Analysts see plenty of room for improvement
10 June 2003
US insurers speaking at the S&P insurance conference were upbeat about their prospects, but analysts who spoke cited insurers’ lax pricing and reserving…
International
US insurers still seeking prices/claims balance
10 June 2003
The US general insurance market resembles a gladiatorial contest between pricing and payouts, according to a new report from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services…
BI will cover government actions
10 June 2003
New York Governor George Pataki has introduced legislation creating a new type of business interruption insurance…
Munich Re recovers slowly
03 June 2003
Strong growth in life and health insurance, a lower property-casualty combined ratio of 98% and continued writedowns are the major features of Munich Re’s first-quarter results…
Terrorism Act gets lacklustre response
03 June 2003
The US Terrorism Risk Insurance Act hasn’t encouraged the insurance market to broadly offer terrorism insurance coverage at prices that most insurance buyers would view…
Reinsurance outlook is still gloomy
03 June 2003
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s says continued rate increases in the global reinsurance market have failed to stem the downward pressure on ratings, and the market outlook…
Benfield gets set to float
03 June 2003
Reinsurance broker Benfield plans to raise $250 million through a public float…
Wanted: professionals willing to work in a hot climate
03 June 2003
If you’re a fluent Arabic speaker with wide experience in insurance, have we got a job for you…
R&SA posts a profit
27 May 2003
British insurer Royal & SunAlliance has recorded a first-quarter profit of $288 million, and says the sale of its Australasian businesses has helped it with its capital problems…
Reinsurer assesses terrorism impact
27 May 2003
Swiss Re has produced a report identifying the “parameters of terrorism”. It also assesses terrorism risks, how risk has changed and how the risk community is dealing with…
UK brokers’ protests heeded
27 May 2003
British brokers appear to be closer to a compromise with the country’s Financial Services Authority, which wants to define any business turning over less than…
A bad summer for twisters
27 May 2003
Last week’s devastating windstorms in the central and south-eastern United States are the first sign that this northern summer is going to be a bad one…
Greenberg sees the bright side of SARS
20 May 2003
Maurice Greenberg, legendary CEO of AIG, has told shareholders that the outbreak of the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in Asia will boost life insurance sales in Asia…
Moody’s gloomy over US life
20 May 2003
Eight months after lowering its outlook for the US life insurance industry, ratings agency Moody’s has again served up more gloom…
… and general insurance isn’t too hot, either
20 May 2003
Fitch Ratings says the US property/casualty insurance industry is getting better – but that’s not really good enough…
Try domestic risk management, say US brokers
20 May 2003
Nearly 2.5 million US householders failed to have their property policies renewed this year, and the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America…
Deutsche Bank gets out of Gerling
13 May 2003
Germany’s Deutsche Bank is giving up its 34.6% stake in ailing insurance and reinsurance company Gerling and taking up a stake in a reconstructed Gerling NCM…
Munich Re chief to quit
06 May 2003
Hans-Jurgen Schinzler, the Chairman of Munich Re, is calling it quits…
Airlines to blame for 9/11, say lawyers
06 May 2003
Sixty families of September 11 victims are making their first forays into court to see if they can hold responsible the airlines which owned the aircraft that hit the World Trade Centre…
Willis stays on upward curve
29 April 2003
Willis, the third-largest global broker, is riding high thanks to soaring premium rates. President and CEO Joe Plumeri announced in New York that the group’s revenue rose 23%…