June 2016/4

Cooper Gay is looking set to make 70 of its 400 London-based staff redundant and is close to spinning off its Latin American operations, as new CEO Steve Hearn continues to implement radical changes to turn around the broking outfit.

Don't misprice risk just because everyone else is doing it

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) managed to expand its traditional reinsurance programme by more than $400mn to $4.51bn in the January and April renewals for less premium than it paid in 2015.

Sirius appears to be laying the foundations for further expansion with the conversion of its Bermuda branch to a separately capitalised operating subsidiary.

Rating agencies have agreed the impact of a UK exit from the European Union (EU) will be limited for European insurers, despite the credit implications for the broader economy.

The economic fallout of the "Brexit vote" on 23 June is likely to result in a 10 percent decline to European carriers' solvency ratios and a sizeable impact on investment portfolios.

The legal ramifications of the UK's vote last week (23 June) to leave the European Union (EU) are likely to severely impact insurers, as companies face a legislative quagmire and loss of access to the single market.

Charges brought against Aon for withheld commissions on a Romanian compulsory insurance scheme have been dropped.

The assignment of benefits (AOB) crisis that impacted negotiations at the 1 June Florida reinsurance renewal has helped drive 6.8 percent rate increases at state-backed carrier Citizens for 2017.

Shares in Federated National slid by 9.3 percent last week after the Florida homeowners' insurer announced last week (21 June) that its CFO had resigned with immediate effect.

A project to attract more insurance-linked securities (ILS) transactions to London should not be held up by the Brexit vote, according to Malcolm Newman, sponsor of the London Market Group (LMG)'s ILS Working Group.

Validus is expected to hire former Enstar executive Scott Maries, sister publication Trading Risk revealed last week.

The Endurance-owned Blue Capital Global Reinsurance Fund reported a 1.84 percent drop in its net asset value in May due to catastrophe events in the US, Japan and Canada.

The London insurance market is at risk of losing relevance to clients as it falls behind in the areas of data analytics, innovation and cost efficiency, market executives said at the Reactions London Market Conference last week (23 June).

Ironshore received a significant boost on Friday (24 June) after AM Best affirmed its ratings and removed them from under review with negative implications.

AFG ups offer for National Interstate; QBE prepared to renew EU premiums outside UK; Fairfax buys into AMAG; Markel International simplifies Spanish structure; Cathedral hires D&F underwriter…

The role of the CFO has evolved from concerning financial management only to being an essential component of overall company strategy, delegates at The Insurance Insider's CFO forum heard last week.

Axa has set its sights on earnings growth as it unveiled its four-year strategic plan, Ambition 2020, at an investor day in Paris on 21 June.

Global P&C stocks were in a sea of red on Friday (24 June) as markets got the serious jitters in the aftermath of the UK's vote to leave the European Union (EU).

In a week that ended with the UK electorate voting to leave the European Union, the Insider 30 slid to a loss for the fourth successive week.

Share price data on The Insurance Insider's universe of P&C (re)insurers

The international Safety of Life at Sea (Solas) regulations due to come into force this week (1 July) will likely disrupt the cargo insurance sector in the short term despite the perceived long-term benefits.