Douglas Shillito
This week, second quarter and interim financials flooded in, with many of the bigger players reporting. Amongst them were AIG (net realised capital losses), Allstate (net income up), Aviva (operating profit up 11%), AXA ("another strong performance"), Berkshire Hathaway (underwriting loss continued), CAN (improved), Direct Line (good first half), esure (pre-tax profit and growth up), Generali (net profit up), Liberty Mutual (improved investment returns), MAPFRE (net profit/growth up), RSA ("did well in first half"), The Hartford ("significant improvement"), Axis Capital (operating income up) and Novae (interim loss), Brit ("strong first half"), Hiscox (UK retail and US stood out), Markel (outstanding underwriting result), PartnerRe (net income up), RGA (net income down), Swiss Re (impacted by Cyclone Debbie), Validus ("very solid quarter), and White Mountain (interim post-OneBeacon sale), Marsh & McLennan (revenue up across all sectors), and Willis Towers Watson (commissions/fees, and revenue increased).
Allianz and LV= agreed a joint venture to create the third largest personal lines insurer in the UK market, and Aviva signed a 10-year distribution partnership in UK with HSBC. Dale Underwriting Partners received Lloyd's "in principle" nod to establish a special purpose arrangement (SPA), and Towergate Underwriting launched Geo Specialty, a new London Market business. There were senior appointments at Argo Group, Ascot, Chubb, and THB.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Practitioner Panel survey and annual feedback indicated the industry's growing satisfaction with relationship and effectiveness of the regulator. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) replied to a critical Daily Telegraph article on "no fault" car repair costs; EIOPA published an updated Risk Dashboard on first quarter data; and Insurance Europe responded to the IAIS on Insurance Core Principles 13. Lloyd's chief Dame Inga Beale was elected the President of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), who earlier in the week had refreshed its brand in support of its new strategy.
Clyde & Co research showed that insurance M&A activity worldwide had continued its downward trend in the first half of 2017. Beazley released its Breach Insights findings for the first six months based on client data, and Standard & Poor's said in a new report that the global life reinsurance sector's operating conditions look promising.
A Guidewire survey looked at UK Generation Rent's attitude to insurance, Fadata moved for Munich-based digital insurance specialist IMPEO, Open GI finalised the acquisition of Transactor, and Sapiens is establishing a new head office in South Africa.
Full articles on the above topics may be found on the Insurance Newslink and Financial Newslink global trends database services at www.onlystrategic.com