Willis creates China foothold
02 November 2004
Willis plans to expand into China by taking full ownership of Shanghai Pudong Insurance Brokers, once China ends curbs on foreign investment in the insurance industry in 2006…
International
Greenberg quits as Marsh crisis spreads
26 October 2004
Marsh & McLennan CEO Jeffrey Greenberg resigned today as the contingent commissions crisis at Marsh continues…
Aon and Willis end contingent commissions
26 October 2004
Watching from Chicago as its arch-rival Marsh takes a caning from the New York Attorney-General, the media and investors, No 2 broker Aon has moved quickly to ban…
But wait, there’s more…
26 October 2004
The investigation into brokers’ contingent commissions involves payments from insurers to brokers in return for steering business their way…
Ratings agencies downgrade Marsh
26 October 2004
Three rating agencies have downgraded Marsh Inc parent company Marsh & McLennan this week following Mr Spitzer’s allegations and a sharp downturn in the group’s share price…
Marsh in crisis over contingent commissions
19 October 2004
No 1 global insurer Marsh may lose millions of dollars in fines and many more millions in lost market capitalisation after New York Attorney-General Eliot Spitzer launched a lawsuit…
Japan’s typhoon blowout
12 October 2004
The eighth typhoon of the season battered Tokyo on the weekend, killing five and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake…
US asbestos compo: light at the end of the tunnel
12 October 2004
There is a glimmer of hope that a fund will be set up in the US by the end of the year to compensate asbestos victims…
Allianz Canada goes to ING
12 October 2004
Allianz has sold its Canadian property and casualty insurance operations to ING Canada…
Breathing life into London
12 October 2004
A broking and underwriting agency called Oxygen has been set up in London aimed at poaching ambitious broking teams from other London companies…
US asbestos fund looks unlikely
05 October 2004
As the costs to insurers keep mounting and plaintiffs’ lawyers get even richer, the US is still a long way from resolving how to ensure the victims of asbestos-related diseases…
Insurers brave the storm
05 October 2004
A few weeks ago IAG CEO Michael Hawker warned that warming seas off the east coast of Australia could lead to cyclones around the coastal borders of Queensland and NSW…
TRIA extension closer
05 October 2004
The US Terrorist Risk Insurance Act extension has been approved by the House Financial Services Committee and will now go before the House of Representatives…
Axa chief sees a sunny future
05 October 2004
Axa CEO Henri de Castries says he’s enthusiastic about the insurance industry’s ability to innovate and maintain tight technical management of underwriting…
CII launches broker faculty
05 October 2004
The Chartered Insurance Institute has launched its Faculty of Insurance Broking, bringing a range of training and broker services under one facility…
US lawmakers consider terror act extension
28 September 2004
They’re notoriously slow, but US senators have at last held a hearing into the need to reauthorise the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, which has less than three months of life remaining…
Fourth hurricane hits Florida
28 September 2004
The fourth hurricane to hit the US coast this season slammed into Florida’s Atlantic coast over the weekend, causing damage estimated between $US6 billion and $US14 billion…
Ivan blows out insurers’ costs
21 September 2004
Hurricane Ivan is the third bad hurricane of the season in the US and it’s expected to cost insurance companies between $US4 billion and $US10 billion…
Reinsurers not out of the woods yet
21 September 2004
Global reinsurance rates are too low to sustain profitability, according to ratings agency AM Best…
9/11 insurers go after the airlines
21 September 2004
At least a dozen insurers and reinsurers – including QBE – have filed lawsuits seeking to recover losses incurred by them after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre…