Douglas Shillito
This week, the Association of British Insurers(ABI) published sponsored research highlighting the UK as the leading global insurance exporter, adding more than £40bn pa to the economy. This was followed by its Brexit conference where director general Huw Evans warned that leaving the EU without a Brexit deal is not acceptable if insurers are to continue to meet the needs of millions of customers and remain legally compliant. Lloyd's chief executive Inga Beale's half-yearly email to the Lloyd's market highlighted issues and progress, and a planned internal reorganisation which will result in a reduction in headcount of around 10%. Good news for the London Market was that the UK Treasury confirmed ILS regulations remain a priority to launch in the Autumn. New Lloyd's research indicated that businesses could face a much higher bill than they expect, or are prepared for, after falling victim to a cyber-attack, whilst the Lloyd's Market Association(LMA) is to establish a Claims Expert Management Hub. US P&C sector net income was down 42.2% in the first quarter, with the highest catastrophe losses since 1994, according to ISO and PCI. Fitch reviewed the China non-life insurance market in the first half of the year.
EIOPA published its first set of comprehensive statistical information based on Solvency II regulatory reporting, and commented on the EC legislative proposal to implement a Pan European Personal Pension Product, as did Insurance Europe. The Financial Conduct Authority(FCA) published the final findings of its asset management market study, and The Insurance Authority took up its regulatory role in Hong Kong. The International Insurance Society designated 20 universities from around the world as Global Centers of Insurance Excellence, and The International Forum of Terrorism Risk (Re)Insurance Pools convened its inaugural conference in Paris.
On the company front, LV= restructured its life business and promoted John Perks to run the division, and Suncorp is to take over New Zealand insurer Tower. Aquila sold its interest in Vectura to Nexus Group and appointed a non-executive chairman, and AGCS opened a new branch in South Korea. Swiss Re was joint structurer and sole book-runner for a World Bank pandemic cat bond transaction, and MS Amlin is to domicile its European business in Belgium. There was a management buy-out at QBE Chile, Unipol Group is to reorganise its insurance businesses, and USI is to purchase Wells Fargo Insurance Services USA. There were senior appointments at Antares, AXIS Insurance, and Ed.
COUNTRY Financial received a Novarica Impact Award for its StoneRiver LifeSuite underwriting solution upgrade. Open GI and Equifax announced a new partnership, Morning Data provided a new integrated platform, Novus, for Towergate's London Market broker and MGA activity, SSP launched its next generation broking solution, and The Digital Insurance Group was formed by the merger of InsurTech innovators Knip and Komparu. Origo managing director Paul Pettitt is to step down next February, and Sequel signed up the first start-up MGU Eaton Gate for its Sequel Origin e-trading distribution tool. A new Oasis low cost earthquake model released by CATRisk Solutions and sponsored by Lloyd’s highlights risks in the Middle East.
Full articles on the above topics may be found on the Insurance Newslink and Financial Newslink global trends database services at www.onlystrategic.com.