Douglas Shillito
This week, Swiss Re's 2017 SONAR report examined the top emerging risks the re/insurance industry and society are facing. Marsh and Airmic launched a new paper examining the major obstacles that can impede the expeditious resolution of large or complex property damage insurance claims, and a Gallagher-sponsored survey of large UK companies indicated that they are increasingly aware of the fast-evolving security threats they face-meanwhile, Marsh said that UK firms could gain competitive advantage by developing their cyber security and information management systems around the requirements of the European Union’s new data protection framework.
Allianz AGCS published its fifth annual Safety & Shipping Review, and Willis Towers Watson reported that Commercial insurance prices in the US were nearly flat in the first quarter. Mutual and cooperative insurers in Europe wrote a record E406bn in premiums in 2015 and claimed more than 31% of the total insurance market across the continent. The updated UK insurance industry code of practice for dealing with motor salvage was published, and Equifax Touchstone revealed that new UK pension investments were up by over a third in the first quarter.
Admiral agreed to contact customers who may have been given inaccurate information in renewal documents after a Financial Conduct Authority(FCA) check on the new regulations. Chubb is to offer increased insurance capacity of up to $150m for terrorism, political violence and war risks, Compre made its fourth purchase of the year, and Neon moved for Guernsey-based Lloyd's coverholder Sapphire. MAPFRE gained effective control of Indonesian insurer ABDA, and Peak Re received regulatory approval in Labuan. Bruce Carnegie-Brown took over as Lloyd's chairman, and there were senior appointments at Argo and Hamilton. The Singapore Reinsurers' Association announced its Executive Committee for 2017/2018.
AIG, IBM and Standard Chartered Bank announced that they had successfully piloted the first multinational “smart contract”-based insurance policy using blockchain, Insurance Europe warned the European Commission not to impede FinTech developments, whilst Celent released a new report on InsurTech in Israel. HTC joined the Duck Creek Global Alliance Program, Belgian public service insurer Ethias chose Guidewire solutions, and RMS published version 17.0 of its North America Earthquake Models.
Transactor Global Solutions, now part of Open GI, reported progress, and Watchstone responded to Slater and Gordon serving High Court proceedings for up to £637m.
Full articles on the above topics may be found on the Insurance Newslink and Financial Newslink global trends database services at www.onlystrategic.com.