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…
The insurance industry is undergoing a fundamental transformation and there is a big focus on technology and how to address changing customer needs. And while this is of course important, the vital role of people should not be forgotten. The insurance industry is still, and always has been, a people industry and relies on attracting and retaining the best talent…
Insurance buyers are divided over whether cyber property damage should be covered by standalone cyber policies or property insurance, just as insurers ramp up efforts to tackle silent cyber risks, according to a new survey of mainly US insureds by Advisen and Zurich. The split fell in favour of cyber standalone policies at 49%, against 41% for coverage under property…
People are becoming more aware of the increasing frequency and intensity of climate events, and corporations are slowly responding to this increased awareness among customers. However, it may not have reached the point where such risks start to significantly influence how organisations do business. Hence, the question is: when will action on climate change reach a tipping point, ie when…
Technology is continually improving the customer experience in the insurance industry. One area that has been a problem, not just for the insurance industry but for the broader financial sector, is unstructured data, and in particular, text documents and emails with attachments. Automation has struggled with unstructured data, but now artificial intelligence (AI) is being used in pilot projects in…
The pharmaceutical industry is a very highly regulated industry, where quality control is extremely important and high profile. But as a recent series of recalls has shown, even in this industry, quality control can fail and after impurities are discovered, contaminated products can hit the market with expensive and damaging consequences. Last year, we at Zurich started to see massive…
Zurich Insurance Group is accelerating its policy to further reduce the use of carbon fossil fuels, which will see the insurer underwrite fewer risks that contribute to climate change. Zurich said its new commitments plan to reduce carbon emissions within its own business, at those of its clients and the companies in which it invests. The move is in line…
