Reuters (February 15)
“Brexit-supporting City figures hoping for a regulatory bonfire seem likely to be disappointed…. The BoE’s first deviation from EU law was to make the rules tighter, not looser. The supervisor also recently ruled out a big capital reduction for insurers. London may end up being smaller, but at least it will be safer.”
Tags: BOE, Brexit, Capital reduction, Deviation, Disappointed, EU law, Insurers, London, Looser, Regulatory, Rules, Safer, Smaller, Supervisor, Tighter
Institutional Investor (December 1)
“Next year’s first review of Europe’s Solvency II regulations has given fund managers and consultants a platform to voice their concerns.” Though “most asset managers agree that the rules have enhances insurers’ understanding of investment portfolio risk” many also feel that the “policymakers mispriced asset risks” leading to unintended consequences. In particular, restrictions that “effectively ruled out some assets which could have provided higher, albeit riskier, returns” have proven particularly odious for annuities.
Tags: Asset managers, Asset risk, Europe, Fund managers, Insurers, Investment, Mispriced, Policymakers, Portfolio risk, Regulations, Restrictions Annuities, Rules, Solvency II
Reuters (September 15)
“Business owners who are trying to get back on track after hurricanes Harvey and Irma now face a different sort of challenge: trying to recoup lost income from their insurers.” Some experts predict approximately $70 billion in property losses from flooding in Texas alone. But recouping insured property loses is much easier than lost income. “Exclusions in the fine print of policies, along with waiting periods and disagreements over how to measure a company’s lost income, make business interruption claims among the trickiest in an industry renowned for complexity”
Tags: Business, Business interruption, Claims, Complexity, Exclusions, Flooding, Harvey, Hurricanes, Insurers, Irma, Lost income, Owners, Policies, Property losses, Texas
Institutional Investor (May 23)
Autonomous driving (AD) will transform society and it could prove the best (or worst) of times for insurers. Nobody really knows. “Futurologists assert that the safety advances and insurance industry disruption caused by AD technology will be unlike any since the advent of automobiles in the late 19th century. According to KPMG, over the next 25 years, there will be an 80 percent decline in accident frequency.”
Tags: Accidents, Advances, Automobile, Autonomous driving, Cars, Disruption, Futurologists, Insurance, Insurers, KPMG, Safety, Society, Technology
Los Angeles Times (June 17)
Despite the politicians who still deny climate change, major insurers are taking steps to manage the potentially costly reality created by climate change. “As insurers begin to shift the costs of that reality through rate increases, exclusions, lawsuits and market retreat, consumers can ask such politicians, ‘Why, if climate change is a hoax, are we paying for it?’”
Tags: Climate change, Consumers, Costs, Exclusions, Hoax, Insurers, Lawsuits, Market retreat, Politicians, Rate increases
Financial Times (January 14, 2014)
“One trend that is prompting parts of Japan Inc to shop abroad is the ageing population. Japanese banks and insurers, for example, are increasingly looking to the younger demographics of southeast Asia to build up their next generation of depositors and policy holders.” And while this was part of the rationale behind Suntory’s acquisition of Beam, a new overseas M&A boom is unlikely given the weak yen, especially as many “companies remain unwilling to borrow for expansion after years of cutting costs and hoarding cash.”
Tags: Acquisition, Ageing, Banks, Beam, Cutting costs, Demographics, Depositors, Expansion, Hoarding cash, Insurers, Japan, M&A boom, Overseas, Policy holders, Population, Southeast Asia, Suntory, Yen
Bloomberg (February 23)
New Zealand’s deadly earthquake may be the most costly natural disaster to strike insurers since 2008. A JPMorgan Chase analyst has estimated insured losses at $12 billion, the most since a $19.9 billion loss from Hurricane Ike. The quake which rocked Christchurch, New Zealand’s second largest city, would also rank as the seventh most costly natural disaster insurers have faced since 1970.
New Zealand’s deadly earthquake may be the most costly natural disaster to strike insurers since 2008. A JPMorgan Chase analyst has estimated insured losses at $12 billion, the most since a $19.9 billion loss from Hurricane Ike. The quake which rocked Christchurch, New Zealand’s second largest city, would also rank as the seventh most costly natural disaster insurers have faced since 1970.
Tags: Earthquake, Insurers, Loss, Natural disaster, New Zealand