Insurance premium tax changes – TMF Group
TMF Group, a global provider of tax and accountancy services, has highlighted some insurance premium tax (IPT) and related tax changes around the world that are relevant to global insurance programmes.
BMS signs agreement with Tagus to boost specialty options in Portugal
BMS Group has concluded a preferred partner agreement with new specialty and wholesale broker Tagus to deliver more products to insurance buyers in Portugal. The deal will see BMS teams in London and Madrid work closely with the Portuguese firm to distribute specialty insurance and reinsurance solutions for risks such as cyber that are yet to be widely transferred in…
Germany to back trade credit insurers during Covid-19 crisis: Reuters
The German government has struck a deal with the country’s trade credit insurers to ensure trade is covered through the current Covid-19 pandemic, according to Reuters. The details have yet to be confirmed by the government or any of the insurers involved. Reuters said it has learnt the government will guarantee €30bn for the commercial trade credit insurance sector so…
Portugal delays new stamp duty reporting system until 2021
Portugal is to delay the introduction of its new stamp duty reporting system until 2021, according to insurance premium tax compliance consultancy Impendulo. This is due to the delays caused by the current Covid-19 pandemic. Impendulo said the Portuguese tax authority has decided to defer the introduction of the new stamp duty reporting system to 2021, and reporting will be…
BMS acquires Spanish broker Jurado Mata
Independent (re)insurance broker BMS Group has acquired Spanish broker Jurado Mata through its European subsidiary BMS Iberia. Jurado Mata, based in Granada, supports Spanish businesses with affinity and commercial cover, as well as offering personal lines. BMS has acquired 100% of the business for an undisclosed sum. Its staff and operations will transfer into BMS Iberia. Juan Mata, CEO of…
France overtakes UK in European insurance M&A deals
The number of European insurance mergers and acquisitions (M&A) reached its highest level for eight years in 2019, although the size of deals has fallen, according to analysis from law firm Clyde & Co. The year recorded 155 insurance M&As in Europe, out of 419 deals globally. Some 88 deals completed in Europe in H1 2019, mainly due to deals…
AIR lists European countries most at risk from coronavirus outbreak in Italy
The UK, Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Romania are the European countries most at risk from the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19) as a result of the outbreak in Italy, according to scenarios run by AIR Worldwide. It has also named the countries most at risk from the secondary outbreaks in South Korea and Iran. Using models to project…
GDPR has created regulatory patchwork in Europe: Beazley
Europe’s data protection regulators have shown wide differences in General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) fines and been inconsistent in dealing with cyber incidents, according to analysis from Beazley. In its latest Breach Insights article, Beazley says there has been little consistency so far even though the same rules apply across Europe. Beazley notes that although GDPR regulatory activity has picked up,…
Mapfre Global Risks posts loss and 123.5% combined ratio as losses take toll
Mapfre Global Risks, the Spanish insurance group’s operation dedicated to the large-corporate market, posted a loss of €19.2m in 2019 and a combined ratio of 123.5% as several big losses took their toll. But its parent group posted a healthy set of results. Mapfre Global Risks’ combined ratio rose by 31.5 percentage points during 2018. Its 2019 loss follows a…
Coronavirus supply chain crunch feared as Chinese LNG importer invokes force majeure
Chinese liquid natural gas (LNG) importer, CNOOC Group, has invoked force majeure to cancel contracts without liability meaning it won’t take delivery of some LNG cargoes as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, according to Rob Patterson and Myles Mantle, London partners at law firm Haynes and Boone. They said: “This is among the first known cases of this rare…