Asbestos bill is progressing
01 July 2003
Amazing as it may seem, the US Senate seems close to getting together asbestos legislation that works…
International
Zurich on course with sale to Amex
24 June 2003
Zurich has sold its British funds management company Threadneedle to credit card company American Express – the latest move in the Swiss insurer’s move back to the profitable…
UK brokers fear cost of compo levy
24 June 2003
The British version of the FSRA is going through its early stages, and brokers are growing increasingly restless about some of the proposals to regulate them more closely…
Funds managers face industry revolution
24 June 2003
Global funds managers are experiencing what the insurance industry has been dealing with for more than 10 years – cut-throat competition and consolidation…
Three more years: Plumeri signs on
24 June 2003
Colourful Willis Group Chairman and CEO Joe Plumeri has had three years added to his five-year employment agreement, which still had 27 months to run…
Benfield float succeeds
17 June 2003
Shares in newly floated reinsurance broker Benfield have begun trading in London at 16% above the offer price of $6.27 per share, which values it at $1.4 billion…
Insurers win right to say no
17 June 2003
Major US insurers are emphasising their no-nonsense approach to liability by rejecting householders’ insurance proposals where mould threatens to be a future problem…
Asbestos reserves get a further boost
17 June 2003
Equitas, the company Lloyd’s established to handle all its run-off claims, has increased its reserves against asbestos claims by $996 million…
Gerling allowed to sell reinsurance operations
17 June 2003
The Gerling sale saga continues…
Rates rollercoaster continues
10 June 2003
Many insurance rates will continue to rise over the next five to seven years, and the average growth rate of premiums will gradually slow only until early next year…
Consumers really do check, says survey
10 June 2003
A US consumer survey has found that a high percentage of people claim to collect a lot of information, evaluate facts and figures and read the fine print…
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…
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…