XL Insurance : expands Middle Market offer in the UK

XL Insurance will expand its Middle Market offering to companies in the United Kingdom with a turnover between £25 and £250 million. Writing business on XL Insurance Company Ltd paper with a new team, this complements the UK Middle Market operation launched in 2008 writing business through XL Insurance’s Lloyd’s platform.

As many UK regional companies with a turnover between £25 and £250 million export and/or expand abroad, they face new risks in markets with different legal and compliance systems. At the same time, they seek the benefit of packaged solutions that efficiently combine different risk coverages. To respond to these needs, the new Middle Market team will provide access to both local expertise and to XL Insurance’s global network to provide international coverage if required.

Extending XL Insurance’s middle market team, Chris Oatten has been appointed Senior Property Underwriter Middle Markets and Julie Knight, Senior Casualty Underwriter, Middle Markets. Since the launch of its UK Middle Market operations in 2008 the unit has opened offices in Newcastle, Birmingham and Dublin.

Denis Burniston, Chief Underwriting Officer UK Middle Markets, said: “I am delighted to welcome both Chris and Julie to our Middle Market team.  Their appointments will allow us to provide property and casualty solutions to a new client segment and continue our business growth in this area.  Their in-depth underwriting experience will allow us to meet the specific needs of clients and brokers in this interesting segment.”

Chris has over 20 years of experience in both underwriting and relationship management and joins XL Insurance from AXA. He will focus on developing the Middle Market Property book across a variety of trades and utilising both existing and new broker relationships.

Julie has a strong background in global casualty with over 20 years extensive underwriting experience in the London Market.  Julie spent the last ten years with Zurich, where she managed their Global Casualty Accounts.

Source : XL Insurance

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RMS : final U.S. Paradex estimate for Hurricane Irene

Risk Management Solutions (RMS) has issued a final Paradex index value of $2.82 billion for Hurricane Irene, of which 85% is attributed to residential losses. The value is based on Paradex U.S. Hurricane, an index used to approximate insured industry losses from wind and storm surge for U.S. hurricanes, and includes automobile, commercial, and residential modeled lines of business. Losses from rainfall-driven flood are excluded. Paradex estimates are used to support the objective and transparent placement of catastrophe risk in the insurance linked securities market.

The index incorporates observational data for Hurricane Irene from the WeatherFlow Hurricane Network, hardened weather stations specially designed to survive and record hurricane force winds. These stations captured the highest wind speed at 92.2 mph at the Fort Macon, North Carolina location. A total of 95 stations (around a quarter of which were WeatherFlow locations) recorded wind speeds of more than 50mph, and successfully gathered data along the path of Irene.

Last week, RMS released a U.S. insured industry loss estimate of between $2 and 4.5 billion for Hurricane Irene, excluding inland flood losses from heavy rainfall and all National Flood Insurance Program losses from surge and rain (with a further $0.5 – 1 billion for the Caribbean). RMS’ industry loss estimate takes into account additional drivers of loss not captured by the Paradex index, such as power outages and tree-fall damage, as well as an evaluation of observed damage from the event.

Source : RMS Press Release

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Appointment : Liberty Syndicates appoints Keith Nicholson as chairman

Keith Nicholson has been appointed non-executive chairman for Liberty Syndicates Management, member of Liberty Mutual Group.  

Mr Nicholson was previously a senior partner at a leading global accountancy firm until 2009 and has more than 25 years of experience across the insurance and banking sectors. He has advised financial sector businesses on multi-national and domestic transactions, including large cross-border deals in insurance and banking.

Mr Nicholson has had significant involvement in Lloyd’s and London market business including capital raising, risk management and regulation.  He has also broad experience in balancing the requirements of both UK regulators and overseas parents.

Since his departure from the accountancy profession in 2009, he has had a number of influential non-executive appointments and advisory roles.

Commenting on the appointment, Nick Metcalf, chief executive of Liberty Syndicates, said: “Having such a highly regarded executive as Keith, with experience in many areas of insurance and finance, will be a major asset for Liberty Syndicates. Keith has unparalleled experience in regulation, while also bringing excellent insight and a strong personal network in insurance, banking and regulation. Keith’s contribution will certainly expand the strong reputation Liberty Syndicates has established.”

 “At the same time, I want to express our gratitude and admiration for Brian FitzGerald on his retirement. Brian’s contribution as chairman has been immense.”

Mr Nicholson said: “I’m very pleased to be joining such a highly respected Lloyd’s syndicate. Liberty Syndicates has an exciting set of ambitions and I look forward to engaging at the cutting edge of its new projects.”

Source : Liberty Syndicates

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Cinven considers sale of Partnership Assurance

Cinven, the private equity house, could be mulling over the sale of one of its insurance divisions, Partnership Assurance, after receiving several offers for the firm.

Partnership provides a range of insurance products, including life cover, long-term care plans and pensions and was purchased three years ago by Cinven for £174.79 million. Cinven has now reportedly received some offers for the firm and a deal could go ahead in 2013, according to reports.

The private equity firm is thought to be looking at a number of banks, including Lexicon Partners, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley for appointment as adviser on the possible sale of the insurer, which reported a £35.39 million pre-tax profit lat year. This was up 27 per cent from the year before. The firm attributes its recent success to its increased retirement sales and equity release business.

As the population continues to age, more people are looking into ways to pay for their care in later life, and Partnership therefore claims the equity release market will expand.

Cinven has bought several other insurers in recent times, including Netherlands-based Aegon’s UK arm, Guardian Life, for £275 million.

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M&S launches new customised travel insurance

A new customisable travel insurance option is being launched by Marks & Spencer Money in an attempt to make their products more flexible.

The new product can be adapted to include different levels of cancellation, excess and curtailment cover depending on individual holidaymakers’ requirements. M&S claims that this new level of flexibility is necessary in response to the changing needs of the British holidaymaker, with more people taking very different kinds of trips and trying more adventurous activities and locations.

M&S now offers holidaymakers the chance to opt in or out of certain additions to their cover, depending on factors such as the value of their baggage, the countries they are visiting and how much traveling they are likely to be doing. For example, a couple going for a two-week all inclusive holiday to a beach resort in Florida would want to opt out of several areas of cover that a couple backpacking around Mexico for a fortnight may want to include.

While some holidaymakers may want more cover, others will want to take the very minimum cover options to help their holiday budgets stretch a little further, explained Crawford Prentice, M&S Money’s director.

The new product replaces the Standard and Premier policies that M&S used to offer, instead allowing the holidaymaker to pay only for what they need. Mr Prentice said that the ‘one size fits all’ approach to insurance is rarely appropriate and that individual needs should be taken into consideration by insurers.

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Whittington : reached agreement for sale of London businesses

Singapore based Whittington Group has reached a definitive agreement to sell its London businesses to a  consortium, comprising Tawa Plc, Skuld, and Paraline Group, Ltd.

The consortium will acquire Whittington Insurance Markets Limited (WIM) and its subsidiaries, including Whittington Capital Management Limited. The transaction is subject to the approvals of Lloyd’s and the FSA and is expected to close before the end of the year.

Anthony Hobrow, Chief Executive of Whittington Group, said today :  “ I am delighted that this sale has been successfully concluded and that Whittington Insurance Markets is being acquired by professional insurance  investors that have the finance, resources and knowledge to offer our staff and clients a secure future in an expanding  business .”

He added : “Our group’s focus has, for some time, been on developing our businesses in Asia and the sale of WIM in London will enable us to accelerate our ambitions in the region and focus our energies on the Asian insurance markets.  This marks the end of eighteen years in the London Market for Whittington Group and we thank our dedicated people and loyal clients for making WIM the attractive business that has it has become.”

Singapore became Whittington Group’s headquarters in 2006. Its largest project to date was the launch in June 2010 of DirectAsia.com in Singapore, an online personal lines insurer.

 “There are plans to expand the DirectAsia.com brand into other markets in the region and the sale of our London business will certainly give our Asia operations an added impetus” Mr Hobrow added.

Source : Whittington Group

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Heart Failure Common Among Poor Sector

According to the research of the specialists from Cedars Sinai Medical Center, which is also funded by the National Institute of Health, poor women are more prone to heart failure, despite efforts to curb the disease such as measures of health and well being.
Furthermore, the study also revealed that the educational background of the person also poses risk to the development of heart failure. According to the report, women who did not finish high school were at higher risk as compared to those who received a higher educational attainment.
The findings, according to Dr. Harlan Krumholz who is a cardiologist at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, is a kind of “double insult.” “They have to deal with social circumstances, and then when people get sick in that situation, it gets a whole lot worse. We need to try to intervene early to prevent these things from happening,” he added.
The study engaged about 26,000 healthy and post-menopausal individuals who were also part of the National Institute of Medicine Women’s Health Initiative. At the onset of the research, the researchers took note of the women’s income level, health and lifestyle routines, as well as educational background and level.
For the next eight years, the researchers checked the medical records of these women biannually in order to determine which among these women were hospitalized or diagnosed with heart failure. In sum, about 663 cases of heart failure were recorded.

Every single year, there is an average of 57 cases per 10,000 women who have a household income of about $20,000 per year were found to have heart failure. Those with annual income of about $50,000 recorded about 17 out of 10,000 women.

After a careful consideration of the women’s race, health and lifestyles, as well as their vices, the researchers were still able to reveal that women in the lowest income brackets had 56% higher risks of developing heart failure, compared to women with higher amounts of wealth. Furthermore, women who were not able to finish high school were 21% more at risk for developing heart failure than those who finished college.

Said the researchers, there are two primary key drivers of heart failure risks among poor women. First is that poorer women have less communication for the professional help of doctors, and second is that they have less access to preventive care facilities and programs. As for Krumholz, the results of the study should serve as a challenge to the doctors in providing care to their patients in treating underlying diseases like hypertension and to curb the disease before it becomes full blown. He also said that “the risk factors for heart disease, in particular heart failure, are concentrated in certain groups in society, particularly those with low income. When early problems arise that could be intervened on, those aren’t addressed adequately.”

Another reason is that the wealthier sectors are most likely insured by private health insurance companies. These people receive potentially live saving treatments compared to those receiving government funded health insurances.

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