Douglas Shillito
This week, the PwC/CBI quarterly survey reported a mixed picture for the UK insurance market. The regular Willis Towers Watson/confused.com survey of UK motor insurance premiums indicated an average rise of 18.5% for the second quarter, and a SAS survey looked at UK consumers attitude to their forthcoming new data rights over insurance companies. Aon Benfield reviewed catastrophe losses in June, Conning reported on the US MGA and program market in 2016, and Milliman released the findings of the first known study analysing the general and the family Takaful industries separately, across all major markets.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published the interim findings of its Retirement Outcomes Review, to which the Association of British Insurers (ABI) responded. Insurance Europe and other EU trade associations showed concern about short stakeholder consultations relating to guidelines under the EU General Data Protection Regulation, and EIOPA published an Opinion with the aim to foster supervisory convergence and consistency in the authorisation process related to the relocation of (re)insurance undertakings from the UK – a clear warning to achieve the best Brexit "deal" for both sides.
Majesco published a new thought leadership report headed "Greenfields, Startups and InsurTech: Accelerating Digital Post-Age Business Models", and Octo Telematics launched its Next Generation Platform aimed at a wider Internet of Things. DXC Technology (previously CSC) and Zurich extended a Master Service Agreement until 2022 that supports the insurer's digital transformation initiatives, and RMS announced a substantial expansion of its suite of modelling solutions for the Asia-Pacific region. A new release of the FICO Enterprise Security Score quantifies the breach risks introduced by 4th parties-a partner or vendor’s vendors, whilst CoreLogic introduced an expanded service for clients to access data through an integration with Esri ArcGI. Insurity's CEO moved to executive chairman and a new CEO was appointed, and SSP's Keychoice created the UK market’s first regional solution.
Prudential entered the Nigerian market with the purchase of a majority stake in Zenith Life and an exclusive bancassurance partnership with Zenith Bank. Beazley received regulatory approval to convert its long-established Dublin-based reinsurance company into an insurance company permitted to transact business throughout the EU, and Swiss Re partnered with Ping An to launch China's first mobile-enabled typhoon property parametric insurance solution. There were senior appointments at PartnerRe, Sompo Canopius, and Tokio Millennium Re.
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