In 2017, the US Congress enacted Internal Revenue Code Section 59A – a new base erosion and anti-abuse tax, colloquially known as BEAT. As BEAT has been in force for a couple of years, it has led to a rethink of how insurers structure global insurance programmes, with various different approaches from the insurance sector designed to manage the impact…
Risk managers require many things from their insurer when it comes to serving their global insurance programmes. To begin with, they are looking for a network that covers all the territories in which their company needs insurance and risk management services. But it is not simply about the size of the network and the number of territories covered. Risk managers…
A reimbursement product for employers to provide cash benefits to eligible employees hospitalised for more than five consecutive days as a result of Covid-19 has been launched by Zurich North America. The insurer said that in the US, “net profits from the offering will go to hunger relief charities, at a time of rising food insecurity fuelled by unemployment”. The…
In a hardening market with terms and conditions being tightened and exclusions increasing, it is perhaps not surprising that organisations are increasingly considering the use of captives. Two recent surveys of risk and insurance managers in the UK and Germany, carried out by Airmic and GVNW, showed that many businesses (65% UK, 53% Germany) are exploring alternative risk transfer solutions,…
The unfolding coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis has focused attention on the speed with which such outbreaks can spread globally. It has also shown just how complex business travel risks have become. Despite foreign governments outlining plans for the repatriation of their citizens, for the individual overseas traveller caught up in the crisis it would have been difficult to source information and…
The digital revolution has meant that organisations are becoming increasingly connected, businesses are more open, and many companies have longer-term relationships with customers than ever before. At the same time, cybercriminals are constantly expanding their own scope and capabilities, leading to an unprecedented level of sophistication. This, coupled with an increasingly complex regulatory environment, means that companies of all sizes…
Scott Toland has joined Zurich Insurance Group as head of US casualty international programmes underwriting within its commercial insurance business. Zurich said he will be responsible for “driving underwriting leadership and leading operational transformation in the US casualty international programme”. Mr Toland joins Zurich from AIG, where he held various leadership positions. Most recently, he served as senior vice-president, leading…
For some time, there has been a growing demand from risk managers and brokers for greater transparency of data when it comes to global programmes. They have also been looking for better-quality and cleaner data. That demand for transparency has largely been met by most carriers in the global insurance programme world, and data is now routinely shared. As a…
Managing general agents (MGAs) are one of the fastest-growing segments of the global insurance industry, particularly in Europe. They have long been an important feature of the US market, but in Europe and the rest of the world, the sector is growing rapidly and MGAs are becoming much more structured and sophisticated. As a result, insurers are increasingly looking at…
At a global level, there has been a worsening claims environment for directors’ and officers’ (D&O) liability ever since the financial crisis, and the current situation reflects a significantly more challenging regulatory and legal environment than in the past. Regulators and policymakers around the world have focused their attention more and more on directors and officers in their efforts to…