Directors and officers are facing increased risks from ‘grey swan’ risks, with shareholders on average losing 26% of value in their holdings in the year following reputation crises caused by such events, according to a new report from Aon and Pentland Analytics. Shareholder value has fallen by half in more than 10% of 300 corporate reputation crises during the last…
SCOR increased reinsurance premiums by 14.3% to €600m at 1 April renewal, with rates up 4.3% across the book that is mainly geared towards Asia-Pacific business. As well as pushing through rate increases, which compounded price increases last year, SCOR also said terms and conditions improved. The company’s specialty account has benefited from compound rate increases on large and commercial…
Rims is backing safe harbour legislation to protect businesses from Covid-19 litigation in the US if companies have adhered to pandemic-related federal health guidelines. The US risk and insurance management society also said it will support legislation that addresses businesses’ negligence that results in bodily injury/property damage to third parties, on the condition it does not apply to allegations of…
Howden and A J Gallagher are frontrunners for the Willis Towers Watson (WTW) business in Europe that it seems Aon will have to dispose of to gain the EC’s approval for a planned $30bn acquisition of the group, a senior industry source in Germany told Commercial Risk Europe. It is also thought that McGill and Partners, the London-based broker launched…
Lloyd’s has announced the latest cohort of insurtech firms joining its innovation programme, which this year is focusing on claims support services, climate change and decarbonisation, geopolitics and data. The sixth cohort of the Lloyd’s Lab will once again aim to create simpler products for customers. Eleven successful applicants were selected from a total 177, after impressing an expert panel…
Bermuda’s AXIS Capital said catastrophes and other weather-related events will cost it an estimated pre-tax net loss of $105m to $115m in the first quarter of 2021. US winter storms Uri and Viola, mainly in Texas, will cost the group an estimated $80m to $90m during the period, AXIS said. AXIS did not give net loss/profit forecasts for the quarter,…
Willis Towers Watson (WTW) has launched a platform for commercial underwriters that helps inform decision-making and pricing to improve service for clients. New software technology Radar Workbench uses internal and external data to help analyse underwriting risks in real time. WTW said it is an “out-of-the-box revolutionary analytical platform” that will modernise insurance underwriting for the benefit of commercial buyers.…
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) is investigating Facebook for breach of Europe’s GDPR, following reports that the personal data of 533 million accounts recently appeared online for free. Designated as Facebook’s lead regulator in the EU, the DPC said it believes “one or more” GDPR rules may have been infringed after details including phone numbers, dates of birth and other…
Insolvencies are set to jump 26% globally this year with several European countries likely to be worst hit as the fallout from Covid-19 finally impacts bankruptcies, according to Atradius. This would follow a 14% fall in insolvencies last year when governments introduced fiscal measures and bankruptcies regime changes to protect businesses from failure, said the trade credit insurer. Atradius added…
Specialist insurer Beazley has launched enhanced versions of its Beazley Breach Response (BBR) and InfoSec cyber policies for businesses domiciled in Germany. InfoSec gives large businesses access to first-party cover for cyber risks. This includes protection for cyber extortion, data recovery costs, as well as business interruption (BI) and contingent BI for losses arising from security breaches, system failures and…