. The sum includes $40 million relating to Farmers Re regarding reinsurance cover provided to the Farmers Exchanges, which are managed but not owned by a subsidiary of Zurich. In [...]
Mental health better understood in the workplace
by Gill Montia
Story link: Mental health better understood in the workplace
Increased understanding of mental health issues at work has prompted a steady rise in the number of UK employees claiming for psychiatric disorders on both income protection and private medical policies, Aviva reports. In 2011, conditions such as depression, stress and anxiety were the biggest cause for claim across the insurer’s income protection solutions, which [...]
ABI: insurers paying out £200m a day
by Richard Kilner
Story link: ABI: insurers paying out £200m a day
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has revealed that UK insurers are paying out almost £200m a day. The figures include daily payouts of £19m for motor insurance policies, and £9m relating to home insurance coverage. Damage to business premises has a daily cost of £4m, with travel and medical insurance costing £1m and £7m [...]
ABI demands changes to Riot Damages Act
by Gill Montia
Story link: ABI demands changes to Riot Damages Act
As the first anniversary of last summer’s riots approaches, the insurance industry is calling on the Government to urgently reform The Riot Damages Act (1886). According to data from the Association of British Insurers (ABI), its members experienced 3,000 riot claims and policyholders will receive around £200 million in compensation. However, while insurers have settled [...]
Aviva pays 99% of protection claims
by Gill Montia
Story link: Aviva pays 99% of protection claims
Aviva paid 99% of all protection claims (life insurance and critical illness cover) in 2011, having settled 99.7% of life and 94.1% of critical illness claims. Overall 0.4% of protection claims were declined due to non-disclosure, breaking down as life: 0.3% and critical illness: 1%. According to the insurer, 2011 payments totalled £439 million across [...]
ABI revisits summer riots
by Gill Montia
Story link: ABI revisits summer riots
Six months on from the summer riots, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has issued an update on the progress insurers have made in settling claims. So far, eight in ten claims for damage under household policies have been settled and over seven in ten businesses have seen their claims for property damage settled, or [...]
Finance & Insurance top for mental health IP claims
by Gill Montia
Story link: Finance & Insurance top for mental health IP claims
Group income protection (GIP) claims for mental health are at their highest in the “Finance and Insurance” sector, according to Legal & General. The insurer has recently published an analysis of its GIP claims since 2000 with the figures showing that overall, 31% of claims were for mental health issues such as stress and depression, [...]
Cost of airline insurance continues to slide
by Gill Montia
Story link: Cost of airline insurance continues to slide
Aon Risk Solutions has released its Airline Insurance Market Indicators report for 2011/12, as the sector enters its renewal season. The broker notes that premium volumes are so far holding steady despite significant increases in forecast risk exposures, but with the underlying cost of insurance continuing to slide. Airline forecasts suggest that fleet values will [...]
ABI welcomes riot compensation scheme announcement
by Gill Montia
Story link: ABI welcomes riot compensation scheme announcement
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has welcomed Prime Minister David Cameron’s announcement that the cost of damage caused during recent riots will be settled under Riot Act police compensation schemes. The ABI has also welcomed the Prime Minister’s agreement to extend the period in which claims can be made under the schemes from 14 [...]
Amlin warns on profit
by Gill Montia
Story link: Amlin warns on profit
Following completion of its second-quarter reserve review, Amlin says it is unlikely to meet previous profit expectations for 2011. Overall, the specialist re/insurer estimates that it will be £65 million below previous pre-tax profit expectations and £53 million below after-tax expectations. The firm has seen a material increase in notified claims relating to the New [...]
Hiscox estimates US tornado claims at £35m
by Gill Montia
Story link: Hiscox estimates US tornado claims at £35m
In a trading update, Hiscox has announced that net claims arising from April and May tornadoes in the US will be in the region £35 million. In addition, the international specialist insurer has responded to “considerable uncertainty” around the Japanese earthquake by reserving $150 million, in accordance with the upper-end of its modelling range. With [...]
2010 cat losses cost global insurers $43bn
by Gill Montia
Story link: 2010 cat losses cost global insurers $43bn
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 [...]
New LMA statement on Japan
by Gill Montia
Story link: New LMA statement on Japan
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 [...]
Sharp rise in claims from residential cannabis farming
by Gill Montia
Story link: Sharp rise in claims from residential cannabis farming
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 [...]
QBE estimates Japanese losses at $125m
by Gill Montia
Story link: QBE estimates Japanese losses at $125m
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 [...]
Munich Re: 2011 nat cat losses mount early
by Gill Montia
Story link: Munich Re: 2011 nat cat losses mount early
Having recorded profit of €2.43 billion in 2010, Munich Re says it is aiming for a more-or-less unchanged consolidated result of around €2.4 billion for 2011. However, the re/insurer estimates that claims from the earthquake in New Zealand, the floods in Brisbane and Cyclone Yasi will amount to A$1.5 billion, and warns that the target [...]
New regulations on employers’ liability
by Gill Montia
Story link: New regulations on employers’ liability
The Employers’ Liability Tracing Office (ELTO) has welcomed new regulations from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) requiring insurers to publish data on employers’ liability (EL) policies, and all new claims made against such policies. The new rules replace a voluntary agreement whereby insurers searched their records “to the best of their ability” when notified of [...]
ABI updates critical illness best practice
by Gill Montia
Story link: ABI updates critical illness best practice
Those needing to make a claim on their critical illness (CI) insurance should in future have a better understanding of their cover, following an updated Statement of Best Practice from the Association of British Insurers (ABI). The new Statement takes account of past problems with the insurance and aims to improve understanding of Total Permanent [...]
ABI slams legal costs gravy train
by Richard Kilner
Story link: ABI slams legal costs gravy train
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has opined that it is time to end the legal costs which cost British consumers £2.7m every single day. The excessive legal costs have fuelled calls by the ABI for a root and branch reform of the civil litigation system. The organisation has drawn particular attention to the many [...]
