Premium renewal rates for general liability, commercial property, umbrella and workers compensation in the US increased in the fourth quarter, according to IVANS Insurance’s premium renewal rate index. IVANS said commercial property and umbrella ended the year with their highest average premium renewal rate change, while commercial property premium renewal rate change averaged consistently higher compared to all other lines…
Lloyd’s has appointed Aviva’s Patrick Tiernan to the newly created role of chief of markets, to oversee market performance and distribution. Mr Tiernan is currently managing director, UK commercial lines and global corporate and speciality at Aviva. He has 24 years’ experience in the insurance industry and is chairman of the International Underwriting Association. Mr Tiernan also sits on the…
Arch Capital said its fourth-quarter results will be hit by catastrophe losses in the range of $155m to $165m across its P&C insurance and reinsurance books. The Bermudan (re)insurer said Hurricanes Delta and Zeta in Q4 and higher estimates for nat cats booked to Q3 accounted for the loss estimate. Arch Capital said the estimate includes exposure to Covid-19 claims,…
Sompo International has partnered with UK insurtech company Flock, which provides data-based insurance solutions for commercial drone operators, to support the future of unmanned aviation by providing cover for drone cargoes, flying taxi passenger flights and drone swarm shows. It also paves the way to combine Sompo’s aviation underwriting expertise with Flock’s risk algorithms to provide insurance solutions for further…
Travelers saw its net income increase by 50% in the fourth quarter to £1.31bn on the back of improved underwriting gain, lower catastrophe losses and higher favourable reserve development. The results were helped by increased Q4 income of more than 60% in its business insurance unit to $713m from $448m. Segment income increased primarily due to higher net favourable prior-year…
A US federal district court in Cleveland has refused to dismiss Covid-19 business interruption (BI) coverage litigation filed by a restaurant chain against Zurich Insurance, holding that its policy language was ambiguous, and a “microorganism” exclusion was inapplicable. As first reported in Business Insurance, Henderson Road Restaurant Systems – which operates restaurants in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana and Florida –…
AXA XL has appointed Ashok Krishnan as chief data and analytics officer. Mr Krishnan joins AXA XL from AXA Hong Kong, where he was chief data officer and customer experience director, responsible for leading analytics, AI and data science. Mr Krishnan will be based in London and will report to Matthieu Caillat, COO of AXA XL. Mr Caillat said: “I…
Persistent economic uncertainty, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, has led AM Best to maintain its negative market segment outlook on the Brazilian reinsurance industry. It said that resurging macroeconomic and political uncertainties, along with a record-low interest rate environment, worsening foreign exchange volatility and a reinsurance market that looks inward to the domestic market, are additional factors supporting the negative…
Arthur J Gallagher has acquired Atlas General Holdings, a full-service, multiline programme manager and managing general agency (MGA) based in San Diego. According to Gallagher, Atlas offers workers compensation, commercial lines and specialty property programmes throughout the US, with particular expertise in the California workers compensation market. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Gallagher said that Mike Mathews, Charles…
The recent judgment on Covid-19-related business interruption (BI) insurance by the UK’s Supreme Court will affect policies and laws well beyond the UK, and means policyholders from various jurisdictions are more likely to get claims paid, according to legal experts. The 15 January UK Supreme Court judgment found in favour of policyholders that had been denied cover for Covid-19-related BI…