Wednesday, November 27, 2024
Home Authors Posts by George Stobbart

George Stobbart

Profile photo of George Stobbart
1954 POSTS 0 COMMENTS
http://www.news-insurances.com

0 0

In a deal that will almost double Goldman Sachs’ £3 billion insurance business in the UK, Rothesay Life – the insurance arm of the investment bank has acquired the majority stake of Paternoster – the specialist pension insurer for £260 million. Paternoster was set up by former Prudential executive Mark Wood and the current deal ends nearly a year of uncertainty.

Last month the bank had bought out almost all shareholders, except Deutsche Bank – holding 40 percent of shares in Rothesay Life, which refused to sell citing lower valuations until last week.

Paternoster runs the insurance business of Texaco, Emap and P&O among others and was closed to new business since the financial crisis hit the market.

Apart from Deutsche Bank, UK brokerage Numis, hedge funds Lansdowne Partners and Polygons along with US Private Equity firm Eton Park had infused £512.5 million of equity capital in total and the current valuation is a huge loss to the investors.

The acquisition helps Goldman since Rothesay’s hold high quality bonds which the bank can use to raise capital as well as meet new liquidity requirements. Goldman will not have access to the insurer’s portfolio directly, but Rothesay can always swap its liquid assets with the parent and other banks for other assets.

“This business is about long-term liquidity, we have an arm’s length relationship with Goldman – we trade with them, but we also trade with others”, said Addy Loudiadis, Chief Executive of Rothesay Life.

The Paternoster board announced “following a sale process, shareholders holding a majority of shares have entered into an agreement pursuant to which they intend to sell their shares to Rothesay, subject to regulatory approval and certain other terms and conditions.”

“The Board of Paternoster believes that this transaction would create an excellent combination to exploit the opportunities in the growing bulk annuity market and enhance the long term security of its policyholders”, it added.

Source : Finance News

0 0

US insurance giant AIG, short of cash to repay a government bailout, said Wednesday it would sell its Taiwan unit to a consortium led by one of the island’s biggest conglomerates for $2.16 billion.

AIG, which is now controlled by the US government, said in a statement that it had agreed to sell Nan Shan Life to Ruen Chen, a group led by Ruentex, after it expressed a long-term commitment to the company.

“Ruen Chen offers strong operational and funding capabilities and possesses a clear ability to satisfy the strict criteria that governed AIG’s bid review process,” said AIG president Robert Benmosche.

However, analysts pointed out the price of the proposed acquisition was significantly lower than some of the numbers floated in the local media in recent weeks.

“From the buyer’s point of view it’s a good bargain,” said Chen Yu-yu, a Taipei-based analyst with Capital Securities.

Taiwan’s Chinatrust Financial had offered $3 billion for Nan Shan, a local lawmaker with ties to the US Treasury said late last month.

The US government is trying to exit its majority stake in AIG and recoup public aid.

Taiwan’s industry regulator, the Financial Supervisory Commission, has said it will only accept a deal if the buyer of Nan Shan meets certain requirements, including professional management capability and long-term commitment.

“I think the government would feel comfortable if Nan Shan can be sold to a local buyer,” said Mars Hsu, an analyst with Grand Cathay Securities in Taipei.

Another factor likely to reassure officials at the Financial Supervisory Commission is the long-standing amiable ties between Samuel Yin, head of the Ruentex Group, and Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang party, Hsu said.

Wednesday’s deal, which is still subject to Taiwanese government approval, could bring an end to a lengthy quest for a buyer for Nan Shan.

AIG sold Nan Shan Life to a consortium led by Hong Kong-based Primus Financial Holdings for $2.15 billion in 2009, but the deal was rejected by the Taiwanese financial regulator last year.

Taiwanese authorities said they feared the Hong Kong group lacked the experience needed to manage an insurer and argued it had failed to provide a long-term management commitment, claims rejected by the consortium.

The rejection of the bid came as a blow to AIG, once the world’s largest insurer, which has been selling assets to pay back US government loans since its rescue from collapse during the 2008 financial crisis.

Ruentex is a sprawling conglomerate with interests in sectors as diverse as construction, textile and finance.

Taipei, Jan 12, 2011 (AFP)

0 0

Duck Creek’s “best of breed” underwriting and billing solution has been selected by Legal & General’s general insurance business to revolutionise their product and pricing capability. Legal & General will use the Duck Creek solution to improve efficiency through more sophisticated pricing and to respond more quickly to business demands to offer a broader product range, across its various distribution channels.

A key factor in making the decision to use Duck Creek is the ability the solution offers to create a centralised general insurance platform. This will enable all Legal & General’s business partners and customers to access details of the general insurance cover arranged with them via a web browser. Developing the new platform is a significant step in enabling Legal & General to deliver its future business strategy.

Geoff Howard, Strategy Director for Legal & General’s general insurance business, said: “The advancement of our technological capability is fundamental to achieve our aim of continued long term profitable growth. The delivery of the system is a huge undertaking but with an experienced project team of business experts from Duck Creek and Legal & General working together, we expect to deliver the first web based new product using the solution in Q2 2011.”

Tony O’Halloran, Managing Director of Duck Creek EMEA, said: “As one of the major insurers in the UK marketplace we are delighted to have the opportunity to work with Legal & General providing them with our complete underwriting and billing solution. Legal & General play a key role in support of Duck Creek’s growing presence as a preferred partner in the global insurance market.”

Source : Duck Creek Tech  Press Release

0 0

The New York State Insurance Department has allowed Hannover Re to qualify as a so-called “Eligible Reinsurer”. With its adoption of this regulation New York is following Florida, which in 2010 had been the first and thus far only US state to reduce collateral requirements for alien reinsurers that are highly rated and financially secure.

This means that Hannover Re can now write its non-life reinsurance business under improved conditions in the state of New York as well: while foreign reinsurers are obliged to post collateral for 100 percent of the technical reserves, the required level for Hannover Re, however, is now just 20 percent.

“We welcome the decision of the New York State Insurance Department. It improves free access for international reinsurers to the US market. Given the importance of the state of New York, which has taken this step in the wake of Florida’s decision, it is our hope that other US states will follow suit with this regulation”, Hannover Re’s Chief Executive Officer Ulrich Wallin observed.

Bearing in mind that the state of New York is the largest-volume market in Hannover Re’s US portfolio, the recent decision by the New York State Insurance Department takes on special significance.

Source : Hannover Re Press Release

0 0

Aon Benfield Research partner, Dr Kristy Tiampo, Aon Benfield/ICLR Chair in Earthquake Hazard Assessment at the University of Western Ontario said:

“The recent example from Haiti illustrates the vulnerability that still exists in many parts of the world to large, but not extreme, magnitude earthquakes.  The resulting catastrophe was preventable with better preparation and building codes.  The challenge now is to transfer what we have learned from this and other events to regions with similar hazards and poor levels of preparation.”

Dr Simon Day of the Aon Benfield Hazard Research Centre comments:

– The 2010 earthquake may be only the first of several earthquakes to afflict southern Haiti in the 21st century

– The earthquake relieved little of the strike-slip stress that has been stored up so the near-term seismic hazard remains high in Port-au-Prince

– Similar characteristics to other earthquakes in mainly strike-slip fault zones such as California, Iran and China

“The main fault zones in Haiti are the Septentrional fault along the north coast and the complex Enriquillo-Plantain Gardens Fault Zone (EPGFZ) that runs south of Port-au-Prince and to the west along the Tiburon peninsula, continuing under the sea to Jamaica. The EPGFZ has long been considered responsible for most of the historic earthquakes in southern Haiti, including a series of destructive earthquakes in the mid-18th century that were the last earthquakes to cause major damage to Port-au-Prince prior to 2010.

The initial assumption about the 12 January 2010 earthquake was that it was caused by strike-slip fault rupture on a segment of the EPGFZ to the south-west of the city, and indeed it seems that the earthquake began in this way. However, detailed analysis of global earthquake records point to a different interpretation of the earthquake. It was a complex, overlapping sequence of ruptures on buried or “blind” thrust faults to either side of the EPGFZ itself.

The earthquake therefore resulted more from the slow convergence of the Caribbean and North American plates, and the uplift of Hispaniola, than from the dominant strike-slip plate motion.  It bears comparison with other earthquakes in mainly strike-slip fault zones that involved at least a component of movement on buried thrust faults, such as the 1989 Loma Prieta (California), 2003 Bam (Iran) and 2008 Wenchuan (China) earthquakes.

An important practical result from the scientific work that led to these conclusions is that the 2010 earthquake relieved little of the strike-slip stress that has been stored up on the EPGFZ since the earthquakes of the mid-18th Century. The near-term seismic hazard to Port-au-Prince and other parts of southern Haiti therefore remains high. This point is underlined by the numerous damaging earthquakes in this part of the country and in the neighbouring Dominican Republic during the 17th and 18th centuries, in contrast to the lower levels of earthquake activity in southern Hispaniola during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Indeed, the sequences of earthquakes that occurred in the early historic period in Hispaniola and comparisons with some other complex strike-slip fault zones suggest that the 2010 earthquake may be only the first of several earthquakes to afflict southern Haiti in the 21st century. Much more geological and geophysical research needs to be done, however, to determine whether this scenario will actually develop.”

Source : AON Benfield Press Release

0 0

Most insurers have stopped offering flood insurance policies to centres in south-east Qld facing the prospect of inundation.

Insurance companies have stopped offering flood policies to homes and businesses now at risk in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and northern New South Wales. Insurance Council of Australia spokesman Paul Giles says the embargo has been declared by most insurers.

“When there is a major event, and the major event is ‘on foot’, and people are attempting to get insurance for that particular risk such as bushfire or such as flood that embargos are often placed on new policies happening until the event has passed,” he said.

Mr Giles says it is standard industry practice during a natural disaster.

“It doesn’t mean that the insurance will not ever be available again,” he said.

“It is just for the time being – some insurers may choose just to suspend issuing new policies.”

Source : ABC News

0 1

AEGIS London, the UK-based subsidiary of mutual insurer AEGIS (Associated Electric & Gas Insurance Services Limited) has celebrated ten years of operating as an independent managing agency within the Lloyd’s market, marking the occasion with a move to new premises.

The new office space situated at 33 Gracechurch Street, EC3, provides a modern, open plan environment with additional space to allow for the continued expansion of a business that has grown from around 30 employees and Lloyd’s stamp capacity of £35 million in 2000, to over 90 employees and capacity of £310 million today.

Commenting on the move, Stuart Davies, Managing Director, AEGIS London, said: “Our move to new, larger premises as we celebrate ten years as an independent managing agency in the Lloyd’s market marks a significant step change in our evolution.

“While still firmly established in our traditional lines of property, casualty and energy, we have successfully diversified into a broad range of classes, most recently contingency, accident and health, specie, and reinsurance treaty business. We expect to continue to develop the spread and balance of our portfolio and our new office will allow us room to expand over the coming years.”

Source : AEGIS Press Releae

0 0

The Financial Ombudsman Service today publishes for public consultation its proposed budget for the next financial year (2011/2012) – together with an update on the numbers and workload for the current financial year (2010/2011).

The budget sets out how the ombudsman service plans to deal with a potentially volatile caseload of between 152,000 and 208,000 cases in 2011/2012. This compares with the 180,000 consumer complaints that the ombudsman expects to resolve in the current financial year.

The volatility in complaint numbers is largely driven by cases involving payment protection insurance (PPI). So far this year the volume of PPI complaints is significantly higher than originally anticipated – with 68,000 PPI complaints now forecast for 2010/11, substantially in excess of the 46,000 cases budgeted for.

Complaints about certain other financial products (for example, investments) continue in a downward trend. But there has been a general shift towards more complex and harder-fought cases – with higher proportions requiring a formal decision by an ombudsman.

Taking into account the rise in PPI complaints, the total number of cases referred to the ombudsman service in the current financial year (2010/2011) looks likely to be 7% higher overall than in the previous year.

To deal with the volatile levels of demand being forecast for its service in 2011/2012, the ombudsman is likely to need a budget of between £90 million and £116 million – compared to a forecast of £101 million in 2010/2011.

As part of its plans for funding the service in 2011/2012, the ombudsman proposes freezing case fees and the total levy paid by the financial services industry – for the second year running. This means that the case fee – paid only by the small minority of businesses that have four or more complaints referred to the ombudsman service during the year – will again be frozen at £500.

These proposed budget arrangements are dependent on the ombudsman receiving the types and numbers of cases set out in this consultation. They do not take into account any additional costs that could arise in connection with the British Bankers Association’s upcoming judicial review of PPI-related matters.

The consultation also sets out the ombudsman’s plans for continuing to develop its levels of service in line with the expectations of users and stakeholders – including increased transparency and helping the financial services industry improve the way it handles and learns from complaints. This work will be funded through further cost-reduction drives, resulting in efficiency savings of 10% in 2011/2012.

Source : Financial Ombudsman Service Press Release

0 1

Allianz Commercial is pleased to announce that it has become a Chartered Insurer, a prestigious title awarded by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) to organisations for their commitment to ethical conduct and professionalism.

One of the first insurers in the UK to receive this status, Allianz Commercial has been recognised for its professionalism, expertise and commitment to training and staff development.

Allianz was able to meet the CII’s stringent mandatory and discretionary criteria with, amongst other things, its well-structured training programmes, such as its Underwriting Academy, which is dedicated to providing staff with a framework to attain relevant skills and ensure they have the highest levels of expertise possible.

Geoff Moylan, director of underwriting and technical at Allianz Commercial, says: “’It is an honour to be awarded Chartered status which complements our current business ethos by emphasising our commitment to the customer through the maintenance of the highest possible ethical, professional and technical standards and the relentless pursuit of continuous improvement.”

Dr Alexander Scott, the CEO of the CII adds: “We would like to congratulate Allianz Commercial on becoming one of the first Chartered Insurers. Chartered status is widely recognised by businesses and consumers alike as the gold standard. The efforts of Allianz are to be applauded. Coming on the back of their support for the Aldermanbury Declaration, they remain a driving force in the move towards ever greater professionalism.

“Their commitment sends a clear message to its customers, employees and the regulator – a message about the importance Allianz Commercial attaches to its professional standards and the development of its prime asset – its staff.”

Source : Allianz Press Release

0 0

The owners of a million uninsured cars face having their vehicles seized and crushed under a crackdown to be announced this week by ministers.

Mike Penning, the road safety minister, is expected to change the law to make it an offence for the first time to keep an uninsured vehicle rather than simply to drive while uninsured.

Sources at the Department for Transport (DfT) claim that the move will help reduce the £30 estimated annual cost to every responsible motorist in additional premiums to cover crashes involving uninsured drivers.

Uninsured and untraced drivers kill 160 people and injure 23,000 every year, according to the department.

Under the new system the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) will work alongside the Motor Insurers’ bureau to identify uninsured vehicles, many of which are never taken out on to the road.

Their owners will then be contacted by letter to warn them they face a £100 fine if the car or van is not insured by a certain date.

If the vehicle remains uninsured, regardless of whether a fine has been paid or not, it could then be seized and crushed, according to the DfT.

Around four per cent of British motorists -about 1.2 million – drive whilst uninsured. The penalty for doing so is a maximum fine of £5,000 and six to eight penalty points. Around 242,000 offenders are convicted every year.

Police gained powers at the end of 2005 to seize uninsured cars, but to use their powers they have to catch the driver at the wheel.

Under the new offence of keeping a vehicle while uninsured, the onus will be on drivers to prove that they have insurance, or have completed a statutory off-road notification.

In November, Mr Penning told MPs: “We are working closely with the insurance companies to make it mandatory for vehicles to be insured. There are millions of vehicles on our roads that are not insured.

“People say, ‘Well, it’s sitting outside on the road outside my house. I’m not using it. It’s taxed but doesn’t need to be insured.’

“It has to be insured, because if someone decides to use it even for an emergency they will not be covered. We are moving fast on that.”

A poll of 2,000 people by Direct Line, the insurance company, in November, asked what amount should be imposed as a fine for driving without insurance – and produced an average figure of £900.

In addition, 34% wanted those caught to have to take their driving test again, while 28% supported life bans for offenders.

Edmund King, the RAC Foundation’s director, said there were dangers in creating an offence which assumed that people were guilty even when their only crime was not to have filled out the correct form.

He added, “This will also only catch those people who are already known to the DVLA. The problem with the motoring underclass is that those who pose the greatest risk to others do not appear on databases.”

Source : The Telegraph

0 0

American International Group Inc., once perceived as a forced seller, has a bit more leverage these days as it has worked through most of its major asset sales and is nearing its government loan exit.

Its latest divestiture attempt, that of Taiwan’s Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. Ltd., has sparked a behind-the-scenes bidding war and the insurer can be choosy.

Home security provider Taiwan Secom Co. Ltd. is reportedly the latest potential bidder for Nan Shan. According to media reports, Taiwan Secom wants to set up a holding company with Hong Kong private equity firm Primus Financial Holdings Ltd. to buy an unspecified Nan Shan stake.

Taiwan Secom director Max Shu confirmed his company’s interest to news outlets, but did not specify what size stake it was seeking or how much it would offer. An AIG spokesman declined to comment.

Primus had previously joined investment holding company China Strategic Holdings Ltd. in a $2.15 billion Nan Shan bid that was blocked by Taiwanese regulators in September due to unspecified security concerns.

CreditSights Inc. analyst Rob Haines speculates that the regulators blocked that deal because of its funding. The regulators, he says, may have been “afraid of a hot money private equity investor” running the country’s third-largest insurer with about $53 billion in assets.

If that is the case, then what would convince Primus that re-entering the fray with a home security company with no apparent insurance experience would sway regulators?

A partial Taiwan Secom-Primus bid also could compete with relatively attractive offers of up to $3 billion. In a Nov. 12 letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission released by the regulator on Tuesday, the insurer said “other prospective buyers have approached AIG and have provided unsolicited letters of interest in purchasing Nan Shan at prices ranging from $2.15 billion to $3 billion, which exceed AIG’s carrying value of Nan Shan at Sept. 30, 2010.”

from TheDeal.com

To read more please click here….

0 0

Maurice R. Greenburg, the man who built AIG from an obscure corporation to the world’s largest insurance company, has an important oped in today’s Wall Street Journal that raises crucially important questions about how President Obama and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner handled the TARP bailout.

“Federal decision makers had six months following the Bear Stearns collapse in early 2008 to formulate an effective response to foreseeable liquidity difficulties in the U.S. financial-services industry,” Greenberg writes.

“Instead, the bailout turned out to be a rush for funds that benefited some and punished others. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and others were permitted to become bank holding companies and have access to cheap federal funds, while AIG was denied this opportunity for reasons never fully explained.”

Greenberg thus points to the heart of the fundamental problem with TARP – It was a massively expensive illustration of government picking winners and losers in the private sector.

During TARP, Treasury “loaned” AIG $85 billion, which the then-hobbling company agreed to repay at 14.5 percent interest, along with transferring to goverment ownership preferred stock rather than common stock.

Greenberg also points out that AIG shareholders were never given an opportunity to vote on whether to approve the transactions with Treasury. Delaware law, under which AIG is chartered, requires sharehold approval of such changes in ownership.

“It is important that an independent body is convened to seek reasons for these actions,” he adds, in an understatement. How about we start with the House Financial Services Committee?

Greenberg is a controversial figure in his own right, but the guy is clearly an insurance and financial services genius, as well as an international corporate diplomat, and much else. Oh by the way, he was among the American soliders hitting the beach on D-Day and won a Bronze Star. The man is certainly not perfect, but I’ve made no secret of my admiration for Greenberg. Make of that what you will.

Greenberg has been raising troubling questions about AIG and TARP since 2008. It’s time somebody in government (and formerly in government as well) was put under oath and challenged to answer those and many more questions about TARP.

Politico reports this response from an unnamed Treasury official to the Greenberg oped:

“The fact that Hank Greenberg is very mad at the government’s handling of AIG should make taxpayers happy. It means that previous equity holders got wiped out – more or less – and the gains were socialized. Those who bought in post-bailout (Fairholme Capital) and backed the Treasury plan to restructure with their cash have done very well.

“This sentence [from the op-ed] is the most underreported aspect of the deal. ‘It has been reported previously that the Treasury expected to make a profit of $22 billion on its investment in AIG. Based on the recent rise in the price of AIG’s stock to a year-end value of $57.62 per share, the unrealized profit has increased to approximately $44 billion.'”

Source : The Washington Examiner

0 0

The number of weather-related natural disasters soared last year, providing “further evidence of advancing climate change”, according to a major report from reinsurer Munich Re.

Munich Re said that 950 natural disasters were recorded last year, nine tenths of which were weather-related events such as storms, floods or heat waves. The total represents the second highest number of natural disasters recorded since 1980 and is 21 per cent higher than the average number of annual incidents recorded over the past decade.

Overall, in excess of 295,000 died as a direct result of natural disasters while overall losses reached $130bn (£83bn), of which just $37bn was insured. As a result, 2010 was among the six most loss-intensive years for the insurance industry since 1980.

The large death toll was partly the result of a higher than average incidence of earthquakes, which are not thought to be directly linked to climate change although ongoing research suggests there could be some connection between rising global temperatures and the incidence of earthquakes.

However, the report concludes that the increased incidence of flooding, storms, droughts and heat waves is likely to be the direct result of climate change.

“The high number of weather-related natural catastrophes and record temperatures both globally and in different regions of the world provide further indications of advancing climate change,” the company said in a statement.

In particular, the report highlighted how losses arising from the Pakistan floods reached $9.5bn and how the deadly heat wave in Russia led to 56,000 premature deaths.

It also concluded that the US and Caribbean enjoyed a “lucky escape” as the bulk of hurricanes failed to make landfall despite the region experiencing “one of the severest hurricane seasons of the past 100 years” that resulted in 19 named tropical cyclones, putting 2010 in joint third place after 2005 and 1933.

The report added that at the start of the 2010 hurricane season, water temperatures in the tropical North Atlantic were up to 2°C above the long-term mean.

“That is in line with the trend of the past 30 years, in which all ocean basins show an increase in water temperatures,” said Prof Peter Höppe, head of Munich Re’s Geo Risks Research. “This long-term trend can no longer be explained by natural climate oscillations alone. No, the probability is that climate change is contributing to some of the warming of the world’s oceans. This influence will increase further and, together with the continuing natural warm phase in the North Atlantic, is likely to mean a further high level of hurricane activity in the coming years.”

Torsten Jeworrek, Munich Re’s Reinsurance CEO, urged business and political leaders to step up efforts to manage growing climate risks. “The severe earthquakes and the hurricane season with so many storms demonstrate once again that there must be no slackening of our efforts to analyse these risks in detail and provide the necessary insurance covers at adequate prices,” he said.

Source : Business Green

0 0

Officers from the Metropolitan Police yesterday, 5 January, arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering offences.

The Fraud Squad executed a search warrant at an address in Wandsworth where they recovered a significant quantity of insurance documentation. They also seized some computer hard drives and mobile phones from the property.

The man was arrested on suspicion of making an estimated £30,000 – £40,000 by trading as an illegal insurance adviser, specifically targeting members of the Chinese community and students.

He was taken to a central London Police station where he was bailed pending further enquiries.

Detective Constable Grahame Macfarlane, from the MPS Fraud Squad, said: “This arrest comes as a result of partnership working with the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) and we are proud to be supporting their campaign to raise awareness among Londoners, especially members of the Chinese community and students about insurance fraud.

“Our advice to anyone thinking of using an insurance adviser would be to research that individual or company thoroughly, check that they are registered with the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) or the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and always ensure that you are happy you are giving your money to a reputable and regulated company or individual.”

IFB Director Glen Marr, who is heading the campaign, explains: “Together with our industry partners, the Association of British Insurers and British Insurance Brokers’ Association and the Metropolitan Police Service we have launched an awareness campaign to educate the vulnerable communities being targeted by illegal insurance advisers including students.

“The insurance industry takes all form of insurance fraud very seriously and the IFB will continue to work with its insurer customers and law enforcement to tackle this crime and to protect the interests of genuine insurance consumers.

“For anyone who is concerned they may have been the victim of an illegal insurance adviser, or who has knowledge or suspicions of those concerned with such activities, we urge them to call the IFB or report online by visiting the IFB website.

Source : IFB Press Release

0 1

Munich Re, through its subsidiary Munich Health North America, Inc., has successfully concluded the acquisition of US Medicare provider Windsor Health Group, Inc. (Windsor) for US$ 131m in cash.

The purchase of Windsor is a further step in Munich Health’s strategy to strengthen its position in the US Medicare market. Under the brand Munich Health, Munich Re combines its global insurance, reinsurance and risk management expertise in the field of healthcare.

Munich Re had announced last October that it would acquire all the shares in Windsor. Pharos Capital Partners was a major investor in Windsor. The transaction was formally completed on 1 January 2011. The purchase price in cash was financed by Munich Re from internal resources. All the requisite approvals have now been obtained from the relevant authorities. Direct operating control of Windsor will lie within the Munich Health North America, Inc. holding structure after the acquisition.

Windsor operates government-sponsored health plans through its Windsor Health Plan, Inc. subsidiary, which provides specialty managed healthcare services in the senior segment to more than 75,000 members in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee.

In 2008, Munich Re acquired Sterling Life Insurance Company (Sterling), a specialty health insurer for seniors operating in all 50 states in the US. Windsor and Sterling together will offer services to a combined enrolment of more than 200,000 members across the United States.

Source : Munich Re Press Release

0 0

It could reduce driving statewide by more than eleven percent, put money in the pocket of two-thirds of the state’s motorists and put little to no strain on the government budget. That sounds-too-good-to-be-true idea is called pay-as-you-drive insurance, and the city DOT is looking into how it might work in New York.

The idea is simple. Right now, most car insurance policies cost the same whether you drive 500 miles in a year or 50,000. While some of the costs of car-ownership change based on how you drive, like fuel or maintenance, insurance doesn’t. If insurance premiums rose with every mile you drove, it would be one more incentive for drivers to keep the mileage down.

In fact, it would be a pretty hefty incentive, according to a 2008 Brookings Institution report on the subject. They found that if all drivers paid for insurance by the mile, total driving would drop by eight percent. That’s the equivalent of gas prices jumping by $1 per gallon, but in the form of a carrot, not a stick. In New York State, where insurance premiums are high, they estimated it could provide an 11.5 percent reduction in driving.

There’s also a big market for pay-as-you-drive insurance. As you’d expect, those who drive more also tend to crash more and cost the insurance companies more. In essence, low-mileage drivers subsidize high-mileage drivers on average. With pay-as-you-drive, insurers could lure away the low-cost drivers with lower rates, a win-win for both those groups.

And because of the uneven distribution of miles driven, two-thirds of drivers nationwide would save money under a pay-as-you-drive system, according to the Brookings report. Since lower-income drivers tend to drive shorter distances already, the distributive effect of the policy is also progressive, according to Brookings.

So why isn’t pay-as-you-drive already more popular? One reason is technology: in the past, it was difficult to accurately track how far people drove. With both electronic odometers that are harder to tamper with and GPS devices, however, measurement isn’t a big obstacle anymore.

The other reason there isn’t more pay-as-you-drive insurance, however, is the thicket of regulation surrounding car insurance, which makes pay-as-you-drive difficult to issue. It can run afoul of requirements that insurance costs be clearly stated before the time of purchase, for example. Conservative insurance commissioners may also shy away from such a fundamental change in how car insurance is priced. The Brookings report cited one New York State insurance regulator as saying that pay-as-you-drive would be inequitable, as upstate drivers would end up paying more while downstate drivers saved.

Thus while pay-as-you-drive is slowly starting to spread on its own — in New York, Progressive insurance is the only company to offer it, according to the New York Post, though not in a pure form — it’ll take government action to clear a path for it. California’s taken the lead on the issue, as Matthew Roth reported at Streetsblog San Francisco, and Massachusetts just announced it was going to push pay-as-you-drive as part of a major climate initiative. Now New York City wants to join them.

So far, DOT has just put out a request for expression of interest in the idea, a very preliminary step in any process. It’s looking for information about what barriers currently stand in the way of pay-as-you-drive in New York, what it would take to make a program successful, and different ways the data might be collected.

One unanswered question, though, is what power the city has over the issue in the first place. Auto insurance is regulated at the state level. DOT wouldn’t answer any questions on the issue, however.

We also have a call in with the state Insurance Department to see what regulations currently govern pay-as-you-drive insurance.

Source : Streets Blog

1 0

We are delighted to announce that prominent design commentator and one of the founders of the Design Museum, Stephen Bayley, is to chair the Brit Insurance Design Awards in 2011.

Over thirty years Stephen Bayley’s books, articles and exhibitions have helped frame the contemporary idea of “design”. Together with Terence Conran he created The Boilerhouse Project in the V&A. He then went on to become the first Director of the Design Museum and is now a celebrated, outspoken broadcaster and critic.

Stephen will be joined by art and design curator Janice Blackburn, graphic designer Mark Farrow, novelist Will Self, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Kingston University Penny Sparke and Simon Waterfall co-founder of digital agency Poke.

Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum said, “Stephen Bayley’s sharp eye and sharper pen make him a natural chair for Brit Insurance Awards 2011, a jury that is looking for design that matters”.

The awards shortlist will be announced on 17 January, with the final winner being announced on 15 March 2011.

Source : Brit Insurance Press Release

    0 0

    Suncorp shares slumped 3 per cent, or 26c, to $8.35, knocking $330m from its value, QBE shares lost 38c, or $380m in value, to $17.77, while IAG fell 6c to $3.82 for the loss of $120m.

    Early market estimates put losses at about $1 billion for the insurance sector. But JPMorgan said a $1bn figure was an “extremely preliminary estimate” reflecting that there was only partial coverage for flood for property policies, and no coverage for flood in crop insurance policies. It estimates net losses for Suncorp could be as high as $200m.

    JPMorgan said IAG would have losses covered entirely by a reinsurer if gross losses were between $15m and $50m.

    “If they are greater than $50m, IAG will wear the cost in excess of $50m up to a maximum of $175m,” it said. JPMorgan was uncertain of QBE’s reinsurance arrangements, but it did not expect the impact to be significant.

    Suncorp has the greatest exposure to the Queensland market. A spokeswoman yesterday said the company had received 1800 claims, but was expecting considerably more. “Most of the claims we’ve had so far are home and motor vehicle claims,” she said.

    “But we’re expecting a lot more from areas like Rockhampton which are still being flooded and people have other immediate priorities.”

    IAG, which trades in Queensland mainly through the NRMA Insurance and CGU brands, yesterday said it had received 600 claims related to both former tropical cyclone Tasha, which went through far north Queensland on Christmas Day, and the floods in the central and southern parts of the state.

    QBE was unable to say how many claims it had received.

    Shaw Stockbroking analyst Jamie Spiteri said the share sell-off was led by uncertainties about the floods and the extent of the three main companies’ exposure.

    “The full extent of their exposure is not likely to be identified for some time yet,” Mr Spiteri said. “The fallout could be quite significant financially, but there’s no real way of knowing.”

    But while the insurance companies — mainly Suncorp — brace themselves for more shocks, the financial impact on the state’s mining and agricultural industries continues to mount.

    The Queensland Resources Council also said the floods had cost the state’s coal industry an estimated $1 billion in production.

    The main Queensland Rail train line to Dalrymple Bay has been reopened, but QR National’s Blackwater line to Gladstone Port remains closed.

    While QR National estimates that the flooded Dawson River will continue to cut the Blackwater line near Duaringa into next week, Wesfarmers, which operates the Curragh mine that uses the line, said yesterday that it did not expect the line to reopen until Wesfarmers closed down the operations at its Curragh mine and moved tow draglines to higher ground last week. But in a statement yesterday, the company said floodwaters were receding.

    It was also the first company to give an assessment of the impact of the floods on the mine’s output. Full-year sales of metallurgical coal has been revised down from 6-6.5 million tonnes to 5.8-6.2 million tonnes.

    Another company likely to be hit by the floods is construction group Leighton Holdings.

    JPMorgan yesterday downgraded its earnings estimates for this financial year and next to reflect the reduction in activity and lost revenues for the group’s contract mining operations and other major projects in Queensland.

    The broker’s net profit forecasts for the company have been reduced by 6.2 per cent this year and 4.3 per cent in 2011-12. It highlighted concern over Leighton’s $4bn Airport Link project in Brisbane.

    Source : The Australian

    0 1

    ACE Limited announced that it has completed its acquisition of Rain and Hail Insurance Service, Inc. for approximately $1.1 billion in cash.

    The purchase price reflects a dollar-for-dollar adjustment as required under the merger agreement to account for an increase to Rain and Hail’s book value that occurred between December 31, 2009, and the closing of the transaction.

    “We are pleased to now officially welcome this fine organization to ACE,” said Evan G. Greenberg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ACE Limited. “We look forward to the benefits that the combination of our two organizations will bring both in the near and longer term.”

    Source : ACE Press Release

    0 0

    With a massive population base and huge untapped and under-penetrated market, the insurance industry is home to tremendous opportunity in India as well as foreign investors. India today is the fifth largest life insurance market amongst the emerging insurance economies globally and has grown at 25 per cent CAGR since the market opened up for private players in 2000.

    This impressive growth in the market has been driven by fundamental factors like liberalization, global economic boom, young population, growing middle class, rising income levels and customer awareness.

    While in the beginning of 2010, life insurance companies witnessed a 20 per cent jump in weighted new business premium according to a data released by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), the year also ushered sweeping regulatory changes that altered the way industry worked. It marked significant changes in product profile of unit-linked insurance plans that capped the overall charges and also imposed a minimum prescribed return in order to offer a better deal to investors.

    Source : Indian Express

    Prev1...444546...98Next Page 45 of 98

    POPULAR POST

    Seroni Interactive is an independent publisher of information BtoC and BtoB sites in banking and insurance & specialist digital content. Our productions of brand content possible to affirm your image, positioning, demonstrate your expertise and create a traffic or a hearing and therefore advertising exposure for your brand.
    Contact us: contact@news-insurances.com

    SOCIAL

    34FansLike
    6Subscribers+1
    965FollowersFollow

    Popular category

    © Seroni Interactive