On January 20, in a historic inauguration ceremony surrounded by U.S. soldiers guarding against domestic terrorism — before a field of 200,000 illuminated flags representing Americans who could not attend the ceremony because of the coronavirus pandemic — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn into office. Sean Kevelighan, CEO, Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I), today released the following statement: “Every four years—for more than two centuries—the United States has celebrated its Constitution, and that historic document’s invocation of “We, the People,” through the orderly and peaceful transfer of power atop the government’s executive branch. With today’s inauguration of President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, that solemn tradition continues in our nation’s capital only two weeks…

US investment giant Blackstone has appointed Michael Hovey to the role of senior managing director. Hovey will lead acquisitions and strategic partnerships for Blackstone Insurance Solutions and reports to Gilles Dellaert, global head of the unit. He joins from Morgan Stanley, where he was a managing director and most recently served as co-head of insurance investment banking for North America. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 2004, Hovey was a vice president in the Financial Institutions Group, Investment Banking at Lehman Brothers. In total, Blackstone manages more than $60 billion in assets for insurance companies. “We’re thrilled to have Michael join Blackstone Insurance Solutions,” said Dellaert. “As we continue to evaluate new investment opportunities in the insurance sector, having an…

Re/insurance broker Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has announced the acquisition of San Diego-based multiline program manager and managing general agency Atlas. Founded in 2009 by Bill Trzos, Atlas offers workers compensation, commercial lines and specialty property programs nationwide, with expertise in the California workers compensation market. Mike Mathews, Charles Lasher and their associates will remain in their current location under the direction of Joel Cavaness, president of Risk Placement Services, Inc. (RPS), Gallagher’s US-based wholesale brokerage division. “Atlas is a highly-regarded program administrator that brings RPS deep market expertise, a complementary book of business and a best-in-class workers comp platform,” said J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr., Chairman, President and CEO of Gallagher. “We are delighted to welcome Mike, Charles and…

National Western Life Insurance Company (NWLIC), part of National Western Life Group, Inc., has completed an annuity reinsurance transaction with Bermuda domiciled reinsurer, Prosperity Life Assurance Limited, effective December 31st, 2020. Prosperity, which is rated A- (Excellent) by A.M. Best, is an emerging provider of bespoke and innovative reinsurance solutions to the life insurance and annuity sector. The reinsurance transaction, designed to expand financial flexibility and provide opportunity for incremental earnings at NWLIC, covers approximately $1.7 billion in fixed annuity reserves. According to NWLIC, the deal will improve its overall financial performance and also risk-based capital ratios. “By reinsuring older fixed annuity business, we anticipate improving our already strong capital position and RBC ratio as well as increasing our financial…

Intensifying rainfall fueled by climate change over the past 30 years has caused nearly $75 billion in flood damage in the United States, according to a study by Stanford University researchers. The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shed light on the growing costs of flooding and the heightened risk faced by homeowners, builders, banks and insurers as the planet warms. Losses resulting from worsening extreme rains comprised nearly one-third of the total financial cost from flooding in the U.S. between 1988 and 2017, according to the report, which analyzed climate and socioeconomic data to quantify the relationship between changing historical rainfall trends and historical flood costs. About 90 percent of natural disasters in the United States…

French state-owned reinsurer CCR Re has announced the successful renewal of its 157 Re collateralised reinsurance sidecar for 2021 at an undisclosed size. With its third annual issuance, the sidecar has all of its assets invested in bonds issued by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). According to CCR Re, this is the first time that a sidecar has leveraged EBRD bonds, and is part of an ongoing plan for 157 Re to meet as many ESG criteria as possible. The size of the renewal has not been disclosed, but the firm states that Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP (BGIM) increased CCR Re’s property cat risks underwriting capacity on a worldwide basis. The company notes that this…

California-based insurance holding company Palomar Holdings has appointed Mark Brose as Chief Technology Officer. Brose will report directly to Britt Morries, Palomar’s Chief Operating Officer, who assumed the role in September last year. He most recently served as Vice President of Engineering at Agosto, a cloud services and development company. Prior to this position, Brose served as Chief Technology Officer at Gravie, a health insurance marketplace that helps consumers select, purchase, and manage health care plans and expenses. Mac Armstrong, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said: “As Palomar continues on its growth trajectory, our focus has been on strengthening our leadership team. “Mark brings over 25 years of creating and, more importantly, leading high-performing software engineering and technical operation teams….

Auto insurance rates declined in 2020 for the first time in a decade, according to a recent survey by ValuePenguin.com. The survey results anticipate a 1.7 percent decline nationally. A major factor in the decline are the pandemic-related discounts granted by insurers in 2020. These discounts have been valued at $14 billion, according to Triple-I estimates. Triple-I Chief Actuary James Lynch reported that many auto insurers are building these discounts into rates for 2021 and that driving declined by as much as 50 percent during spring lockdowns. The estimate of just how much rates are declining depends on the metrics you use. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for December 2020 indicates that auto insurance rates declined by 4.8 percent…

Insurer RSA Insurance Group plc has said that following the UK Supreme Court’s ruling on the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) business interruption (BI) insurance test case, reinsurance protection is expected to come into play. The Court upheld the judgement on the FCA’s BI insurance test case at the appeal stage, bringing an end to the judgement and providing clarity for both insurers and policyholders. In response to the ruling, RSA has said that while it continues to evaluate the outcome, currently, it does not expect the net loss estimate in relation to the policies before the Court to change significantly from levels previous reported. Adding that, “Reinsurance is expected to apply.” With the judgement favourable for insureds, ramifications for the…

The UK Supreme Court has upheld the judgement on the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) business interruption (BI) insurance test case. After the UK High Court passed its long-awaited judgement on the FCA’s BI insurance test case in September 2020, ruling in favour of policyholders on the majority of key issues, the UK Supreme Court granted permission for the FCA and a group of insurance and reinsurance companies to appeal its ruling. Via a live video link this morning, a UK Supreme Court representative announced at the outset the decision of the appeals of both the FCA and the Hiscox Action Group. He explained that, “the appeals of the Financial Conduct Authority and the Hiscox Action Group are substantially allowed, and…

The Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I), an affiliate of The Institutes, has released its 2021 Insurance Fact Book, an essential resource for anyone who needs up-to-date information on insurance. This year The Insurance Fact Book has new content to address many of the past year’s events, in such areas as: insurer response to the pandemic; civil disturbances; and homeowners high-risk markets. Highlighted in the “Emerging and Evolving Insurance Issues” section are five unique insurance risks that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic: business income (interruption) insurance; workers compensation; extreme weather; social inflation; and cyber. “2020 provided a good illustration not only ofhow the disruption continuum is evolving, but also how the insurance industry is able to adapt and lead,” said…

International insurance broker Howden is entering a strategic partnership with insurance intermediary network Steadfast that will see the creation of an Australian broking operation. The partnership will also look to support Steadfast’s London Market broking requirements. Meanwhile, Howden in Australia will join Steadfast’s network – the country’s largest general insurance platform – in an effort to leverage its scale, strength and access. This new operation, focused on corporate, people risks and other specialty lines, will be lead by Andre Louw as Chairman and Igor Fijan as CFO. Louw is the former Chairman of Marsh for the Pacific region and JLT for Australasia while Fijan was formerly Head of Integration of Marsh for the Pacific region and CFO of JLT, Australasia. “I’ve known…

Re/insurance brokers have actually reported that casualty renewals differed extensively at January 1, depending upon specific scenarios consisting of loss experience, covered lines and market classes composed. Casualty rates at 1/1 was greatly affected by social inflation, the low rate of interest environment and contagious illness, along with the adequate capability that was readily available throughout a lot of lines. Person Carpenter kept in mind that there was extra pressure on other treaty T&C s and prices for some programs with more difficult loss experience or market classes. Monetary lines showed to be an abnormality in the casualty market, with steady to enhancing terms due to the strong hidden rate environment in addition to continued carrier underwriting discipline. Furthermore, cyber…

In spite of a rebound in the last quarter of the year, re/insurance broker Willis Towers Watson (WTW) reports that in 2020, worldwide mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity decreased to its least expensive level given that the after-effects of the international monetary crisis (GFC). The most current research study on finished M&An offers from the insurance and reinsurance broker’s Quarterly Deal Performance Monitor (QDPM), which is run in collaboration with the M&A Research Centre at The Business School (previously Cass), reveals that worldwide, companies finished simply 674 offers valued at more than $100 million 2020. As highlighted by WTW, this is someway listed below the 774 offers tape-recorded in 2019 and, is in fact the most affordable yearly volume given…

So far, the result of COVID-19 on employees settlement has in fact not been as fantastic as extremely first feared. The National Council on Compensation Insurance(NCCI )reported that because the 2nd quarter 2020, out of every 100,000 active employees comp claims, COVID-19 medical claims represented almost 200 , depending upon the jurisdiction. Still, the pandemic provides unpredictabilities and issues for employees payment, merely as it attends to numerous other sectors. NCCI’s yearly research study found that COVID-19 was the leading concern of employees settlement executives entering into 2021. Executives worry about unpredictability surrounding the period of the pandemic, the size and range of claims that might establish, healing time for employees sickened by COVID-19 and whether there would be long-lasting…

Property and casualty insurance company Chubb has really exposed that Jeremiah Konz, currently Executive Vice President, Reinsurance Officer for Chubb Overseas General, has actually been designated as the company’s brand-new Chief Reinsurance Officer, effective instantly. < img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-73216" src=" https://unitedbrokersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/chubb-chooses-jeremiah-konz-as-brand-new-chief-reinsurance-officer.jpg" alt=" jeremiah-konz-chubb" width =" 250" srcset=" https://unitedbrokersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/chubb-chooses-jeremiah-konz-as-brand-new-chief-reinsurance-officer.jpg 650w, https://unitedbrokersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/chubb-chooses-jeremiah-konz-as-brand-new-chief-reinsurance-officer-1.jpg" sizes= "( max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px" > Konz takes over from Michael Kessler, who Chubb simply recently called Division President of its global cyber danger insurance operation. In his new function, Konz reports to John Keogh, President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Chubb, and will similarly work as Chairman of Chubb’s Reinsurance Security Committee and as a member of its Global Credit Committee. As Chief Reinsurance Officer,…

> img src=” https://unitedbrokersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/broadened-triple-i-flood-risk-maps-provide-richer-perspective.jpg” alt=”” class=” wp-image-9583″ srcset=” https://unitedbrokersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/broadened-triple-i-flood-risk-maps-provide-richer-perspective.jpg 1024w, https://unitedbrokersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/broadened-triple-i-flood-risk-maps-provide-richer-perspective-1.jpg 300w, https://unitedbrokersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/broadened-triple-i-flood-risk-maps-provide-richer-perspective-2.jpg 768w, https://unitedbrokersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/broadened-triple-i-flood-risk-maps-provide-richer-perspective-3.jpg 1536w, https://unitedbrokersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/broadened-triple-i-flood-risk-maps-provide-richer-perspective-4.jpg 2048w” sizes=”( max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px”/ > The Triple-I Resilience Accelerator’s flood danger visualization tool is being enhanced with: National Flood Insurance Program( NFIP )info on “take-up rates” by U.S. county from 2010 to 2021, Differences in between take-up rates inside and beyond flood zones, and in numerous distances to flood zones. These additions will widen the Accelerator’s visualization from covering just the existing year to providing a historic perspective on how take-up rates have really altered in time. Take-up rates and sturdiness Insurance take-up rates represent the part of individuals gotten approved for a particular defense who take advantage of it. When…

Australian insurance company and reinsurer, QBE Insurance Group Limited, has actually increased the size of its primary disaster reinsurance tower by approximately 3% to $3.4 billion for 2021. < img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-35414 "src="https://unitedbrokersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/qbe-increases-feline-reinsurance-tower-at-jan-1st-renewals.jpg" alt ="QBE "width="220"srcset="https://unitedbrokersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/qbe-increases-feline-reinsurance-tower-at-jan-1st-renewals.jpg 400w, https://unitedbrokersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/qbe-increases-feline-reinsurance-tower-at-jan-1st-renewals-1.jpg 150w, https://unitedbrokersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/qbe-increases-feline-reinsurance-tower-at-jan-1st-renewals-2.jpg 300w, https://unitedbrokersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/qbe-increases-feline-reinsurance-tower-at-jan-1st-renewals-3.jpg"sizes="(max-width: 400px )100vw, 400px "> The re/insurer has in fact now complete its Jan 1st, 2021 reinsurance renewal, remembering that the program was located broadly in line with expectations and at terms”rather better than allowed in the Group’s service preparation anticipations”. Together with the increase in the primary catastrophe tower, vital adjustments to the structure of the Group’s program for 2021 consists of some changes to its retentions. At the renewal, QBE safeguarded a North America peak…