Douglas Shillito
This week, IBM's The Weather Company reported that the North Atlantic hurricane season could be more active than originally thought, whilst PERILS' latest loss estimate from European windstorm Thomas was €249m. Marsh published a report headed "The Changing Tide of Risk: Expert Perspectives on the Marine Industry".
ACORD's Ruschliken reported a 32% increase in message volumes in 2016. EY Insurance Nexus, powered by Guidewire software, is to be extended to support the London Market, the Sequel Eclipse Broking solution was chosen by Matrix Insurance Brokers, and Advent Solutions Management launched Sparta, a portal-based provider of exclusive specialist ancillary products to brokers. Duck Creek solutions were chosen by Florida-based Safepoint, and Insurity Insurance Enterprise View was selected by Central Mutual Insurance(CMI). SSP said it had successfully completed and passed the BIBA Broker Supplier Resilience Assessment visit.
Swiss Re is establishing a combined P&C Underwriting Hub for the Asia Pacific region within its Reinsurance business unit, and Swiss Re Capital Markets structured a $925m ILS California earthquake cat bond. Dale Underwriting's key capital provider extended its commitment, and Blend insurance solutions, a new Lloyd's syndicate service company, opened in Sydney with a Beazley renewal rights deal. Aegon is to sell its two largest US run-off businesses to Wilton Re, and Des Moines-based Fidelity & Guaranty Life is to be acquired by CF Corporation, after previously being courted by Chinese insurer Anbang. Aviva is to commence a £300m share buy-back, and Towergate owner KIRS launched a £800m secured bond offering and announced a £90m revolving credit facility. A "small IPO" is likely at Old Mutual Wealth, according to Group chief executive Bruce Hemphill, and financial advisor deVere Group is to “extensively expand and develop” its operations across Western Europe.
The Reinsurance Association of America issued collective financials for the first quarter for its members (combined ratio up), and Vienna Insurance Group improved in all key performance indicators in the first quarter. There were senior appointments at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, Liberty Specialty Markets and XL Catlin.
Full articles on the above topics may be found on the Insurance Newslink and Financial Newslink global trends database services at www.onlystrategic.com.