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5th July 2015

NewslinkTrends: Global Insurance Analysis
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This week, major mergers hit the headlines-Willis and Towers Watson surprised the market, and ACE's agreement to buy Chubb but keep the Chubb name was significant in US and global terms. The US health insurance market, ripe for consolidation, saw Aetna move for Humana, and Centene for Health Net. The Montpelier Re and Endurance Specialty knot was tied, and in the UK, Saga finalised its takeover of leading motor cycle specialist broker Bennetts. However, the PartnerRe tussle continued with the reinsurer and suitor EXOR wooing PartnerRe shareholders.
DUAL opened in Poland and expanded in Australia, whilst RGA finalised another agreement with Delta Lloyd to mitigate longevity risk.
Penn National chose Accenture Duck Creek solutions, Air Worldwide updated its US Hurricane Model, and Guidewire was positioned as a leader in an IDC global report. Towers Watson introduced a software solution to enable integration of financial modelling and reporting applications.
The Insurance Investment Exchange won "Best Insurance Event of the Year" at the inaugural Marketing and PR Awards in the UK.
Willis Re reviewed reinsurance pricing trends, and SNL Financial reported that tiering had started to happen amongst reinsurers. State Street highlighted the concern of asset managers over Solvency II with still much to do, and Gracechurch Consulting issued its third report on leading London Market underwriters. Majesco launched a revealing consumer survey on the UK retail insurance sector, which indicated that the market was failing to reach customers' changing expectations.
EIOPA published a Consultation Paper on infrastructure investment risk categories, and also issued technical advice to the EC on product intervention powers regarding insurance-related investment products. The Financial Conduct Authority(FCA) released its second report on its key activities in 2014/5, and Latvia followed Poland by deleting Bermuda from the EC's tax black-list. Lloyd's Market Association(LMA) issued guidance on the proposed Senior Insurance Managers Regime, and The Managing General Agents' Association(MGAA) published guidelines on outsourced claims handling services.
Steve Hearn, deputy ceo at Willis, and a major force in leading strategy for the global positioning of the London Market, is to become the ceo of CGSC, following the departure of Toby Esser. There were other senior appointments at Hyperion(cfo), Peak Re(cro), Skuld(manager of its important Bergen office), and UK P&I Club(Loss Prevention director).
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