Microsoft Corp’s captive insurer has agreed to pay $876,820 to the Washington state insurance department to cover unpaid premium taxes and associated interest and penalties. In May this year, Washington state insurance commissioner Mike Kreidler had ordered Cypress Insurance Co of Phoenix, Arizona, to stop transacting insurance without a licence and to pay tax on its written premiums. Cypress’s sole…
The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the US National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). CIMA said the memorandum of understanding is designed to help insurance supervisors in the US and the Cayman Islands coordinate on regulatory issues with the goal of efficient, fair, safe and stable insurance markets. It added that the agreement…
For insurance products and classes of business, there is no shortage of training and education programmes available to brokers and customers. But when it comes to international programmes, it is a very different matter. International programmes are inherently complex. When you are dealing with multiple countries, the regulations, language, currencies, risk landscape and compulsory requirements all combine to make it…
The rated captive segment remains exceptionally strong and continues to outperform its counterparts in the commercial casualty segment, according to a new study from AM Best. “Captives generally outperform the commercial market. Since they rarely seek out new, unrelated classes of business, these companies rarely stumble into poor risk selection or underpricing, and so have more consistent business profiles,” the…
Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the global insurance industry rose in the first half of 2018, with all regions seeing growth with the exception of Europe, according to Clyde & Co…
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published a discussion paper on resolution funding and national insurance guarantee schemes (ISGs), favouring a minimum degree of harmonisation. EIOPA explains that there are different sources of resolution funding available for failing insurers in the EU. “The landscape of insurance guarantee schemes is also significantly fragmented, with the existing schemes differing…
An updated wildfire model for the US has been released by catastrophe risk-modelling firm AIR Worldwide. The model is designed to provide a comprehensive view of the risk of wildfire to property within the 13 westernmost states. AIR explained that “the event-based modelling approach accounts for the variability in weather in the current climate regime and its impact on fire…
Companies must fully explore the possible ways in which cyber events could affect their business and identify the key operational risks before deciding on cyber business-interruption cover because the market is complex and protection offered by different policies can vary widely, according to a new report from the International Underwriting Association (IUA). The IUA explained that most current business-interruption coverages are…
A new consortium at Lloyd’s has been launched to bring increased capacity for ‘wage and hour’ risks for US organisations. The new consortium, led by Beazley, will expand the choices available to US businesses, and will underwrite wage and hour risks on a surplus lines basis. The other member of the consortium is Hiscox, with additional capacity being provided by…
The number of Marsh-managed captives insuring multinational pools for benefit risks has increased by 550% in the past five years, driven by the significant expense of rising medical costs. Mercer Marsh Benefits’ 2018 Medical Trends Around the World survey found that medical costs increased nearly 10% globally in 2017, almost three times the estimated rate of inflation globally. According to…