Posted by Ryan Rogers on Jul 07, 2011
Charlotte, N.C., — AmWINS Group Inc. said it will be expanding its excess & surplus lines business by opening two new offices in Florida. In addition to its existing Tampa office, AmWINS is opening offices in Satellite Beach and Boca Raton. Jeff McNatt, who has been with AmWINS since 2007 when he joined the company to run the Birmingham, Ala., brokerage office, will run the new Satellite Beach office, the company said. Alison Oliphant will now lead the Birmingham office. Also, Brian Henderson, formerly of Peachtree Special Risk Brokers, has joined AmWins and will be a part of the Satellite Beach team and will be opening an office in Boca Raton. “We believe that by increasing our local presence in Florida, we will build our brand in this very important state in the E&S industry,” James Drinkwater, president of AmWINS Brokerage, said in a statement. Att Read more…
Tags: Offices, Two New
Posted by Ryan Rogers on Jul 05, 2011
Paolo Ribotta XL Group plc today announced the appointment of Paolo Ribotta as Head of Global Distribution. In the newly-created role, Mr. Ribotta will be responsible for the performance, direction, growth and support of XL’s global network. He will report to XL’s Chief Executive of Insurance Operations David Duclos and will work closely with XL Insurance’s four business Chief Executives as a fellow member of the XL Insurance Executive Board. Mr. Ribotta’s major duties will entail collaboration with business leaders across the entire XL enterprise to ensure effective broker and client relationship management as well as network management, which includes managing new fronting partner relationships. He will also be directly engaged in facilitating entry into new markets for XL’s Insurance and Reinsurance segments, as well as supporting development of underserved markets in which XL believes further opportunities exist. M Read more…
Tags: Global, Global Distribution, Paolo Ribotta
Posted by Ryan Rogers on Jul 03, 2011
New York, May 13, 2011 – In response to the growing capital needs of the Life insurance and Annuity industry, Willis Re, one of the world’s leading reinsurance advisors, has established a Life Solutions Group to provide the market with advice on risk mitigation and financial leverage. Willis Re, part of Willis Group , the global insurance broker, has appointed Rick Hodgdon, Mike Kaster and Brian Holland – three highly respected reinsurance and risk management experts in New York to lead the new team. The Willis Re Life Solutions Group will initially focus on North America, providing capital management, structuring and advisory, and program enhancement solutions for the Life insurance and Annuity marketplace. Read more…
Tags: Life, Willis Re
Posted by Alexander Murphy on Jul 02, 2011
My son was in the armed forces but, since coming back from Afghanistan with injuries, he has been reliant on state benefits for income. However, he has recently received a large interim compensation payment and more is expected. Will this rule him out of receiving means-tested benefits?
Helen Freely, partner at solicitors Ambrose Appelbe, says that people have a similar problem after personal injury or clinical negligence situations but – in many circumstances – a Personal Injury Trust can be established to protect eligibility for means-tested benefits.
A Personal Injury Trust is a trust fund set up out of damages or compensation paid as a consequence of personal injury.
It can be set up by the recipient of the compensation within 52 weeks of receipt of an interim or final payment. Generally speaking, though, it is better if the cash is not received by the injured individual but paid directly to the trust.
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Posted by Alexander Murphy on Jun 30, 2011
Two million Aviva with-profits policyholders will have their annual bonuses frozen but will benefit from a rise in final bonus rates, following a 12 per cent increase in the value of its main fund in 2010.
The regular bonus rate for Aviva’s new business bonds will remain at 2.75 per cent and the regular bonus rate for new pensions will also stay at 3.25 per cent. Regular bonus rates for conventional policies, including endowments will stay at 2010 rates. Market value reductions (MVRs) on with-profits policies will fall by an average of 4 per cent.
The news came alongside reports that the main Aviva with-profits fund grew by around 12 per cent in 2010 while the total value of all the providers’ with-profits funds reached £49bn.
David Barral, Aviva chief operating officer, said the insurer had increased investment in equities to around two-thirds of the fund, despite experiencing two bear markets in the past decade.
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Tags: Bonus Rates, Rates
Posted by Ryan Rogers on Jun 29, 2011
New York, May 25, 2011 – LexisNexis® Risk Solutions today announced the availability of LexisNexis® Insurance Enterprise View, a new modular solution that integrates data from multiple sources to drive faster, better-informed decision-making by insurance companies. The robust platform is the first application to serve as a single, reconciled data source for billing, policy, claims and reinsurance systems. Integrated Insurance Solution Streamlines Operations with New Technology Platform For Policy, Claims, Billing and Reinsurance Data Throughout the insurance industry, companies are facing rising costs associated with aging legacy systems that are expensive to maintain and often unable to effectively merge data from different sources. As a result, insurers are taking a more aggressive approach to replace older systems with solutions that reconcile data across platforms and speed up time-to-market for new products and services. Le Read more…
Tags: Enterprise View, Insurance Enterprise, Insurance Enterprise View, View
Posted by Alexander Murphy on Jun 28, 2011
Insurance company share prices have fallen sharply this week as estimates of the cost of Japan’s earthquake and ensuing nuclear emergency have risen. Shares in the global “full-line” insurance sector were down nearly 6 per cent in the five days following the earthquake, while the global reinsurance sector fell more than 4 per cent.
Although much of the cost will be carried by the Japanese government and local Japanese insurers, reinsurers including Swiss Re and Munich Re, and even UK insurers – such as Aviva and Prudential – have seen their shares hit as concerned investors sold out of their holdings.
Shares in insurers in the Lloyd’s market, including Catlin, Hiscox and Novae, also fell this week.
Analysts disagree over whether the scale of loss will have a major impact on the global insurance and reinsurance markets and cause the cost of all policies to rise.
“It
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Tags: Estimates, Estimates Increase
