Douglas Shillito
This week, prior to the UK Prime Minister's Brexit speech in Florence on Friday, Aon, RSA, and Zurich were amongst 100 companies lobbying for up to a 3 year Brexit transitional period, whilst the Association of British Insurers (ABI) lobbied the Chair of the Treasury Committee who wrote to the Chancellor over the issue of cross-border pensions/insurance contracts after Brexit. EIOPA published its second set of statistical information on the European insurance sector based on Solvency II regulatory reporting, and Insurance Europe replied to the publication of the European Commission’s proposal for the revision of the European supervisory authorities including EIOPA.
Insurance Europe and IUA welcomed the signing of the long-awaited EU/US bilateral agreement regarding (re)insurance. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) entered into a co-operation agreement with Hong Kong Insurance Authority to support FinTech innovation, and also published an Occasional Paper exploring how the aging population would impact financial services. Meanwhile, the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) set out its structure for investigation into investment consultancy services. ICMIF and AMICE welcomed the IAIS application paper on the regulation and supervision of mutuals.
Zurich and Marsh & McLennan published World Economic Forum survey data on major risks. AIR Worldwide's latest estimates of insured losses from Hurricane Irma in the US and Caribbean ranged from $32bn to $50bn and CoreLogic estimated insured and non-insured losses in the US from Hurricane Irma at $42.5bn to $65bn. Hiscox estimated net claims of around $150m from Hurricane Harvey, and the Lloyd's Market Association (LMA) praised Lloyd's speedy response to recent hurricanes. Hannover Re warned on 2017 targets as earthquakes and hurricanes continue.
PartnerRe and RemitRadar are to collaborate. RSA Canada deployed Guidewire's ClaimCentre solution, and Guidewire applications were also implemented at a leading Belgian insurer. Post Office Insurance in the UK went live with Duck Creek Policy, Billing, and Rating.
The AIA Group is to acquire two Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) insurers and enter into 20-year bancassurance partnerships in Australia and New Zealand. Newly-formed Ardonagh Group produced initial strong interim results. Asta was in the news with Lloyd's agreement ""in principle" to establish and manage two syndicates-with Agora and Pioneer Underwriters. SCOR-sponsored awards were presented at the 44th EGRIE annual seminar, and Xl Group is to move its principal EU insurance company to Ireland next year in response to Brexit. There were senior appointments at Allianz, Ed, Hiscox, MAXIS GBN, Willis Re, and Zurich.
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