Douglas Shillito
This week, The Insurance Development Forum, at the annual International Insurance Society(IIS) Global Insurance Forum in London, applauded UK and Germany leadership to address the disaster coverage gap – a Centre for Global Disaster Protection is to be set up in London. The US indicated its intention to sign a covered agreement with the EU. The International Underwriting Association (IUA) said it was also great news for the London Market going forward. The UK ILS regulatory framework was published for parliamentary approval after the Summer recess. The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) announced the release of Insurance Capital Standard (ICS) Version 1.0 for extended field testing, and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Terms of Reference for its Investment Platforms Market Study. Insurance Europe commented on the EC hearing on sustainable finance and interim report of the EC High-Level Expert Group, and the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) is looking for potential future leaders of the insurance industry to join its 2017/18 New Generation programme.
The global insurance brokers sector will hit $54.8bn revenue in 2021 as growth remains impressive despite deceleration, said MarketLine. Lloyd's released a new report to assist market players and risk managers quantify cyber-risk aggregation, German life insurers broke the E1tr investment barrier for the first time in 2016, and the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF) published a breakthrough report on mutuals and cooperative microinsurance in India.
Claims management is increasingly in focus as InsurTech funding volume climbed to $985m in Q2 2017 amidst record number of transactions, said Willis Towers Watson's quarterly briefing. The broker also launched vPlace – a virtual, actuarial workspace that brings their insurance software to the cloud. AGCS is to partner with InsurTech Visicover in the aeroplane and helicopter insurance sector. Duck Creek expanded its Global Alliance Program through a new partnership with DataCede, IKOR joined Guidewire PartnerConnect as a Consultant alliance member, and a Guidewire-sponsored study reviewed the impact of digitisation on German insurers IT departments. Sequel Impact is in a long-term partnership with the Dubai-based Elseco FinTech specialty insurance underwriting platform, and SSP partnered with AXA to provide brokers with greater access to the Polaris imarket live-chat service on its commercial e-trade platform. Seraina Macia returned to AIG as EVP and CEO of a new planned subsidiary to oversee application of emerging technology and data science to transform underwriting and claims, whilst Leslie Chacko was named director of Marsh & Mclennan's Global Risk Center’s emerging technologies program.
Aviva sold Friends Provident International, and IAG created a single Australian division. Hannover Re completed the Argenta acquisition; Nexus acquired Equinox Global, and moved for US personal accident treaty reinsurance MGA operated by ZON Re; Saudi Re-signed a MoU to purchase 49.9% of Probitas Holdings (Bermuda); and SCOR signed an agreement with a view to acquiring 100% of MutRe. Second quarter results began to be released. Beazley pre-tax profit was up, and Travelers net income down. There were senior appointments at Lockton and Pioneer Underwriting.
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