AXA announced that Claude Brunet has resigned his mandate as a member of AXA’s Management Board.
The details of AXA’s future organization will be announced in the coming weeks.
The Management Board thanks Claude Brunet for the quality of his contribution to the Management Board since becoming a member in February 2003.
Specialist broking, underwriting services and risk management group, THB, has completed a restructuring exercise resulting in the launch of a new brand aimed at the UK and US risk management markets.
Cardinus Risk Management has been created by bringing together THB’s fleet risk operation – THB Risk Management – Property Risk Management and the ergonomic and health and safety consultancy Cardinus, which THB acquired in August 2007.
The new business will be led by a senior management team including Andy Hawkes, James Truscott, Jon Abbott and Marcus Noble.
The restructure was announced today by Group Chief Executive, Frank Murphy, six months into his role following the retirement of THB founder Vic Thompson in April.
“THB has been developing its risk management operations in recent years, boosted significantly by the acquisition of Cardinus. By combining these businesses and their impressive client lists we now have one clear brand through which to take full advantage of the rapidly-growing market for risk management services” he explained.
The growth of THB’s risk management operations was highlighted in September by a move to larger, newly refurbished offices in East Grinstead, following the growing success of risk management solutions such as Workstation Safety Plus, an award-winning online training and self-assessment programme.
Commenting on the new business, Andy Hawkes said: “As a fully joined-up organisation Cardinus Risk Management Limited has the capability to deliver end-to-end services in a number of disciplines. I believe we are streets ahead in this market, offering comprehensive solutions to tackle a wide range of health and safety, fleet and property risks.”
XL Insurance, the global insurance operations of XL Capital Ltd, today announced the appointment of Uwe Kutschera as Property Underwriting Manager for Germany, based in Munich. The appointment is effective January 1, 2010.
Mr. Kutschera has over 25 years underwriting experience in the property insurance market. He joins from Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS), where he was Regional Head in charge of all lines of business for Ireland, the Nordic Region, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Previous positions at AGCS include Global Property Manager as well as assignments at the company’s offices in Johannesburg, South Africa, and at their International Property Department in Los Angeles, California.
Commenting on the appointment, Gerald Kanis, Chief Underwriting Officer for International Property at XL Insurance, said: “XL Insurance has built a reputation for superior underwriting and loss prevention expertise, especially for complex property risks. Germany is one of the largest property markets in the world and an important market for us. I am confident that Mr. Kutschera’s experience and leadership will be of great benefit to our significant German client base, especially in the current market when underwriting expertise and service are proving to be real differentiators.”
Business crime statistics from AXA show that Halifax currently tops the league for overall business crime, with businesses in Wolverhampton most at risk of theft and those in Kilmarnock of arson.
The company has this week unveiled its Business Crime Index (details below), revealing that some areas which have been hit hard by the economic crisis such as the North and the West Midlands are suffering as people turn to crime. The fear is that this will only rise in the run up to Christmas – particularly for retail businesses which will be more attractive to criminals due to increased stock levels and cash on premises.
AXA figures show that for the first half of 2009, the Halifax postcode area was the UK’s hotspot for crimes against businesses. Around one in 16 businesses in the area
was a victim of crime during the first six months of this year with malicious damage the most likely type of offence to be committed.
On a wider regional basis, Greater London was the hardest hit area of the country with six postcode areas in the top twenty, followed by Yorkshire & the Humber, North West England and the West Midlands, largely reflecting statistics that show the recession is hitting the West Midlands and North the hardest. In Scotland, only one postcode region, Motherwell, appears in the top 20 and that is right down at 17th place although Kilmarnock placed higher than anywhere else for arson, or wilful fire-raising as it is called in Scotland.
Top 20 UK postcode areas for overall business crime in H1 2009
1. Halifax
2. Manchester
3. Bristol
4. Croydon
5. London SE
6. Northampton
7. London EC
8. Oldham
9. Sutton
10. Bradford
11. Doncaster
12. Wakefield
13. Dudley
14. Enfield
15. Liverpool
16. Wigan
17. Motherwell
18. Walsall
19. St Albans
20. Southall
AXA’s Business Crime Index looks at the levels of crimes against businesses based on claims received by the company. These include arson, forcible theft , non-forcible theft and malicious damage.
The average cost of all claims is around £3,806 with an average forcible theft claim standing at nearly £4,500 for the first half of 2009 while arson claims average a massive £17,200.
Christmas Crime
As retail businesses increase stock levels for Christmas it provides richer pickings for thieves. As takings rise and shops stay open longer, the potential for lucrative hold-ups also increases.
Alongside this drunken revelry can lead to malicious damage or even arson attacks on business premises – a particular concern this year as the number of unoccupied and unprotected premises has increased with recession.
Doug Barnett, head of customer risk management at AXA says: “Crime against business is a serious issue and this year we are concerned that the continuing recession could prompt a rise around the Christmas period. We would urge all businesses to work with local communities and police to protect themselves as well as taking sensible precautions, not least making sure they are properly insured should the worst happen.
“With 36,200 businesses predicted to fail in 2009, we can’t stress enough the importance of insurance to avoid becoming part of that depressing statistic.
“Business crime can have a devastating impact on a business and its employees – we hope we can work with the business community to keep this to a minimum this Christmas.”
Note:
[1] Data compiled from AXA’s claims records for January to June 2009. AXA analyses the percentage of claims in UK postcode areas against the number of policyholders, ranking them based on the comparative risk of crime, rather than on the total number of claims there have been.
[2] Joseph Rowntree Foundation report – Communities in Recession: 21 October 2009
[3] Where force has been used to enter or exit the building, e.g. breaking a window
[4] Where force has not been used to enter or exit a building. Includes hold-ups.
[5] BDO Stoy Hayward Industry Watch Summer 2009
XL Insurance, XL Capital Ltd’s global insurance operations, today announced that, responding to client needs, it has expanded its Construction All Risk (CAR) insurance offering in Spain and Benelux to include Inherent Defect Insurance (IDI) coverage.
XL Insurance’s IDI policies provide coverage for physical damage such as collapse of structural components as a result of defects in design, workmanship, or materials which were undiscovered at the date of issue of the Certificate of Practical completion for up to ten years after the handover of a completed building.
Max Benz, global Underwriting Manager Construction for XL Insurance said: “Insurance coverage for inherent defects is critical to our clients and mandatory in an increasing number of EU countries. As a well established player in the Construction line, XL Insurance is well placed to offer quality capacity, extensive experience and expert underwriting for IDI and we are delighted to respond to the needs of our clients in Spain and the Benelux countries.”
The collapse of budget airlines and other travel industry failures have prompted a sharp uptake of financial protection insurance by holidaymakers, according to travel insurance specialist Voyager.
Thirty two airlines have failed in the past year alone with a number of other airlines reported to be facing bankruptcy. These and the threat of other travel-related failures have increased demand for financial protection by travelers who have not booked a package holiday.
This has contributed as a result to an 87% increase in revenue for Voyager’s WEBroker travel insurance product, which includes holiday financial protection as standard. The fact that there are no surcharges for pre-existing medical conditions has also contributed to the product’s growth and popularity among policyholders and brokers.
Currently Voyager deals with around 500 brokers selling WEBroker and is looking to continue growing its agency base. On December 1 the scheme will be renewed for a fifth year by Mondial Assistance UK Ltd.
Voyager director Jonathan Buttery said: ““Although the number of UK residents’ visits abroad decreased by 13% between August 2008-2009, that still equates to over 61 million trips made by UK nationals abroad. So despite the impact of the downturn on the travel sector people do still want to travel and, due to the industry’s difficulties, more and more are seeking protection with financial insurance.
“We have offered a comprehensive travel product for some years but the recession, and the threat of travel firms failing and people being stranded, has undoubtedly crystallised the need for robust protection in travellers’ minds.”
Lloyd’s of London insurer Amlin said it expected to deliver an “excellent” full-year result as it reported a jump in premium income over the first ten months of the year.
Amlin said premiums for the ten months to October 30 surged 52 percent on the year to 1.37 billion pounds helped by rising prices and a stronger dollar.
“We have had an outstanding quarter’s performance and we expect the full year result to be an excellent one,” Amlin Chief Executive Charles Philipps said in a statement.
Amlin also said its profitability had been boosted by a strong investment performance on the back of buoyant financial markets, estimating its investment return over the period at 5.3 percent.
Karl Steinle is to assume responsibility for Corporate Communications at Hannover Re with effect from 16 November 2009.
Mr. Steinle’s brief in this role covers Investor Relations as well as Public Relations.
Karl Steinle is leaving his former position as Head of Investor Relations/Rating at HSH Nordbank AG in Hamburg. He was previously a communications consultant and Member of the Board with the consultancy agency equinet Communications in Frankfurt. In the course of his professional career he has also served as Head of Investor Relations with Krones AG and Creaton AG.
His predecessor, Stefan Schulz, is moving within Hannover Re to the company’s Insurance-Linked Securities department.
Increased demand for in-house risk managers, ERM exploring opportunities and better risk data will characterise the future risk world, according to Aon.
Building upon the theme of the future of risk management at the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) conference in Prague on 4th October, Aon is launching its Crystal Ball predictions on how companies will and should shift their approaches to risk management. It also looks at how the insurance and risk industry must adapt to support global business in changing times, in addition to developments in captives and risk technology.
Key findings include:
Marguerite Soeteman-Reijnen, chief broking officer in EMEA of Aon Risks Services, said: “The economic downturn took the world by surprise and reinforces the urgency to build upon companies’ robustness so that all stakeholders are ready to respond to challenges and exploit opportunities. Risk managers therefore need to be carefully guided through the total cost of risk on their balance sheet, analysing, assessing and determining their strategies towards the more complex and increasing number of risks in today’s world. The insurance industry must meet clients’ requirements and stand the test of time, particularly during economic despair.”
Scott Nicholl, senior consultant at Aon Global Risk Consulting, added: “Risk managers will be catalysts for change in risk-related behaviours. As such, it’s crucial that risk managers need to think in the long term and are involved in strategic planning. This way, they will champion frameworks for managing risk that will be integrated across organisations and tangibly contribute to the organisation’s success through improved business performance and demonstrating compliance.”
* Aon’s Crystal Ball predictions can be accessed by clicking here.
Groupama Insurances has appointed José Morago as its Chief Risk Officer. He reports directly to François-Xavier Boisseau, Chief Executive Officer for Groupama Insurances.
Bringing more than 13 years international experience in insurance, banking and management consulting, José joins Groupama from McKinsey & Company, the leading international management consulting firm where he was an expert in insurance, risk management and Solvency II. Prior to this, he spent three years at Moody’s Investor Service as analyst for the European Insurance Industry. José has also played key risk-related roles at Liberty Mutual Group in Boston, USA, and at Banco Santander in Madrid, Spain.
José will have line responsibility for Groupama’s Risk Management, Internal Audit and Underwriting Technical Review departments. He will play a leading role in implementing Solvency II within the business and in ensuring that risk management continues to be embedded into the organisation in accordance with industry best practice and the requirements of the FSA. José will be working with Groupama’s Risk Committee and General Management teams.
François-Xavier Boisseau comments: “José brings substantial experience and proven skills to ensure our risk management and auditing activities remain of the highest quality. We are delighted to welcome him to the business.”
Every UK resident is entitled to free healthcare from the NHS, but you may want health insurance so that you can have a choice in the level of care you get, where you get treated, when you get treated, or if you didn’t want to use the NHS.
The following products are designed for these circumstances:
This covers medical treatment and usually means you can get treated more quickly than on the NHS. The cover you get will vary, but basic private medical insurance may pay the costs of most in-patient treatments (tests and surgery) and day-care surgery.
Some extends to out-patient treatments (such as visits to consultants or specialists). You can buy cover on a full medical underwriting basis. This means you will be asked questions about your health and, based on the information you provide, the insurer will decide the conditions of your cover.
You can also apply for cover on a moratorium basis. This means you will not be asked any questions about your health, but if you have suffered from any health conditions in the last five years, these will automatically be excluded from cover for a stated time.
You can’t take out cover now for treatment you know you’re going to need. If you’ve had health problems in the past, your insurer may also refuse to cover them. If you are asked to disclose these when applying for the insurance, you must do so or you could invalidate your policy.
It also does not cover the treatment of chronic medical conditions, dental care, pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, fertility treatment, ental or psychiatric conditions, and treatments you may choose to have, such as cosmetic surgery.
To keep costs down you could choose to pay more of the bill, or you could choose cover that only applies if NHS services are not available within a certain timeframe.
Check – find out if your employer provides health insurance as part of your benefits package.
These provide limited cash sums towards everyday healthcare bills. Different policies cover one or a combination of types of healthcare, such as dental care, optical care, physiotherapy, or stays in hospital.
Check – some policies have age restrictions and will cover you only if you are under a certain age (often 65). If you’ve had health problems in the past, the cash plan may not pay out on certain types of healthcare. Some plans also apply qualifying periods, which means they will not pay for any treatment you have in the first few months of the policy.
This is a health cash plan that focuses on dental care. Most dental plans pay for twice-yearly check-ups, as well as for treatments such as crowns, root canal work, bridges and dentures up to an agreed maximum each year. More serious work such as oral cancer, surgery and serious dental abscesses are often excluded.
Check – some of these policies are not transferable between dentists.
Dutch bancassurer ING Groep must sell its global insurance unit by the end of 2013, the consequence of its 10 billion euro ($15 billion) bailout from the government last year.
Chief Executive Jan Hommen said on Wednesday it will lay the groundwork for an initial public offering (IPO) of the world’s sixth-largest insurer and consider other options later.
Here are routes ING could take:
Hommen has made little secret of his preference for an IPO. When ING announced the split on Oct. 26, he praised the insurance business and said he would like to see it stay together as one company.
On Wednesday he said the “normal path” in a situation like this would be to prepare a public offering and then, before launching it, compare it with other options. Royal Bank of Scotland has also looked at an IPO for its insurance unit.
“The separation of the bank and insurance company is proceeding as planned (completion could take 12 months), and an IPO appears (as we had expected) the most likely option,” Evolution Securities analyst Jaap Meijer said in a research note on ING on Thursday.
Analysts say the IPO could be conducted in stages, with a float of about 10 percent to start, then as much as 39 percent more, and then an ultimate sale of the rest. Such a multi-step sale would let ING get toward its disposal goal while enjoying ownership of the business as long as possible. The question of where such an IPO might be conducted remains unanswered, especially as the European market for flotations is recovering more slowly than the United States and Asia.
Hommen drew laughs on a conference call when he said he had to count on “hands and feet” the number of potential buyers who have contacted him since ING announced its plans to split on Oct. 26. He was clear, though, that no discussions were taking place and that all expressions of interest were being “duly noted” for the future.
A number of companies have said they would like to take a look at ING’s insurance business, including Britain’s Aviva, Spain’s Mapfre and Poland’s PZU.
A buyer for the worldwide business would need substantial firepower, though. RBS analyst Thomas Nagtegaal said in a note Wednesday his proceeds estimate of 18 billion euros for the disposal is “not aggressive”.
If ING decides to break up the insurance unit to facilitate a sale, the biggest interest is expected to be in its Americas and Asian operations.
In the third quarter almost half of the value of new business in the insurance unit came from the Americas, while the Asia unit saw the strongest growth in underlying profits.
RBS has estimated about 60 percent of ING’s insurance business is “attractive,” including central and eastern Europe, Asia and parts of the U.S. business. Other analysts have agreed that the opportunities the sale presents are rare.
“It is not often that Top 5 life insurance (Australia, New Zeland, South Korea, Malaysia) and asset management positions (New Zealand, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand) in certain Asian [markets] become available,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts said in a late-October note.
With Reuters
A stormy summer season left insurer Intact Financial Corp., the former ING Canada, with a loss in the third quarter as more people filed claims, while its chief executive said higher premiums could be developing across the industry.
Canada’s largest home and auto insurer reported a net loss of $8 million or seven cents a share in the quarter ended Sept. 30, as it booked lower underwriting results and a non-cash accounting loss
The results marked a drop from profit of $57.3 million or 47 cents a share a year earlier. Net operating income for the quarter fell 80% to $21.6 million or 18 cents a share.
The market for credit default swaps, which spiked when the US subprime mortgage market was collapsing, shrank in the first half of 2009, the world’s biggest central bank body said Thursday.
Over the first six months of the year, the volume of outstanding CDS contracts fell 14 percent to 36 trillion dollars (24 trillion euros), according to latest data from the Bank for International Settlements.
The decline came after volume already dropped 27 percent to 41.9 trillion dollars in the second half of 2008.
CDS are bought to cover losses in case of default on debt repayments.
Buyers of such swaps pay premiums to insure against default in the debt they are exposed to, while sellers are typically banks, hedge funds and other financial institutions who have gathered such debt assets.
With the US subprime or higher-risk mortgage market collapsing in August 2007, investors were anxious to acquire such insurance as defaults mounted, pushing up the premiums charged.
However, amid the crisis, sellers of such insurance also withdrew from the market, leading to sharp falls in the amount of outstanding CDS contracts.
Swiss Life Holding AG Wednesday reported a 5% rise in third-quarter premiums and said it was confident about its future, despite a continually difficult market environment.
The Zurich-based life insurer said premiums rose to 3.22 billion Swiss francs, or about $3.19 billion, from CHF3.08 billion in the year-earlier period.
The result beat analyst forecasts of CHF3.1 billion as the company was able to improve sales in France, its biggest single market, and Germany. In Switzerland, premiums continued to fall.
“In France, Germany, we increased our premium income, which gives us confidence in light of the persistently challenging market environment,” said Chief Executive Bruno Pfister.
“In addition to our successful growth and product initiatives, we introduced measures which succeeded in reducing operating costs by a further 3% between July and September,” he said.
Swiss Life earlier this year said it aims to reach savings ofup to CHF400 million by 2012. The measures also include some 500 job cuts in Switzerland.
Swiss Life, which didn’t publish an interim net profit figure, said that its solvency ratio, which denotes balance sheet strength, rose to 168% at the end of September from $155 at the end of June.
QBE is pleased to announce the appointment of Doug Jenkins to the role of Motor Fleet Risk Manager, based in Chelmsford.
Doug was previously founder and managing director of Driving Services UK Limited, where he provided Motor Fleet Risk Management solutions, across all classes, for over 20 years. During this time, Doug was responsible for coordinating the service proposition of over 150 staff and trainers, delivering services
throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East, working with clients, brokers and insurers.
At QBE, Doug’s role will be to further develop the Motor Fleet Risk Management services already on offer. This position also allows the Motor Fleet department to provide independent and focused services to clients and bring together their specific requirements with the services the market has to offer.
Matthew Crane, Managing Director, for the Motor Division of QBE European Operations, said: “This new appointment compliments our current dynamic approach to providing our clients with a unique opportunity to manage their motor fleet risk exposures. It will further the total commitment of the QBE Motor Fleet team to provide the most practical and efficient solutions within the market”.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is to donate 50 million doses of pandemic H1N1 vaccine to the World Health Organization (WHO) under an agreement signed at WHO headquarters in Geneva by the WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan, and the Chief Executive Officer of GlaxoSmithKline, Mr Andrew Witty.
“We welcome this very generous donation by GlaxoSmithKline, which will go to protect the health of the world’s poorest people. This is a real gesture of global solidarity towards those who would not be otherwise able to have access to the vaccine,” said Dr. Margaret Chan. “WHO will now work to see that these vaccines are distributed to those who need them.”
GSK expects to prepare the first shipments of vaccine to the WHO by the end of November. The WHO has a list of 95 developing countries that are eligible to receive donated vaccines, and aims to secure enough vaccines to cover 10 percent of the population of these countries.
German state-owned bank Hypo Real Estate reported on Wednesday a net loss of 574 million euros (860 million dollars) in the third quarter of 2009, a strong improvement from its loss of three billion euros in the same period a year earlier.
HRE was nationalised in several steps this year as the government sought to rescue a bank deemed critical to Europe’s biggest economy because it plays a major role in the issuance of “Pfandbriefe,” bonds in which small investors, savings banks and insurance companies have placed large sums.
The real estate lender had been expected to post huge losses this year, and in the first nine months it lost 1.71 billion euros, a statement said.
“The result of the first nine months of this year is not satisfactory; however, it is due to the difficult conditions on the market and the special situation of the group,” chief executive Axel Wieandt was quoted as saying.
HRE booked 810 million euros in provisions against losses on bad loans and advances in the three months from July to September, and 1.89 billion euros for the first nine months of the year.
That was much more than the 177 million euros and 247 million euros booked in the respective periods of 2008.
Operating revenues were nonetheless positive this year, showing gains of 244 million euros for the quarter and 512 million euros for the nine months from January to end September.
In the third quarter of 2008 HRE had reported a loss of 345 million euros, though it squeaked out a nine-month gain of 78 million euros.
German authorities, fearing that the bank’s collapse would trigger financial market chaos, ordered this year the first full bank nationalisation since the republic’s birth in 1949.
“We still have a long way to go before we will meet our objective – but good progress is being made with the process of restructuring,” Wieandt said.
“Conditions on the market will continue to be difficult,” he nonetheless warned.
The London Business Interruption Association (LBIA) has elected Aon’s Diane Jenkins as deputy president for 2009/10.
The LBIA is responsible for promoting knowledge in business interruption insurance (BI) through a series of technical lectures and education days for the London market, including brokers, insurers, loss adjusters and lawyers.
Diane has been on the LBIA committee since 2005 and is also Education Secretary. She is currently technical director for Aon’s Mergers & Acquisitions Group Europe, providing technical support on insurance due diligence, of which BI is a key issue. In addition, Diane served for 10 years on the Insurance Institute of London’s (IIL) property/BI sub-committee.
LBIA is also supporting the CILA BI policy wording initiative that looks at improving the standard BI wordings.
Tom Corfield and Liberty Syndicates have mutually agreed that Tom will be leaving the business to pursue new challenges and interests.
“LSM would like to take the opportunity to thank Tom for his eleven year tenure as its Active Underwriter and more recently his contribution as the Director of Underwriting. Tom’s contribution to the work on the Board of LSM has been most welcome.
Nick Metcalf, CEO of Liberty Syndicates, said that on a personal note; “Tom’s inimitable presence and style will be missed, as will his energy and enthusiasm. We wish him every success in the future”.
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