The U.S. property/casualty (P/C) insurance sector grappled with a challenging nine-month period in 2023, posting a staggering $32.2 billion net underwriting loss, according to a report by AM Best. This represents a $7.6 billion deterioration compared to the same period in the prior year. AM Best’s data, compiled from companies whose interim statutory statements were received by December 4, 2023, underscores the severity of the industry’s struggle, capturing approximately 99% of total net premiums written and 98% of policyholder surplus. The personal lines segment emerged as the primary contrib ..read more

Lloyd’s global re/insurer MS Amlin has appointed Clare Constable to the newly created role of Chief Claims Officer, reporting to Andrew Carrier, Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The appointment is effective from January 1st, 2024, subject to regulatory approval. This promotion is part of a drive to create a joined-up Claims and Underwriting proposition. Constable joined MS Amlin as Head of Claims in November 2022, and has since driven several significant changes to the Claims offering, says the firm. She was part of the launch of a new claims service philosophy and an AI-powered claims triage to ..read more

Announced by Andrew Mitchell, International Development and Africa Minister at COP28, the almost £20 million funding package is part of a £100 million pledge made by the UK government at the annual climate conference in Dubai. The £100 million in funding aims to support some of the most climate-vulnerable countries to tackle climate change. Around one fifth of the total funding package is for disaster risk financing and early warning systems, which the government says will help the one-third of the world’s population who are not covered by early warning systems to prepare for both climate shoc ..read more

AM Best has revised the outlook to positive from stable for the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term ICR of “a” (Excellent) of Korean Reinsurance Company (KRE). According to AM Best, the ratings reflect KRE’s balance sheet strength, which it assesses as very strong, as well as its “adequate operating performance, favourable business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.” The rating agency noted that the revision of the Long-Term ICR outlook reflects its expectation of an improvement in K ..read more

According to a recent report by Moody’s, the Property & Casualty (P&C) insurance sector is witnessing a shift as primary insurers retain more risk following the raising of attachment points by reinsurers looking to reduce frequency losses to offset years of poor returns. Historically, primary perils like hurricanes and earthquakes have been the focal point of insurers’ risk management strategies. However, the report highlights that secondary perils, such as severe convective storms, wildfires, and extreme precipitation, are proving to be significant contributors to aggregate losses. Th ..read more

Financial services company Athene Holding Ltd. has confirmed plans to sell $600 million of 5.875% senior unsecured notes due 2034, the proceeds of which will be used to expand its insurance operation. The offering is expected to close on December 12th, 2023, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including capital contributions to its insurance subsidiaries to support organic growth. Wells Fargo Securities, BofA Securities, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley ..read more

As GenerativeAI (GenAI) continues to expand across the insurance and reinsurance sector, Elad Tsur, Co-Founder and CEO of Planck, explained during a recent interview with Reinsurance News how the technology can play a key advantage in helping to reduce loss ratios and bring more competitive rates to end customers. In terms of loss ratio, Tsur explained that if organisations want to strive for optimization within their expense ratios, which is becoming very topical within the industry today given the current market environment, then it is essential that they do this while maintaining their loss ..read more

Wakam, a B2B2C insurance firm has announced a series of leadership hires. Among these appointments is Anouk Bara, who joins Wakam as VP Finance & Corporate Legal and brings over 25 years of expertise across a number of major blue-chip companies, which has given her an in-depth understanding of financial issues and the insurance sector. Bara began her career in the industry by working at KPMG, before later going on to work with the investment company Groupe Chevrillon, before joining the AXA Group in 2006. During her time at AXA, she served in a number of different senior positions, in ..read more

Cerchia, a provider of decentralised risk transfer solutions, has successfully integrated a cyber cat industry-loss index, featuring data sourced from PCS (Property Claim Services), expanding its risk transfer capabilities, beyond classical Nat Cat. The addition of this new risk Index expands Cerchia’s risk transfer capabilities beyond pure property catastrophe risk, which had been its focus up to now. Its first transaction involved the seamless transfer of wildfire risk in California, while the second addressed a buyer’s need to protect against the increasing threat of catastrophic losses fro ..read more

Global credit ratings agency AM Best is revising the outlook on India’s non-life insurance segment to Stable from Negative. The agency cited a number of factors towards the outlook. This includes: robust growth potential, driven by economic development and rising insurance demand, recent regulatory developments that streamline product development process and support better cost optimisation, as well as enhanced financial flexibility following recent developments to improve access to capital. But, despite the change in outlook, downside risks remain: notwithstanding rate improvements, underwrit ..read more