Munich Re gets its China licence
15 July 2003
Swiss Re has lost the race to be the first international reinsurer to get its operating licence from the Chinese Government, pipped at the post by Munich Re…
International
Health plan costs trap US employers
15 July 2003
US employers who pay for their employees’ health insurance as part of their salary package are being caught up in the country’s rising medical expenses problems…
AIG bulks up in Japan life market
15 July 2003
American International Group’s decision to buy two GE-owned insurance businesses at once gives some idea of the group’s awesome financial strength…
FSA softens rules for small business
08 July 2003
British brokers are breathing sighs of relief following a decision last week by the Financial Services Authority to drop its plan to give small businesses the same status…
Heath Lambert for sale, says newspaper
08 July 2003
The scramble for market share at the top end of the broker market is still in full swing, with Marsh & McLennan reportedly close to buying British broker Heath Lambert…
Gerling sells Canadian operations
08 July 2003
German insurer Gerling has sold Gerling Canada Insurance Company to a group of private fund management companies for an undisclosed sum…
Aon returns to New York
01 July 2003
Global broker Aon has opened new offices in lower Manhattan in New York, less than two years after suffering its darkest hour in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre…
AIG boosts its Japan presence
01 July 2003
AIG Chairman Maurice “Hank” Greenberg is beefing up his company’s presence in one of its traditional markets, Japan…
Another Greenberg re-emerges
01 July 2003
Evan Greenberg has been appointed President of Bermuda-based insurer Ace, putting him in the prime position to succeed CEO Brian Duperreault…
Asbestos bill is progressing
01 July 2003
Amazing as it may seem, the US Senate seems close to getting together asbestos legislation that works…
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…