The global P&C insurance industry produced another underwriting profit last year and a combined ratio of 97.4%, according to Aon’s 15th annual Insurance Risk Study. The figure is a slight improvement on the 98% combined ratio in 2018 and was buoyed by an overall 95.5% combined ratio in Europe. Asia-Pacific and the Americas each averaged 98%. The combined ratio was…
Swedish multinational clothes retailer H&M has been fined €35.3m under the GDPR by Hamburg’s data protection commissioner for snooping and storing information on employees at one if its subsidiaries. Hamburg’s commissioner for data protection and freedom of information said the case centred around the monitoring of several hundred employees at H&M’s service centre in Nuremberg. It explained that members of…
HDI Global Specialty has appointed Thomas Barenthein as managing director of its Scandinavian branch. He also joins the executive board and replaces Mats Westerborn, who will become general manager of aviation at HDI’s Scandinavian branch. Mr Barenthein joins HDI from Inter Hannover, where he was managing director for Sweden and chief branch officer. HDI’s Scandinavian branch in Stockholm is its…
Curaçao, Israel and the US are among the simplest jurisdictions in terms of their legislative environment, while Indonesia tops the list as the most complex, according to TMF Group’s Global Business Complexity Index 2020. The index is generated from an in-depth survey of TMF Group’s in-market experts in 77 jurisdictions. The index shows there is significant global variation in the…
Global corporate insolvencies are forecast to swell by 26% this year, with most booked to the second half of 2020 as Covid-19 impacts economies around the world, according to trade credit insurer Atradius. Turkey is expected to lead insolvency rates with a forecast increase of 41%, Atradius said, followed by the US and Hong Kong both at 39%. Atradius said…
Global financial institutions have been fined $5.6bn for non-compliance with anti-money laundering (AML), know your customer (KYC) and sanctions regulations in the first seven months of 2020, according to regulatory technology firm Fenergo. This is down 30% on the same period last year, but the company expects full-year fines to equal or exceed 2019’s $8.4bn total. Fenergo said financial institutions…
AXA XL has appointed Bruno Laval as chief distribution officer for Asia and Europe, and regional manager of European markets, under its new regional model. The firm has also named a new chief underwriting officer for the region and appointed heads in France, Germany, Switzerland and Asia-Pacific. Mr Laval, who was previously AXA XL Insurance’s regional manager for Europe, will…
Ferma has elected a new board headed by president Dirk Wegener. Lene Ritz, of Denmark’s Narim and CRO for Energinet, was appointed as a new board member. So too was Simon Grima from Malta’s Marm. Mr Grima is head of the department of insurance, faculty of economics, management and accountancy at the University of Malta. The remaining five Ferma board…
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions (SRCS) has added Finnish insurer LocalTapiola to its International Programme Administration (IPA) platform, which uses computer software to manage multinational insurance programmes for corporate customers. Under the deal with LocalTapiola, SRCS said it will also give the insurer access to its network of 150 local offices and network partners. This is designed to help LocalTapiola grow…
Nordic Capital has signed an agreement to acquire Max Matthiessen from Willis Towers Watson. Max Matthiessen is a leading financial adviser within pensions, insurance and investment in the Nordic region, headquartered in Stockholm. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed and it is subject to customary regulatory approvals. According to Nordic Capital, an investor in the financial services sector:…