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10th May 2015

Newslink Trends: Global Insurance Analysis
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This week, EIOPA published a report outlining the need for additional staff and finance to provide a full Solvency II regulatory and supervisory service, and also updated its Solvency II web coverage including future timings. Sopra Steria announced that its Solvency II reporting tool, proven in Germany, was now available in the UK, and Towers Watson launched RiskReporter to handle Pillar 3 XBRL-formatted reports and more.
It was a busy time for first quarter reports and Interim Management Statements-they included: Beazley(good growth in US), Endurance(happy with first quarter), Fairfax Financial(operating income up), Hannover Re(net income up around 20%), Markel("tremendous start"), Munich Re(on track for year's target), RenaissanceRe(improved net income), SCOR(strong start), Validus(net income improved), White Mountains(flat first quarter), CNA Financial(net income increased), Manulife(net income down), Allianz(revenue and operating profit up), Aviva(turnaround ahead of schedule). Direct Line(continuing costs reduction), Legal & General(good first quarter), Prudential(Asia drive continues), RSA(continuing transition), and Zurich(operating profitability "broadly flat").
On the trends front, Accenture reviewed nsurers' positioning globally on "wearables" technology, a Baird global survey indicated that insurance outsourcing was predicted to grow 10% per annum, and RIMES looked at data management, quality, and governance. MGAA research revealed that the two key attributes needed by UK MGAs were communication and entrepreneurial skills, Willis Re examined the impact of the rise in capital in a low global catastrophe period, and a DST survey concluded that UK insurers needed to improve their claims service.
Equifax and DMS introduced a new credit score to the US auto insurance sector, Verisk Analytics developed a new analytic report to enable underwriters to better assess the likelihood of fire incidents and non-modelled weather events, and Hyperion is to move to the cloud for HR management with Workday.
PartnerRe enhanced merger terms with Axis Capital, but EXOR is to continue to pursue its alternative offer for the former. The XL Catlin brand was launched, Fosun International is to buy the 80% of Ironshore it does not already own, Fairfax Financial is to acquire 35% of a Vietnamese general insurer, and Torus is to partner with LAU to write general aviation business throughout the US.
Oliver Bate took over from Michael Diekmann as ceo at Allianz, with Axel Theis to head Global Property & Casualty. There were also management appointments at Beazley, Gallagher and Towers Watson.
Articles on the above topics are included in those added to the Insurance Newslink and Financial Newslink global database service on Wednesday and today at www.onlystrategic.com