Douglas Shillito
This week, Insurance Europe highlighted Solvency II issues which need to be addressed, and Clyde & Co commented on the UK Government's Brexit White Paper, which provided some comfort to the insurance industry. EIOPA published a Consultation Paper on Guidelines on complex Insurance-Based Investment Products, and also issued its Technical Advice to the European Commission on possible Delegated Acts concerning the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD).
The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) published its 2016 Global Insurance Market Report, and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) released final changes aimed at strengthening the transparency and effectiveness of their enforcement decision-making processes. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) reported that UK motor insurance premiums had reached their highest recorded level. A consortium of insurers and brokers published a White Paper after testing the London Market's resilience to a major loss event.
RSA made its first FinTech company investment, and Swiss Re and SAP are to develop a solution to address the increasingly complex demands from regulators related to financial reporting globally. Sapiens announced that its upgraded DECISION Suite was now generally available, and three UK tier one insurers have signed up for SSP's Flood Re panel. Bermuda-based Colonial Group International deployed Darktrace's machine learning cyber defence technology, and iPipeline acquired Resonant, an emerging provider of Integrated Life Underwriting Solutions(ILUS).
Allianz is to acquire the remaining shares in its Irish holding company, and Asia Capital Re completed its 100% acquisition of ACR Malaysia and ACR ReTakaful. Private equity company HGGC completed its majority investment in the Davies Group, and Lloyd's strengthened its capital position with the issuance of a £300m subordinated bond. JLT acquired a majority stake in US-based Construction Risk Partners.
Fourth quarter and 2016 results flowed - they included Allied World (dip in fourth quarter but "very good year" overall), AXIS Capital (happy with 2016 result), Beazley (2016 "good across the board"), Chubb (finished 2016 strongly), RenRe (net and operating income down in fourth quarter), XL Group (a challenging year but "underlying strengths continue to emerge"), The Hanover (into net loss in fourth quarter but optimistic), MetLife (net derivative losses impacted 2016 results), and Marsh & McLennan ("excellent" year). Hannover Re upped its premium and net income targets for 2017 after analysing its January renewals. There were senior management appointments at Cathedral Underwriting, Ed, and Legal & General Investment Management, whilst Airmic chief executive John Hurrell is to step down.
Full articles on the above topics may be found on the Insurance Newslink and Financial Newslink global trends database services at www.onlystrategic.com.