Although the insurance industry has a longstanding reputation of being staid and traditional, alternative risk transfer solutions, including the use of captive insurance companies, have been around for many decades. Such solutions have not gone without challenge over the years – one cannot forget the implications of the Spitzer enquiries in the early 2000s as well as more recent challenges…
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…
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,…
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…
There is growing interest in captives in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, according to a webinar held by AM Best. One of the panellists, Ronny Vellekoop, senior executive officer at Marsh Captive Solutions, noted that in 2017, the region probably had just seven or eight captives, but it has grown since then. “There is an increase in interest and…
Vermont licensed 38 new captive insurance companies in 2020, including 11 new captives in the fourth quarter, according to the Vermont Department of Economic Development. Vermont is now home to 590 licensed captives, consisting of 564 active and 25 dormant captive insurance companies. “Vermont’s 2020 licensing activity in many ways reflected the changing insurance environment,” said Brittany Nevins, captive insurance…
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…
The Argentinian insurance regulator has joined the International Association of Insurance Supervisors’ (IAIS) Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU). The Superintendencia de Seguros de la Nacion Argentina, the supervisor of all insurance entities operating in Argentina, has signed the MMoU, an international supervisory cooperation and information exchange agreement. “We are pleased to welcome Argentina as a signatory to the MMoU,” said…