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13th December 2015

Newslink Trends: Weekly Global Insurance Analysis
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This week, CSC made a recommended offer for Xchanging valued at £480m, with Capita not proceeding, but Ebix still interested-it has 53 days in which to make an offer, in accordance with the Takeover Code. Meanwhile, the Board of the International Underwriting Association(IUA) unanimously backed the PPL placement contract with Ebix and the IUA will fund one third of the cost in 2016.
Solvency II looms-the Prudential Regulatory Authority(PRA) announced it had approved 19 full or partial internal models. EIOPA published its second biannual report on financial stability, and extended the deadline for applications for representatives on the insurance and reinsurance Stakeholder Group.
The Financial Policy Council was established in Bermuda, and the COP21 climate change global gathering in Paris reached agreement, which was positively supported by the Association of British Insurers(ABI)-insurance industry representatives played an important part in presentations and debate. Conning highlighted those US personal lines insurers that had stood out over the last volatile decade, whilst Standard & Poor's revised downwards its insurance industry and country risk assessment for South Africa, and also overviewed insurance market trends in the United Arab Emirates(UAE). AGCS reported on the increasing cost of business interruption claims globally.
Accenture released a global survey on the increasing use by insurers of digital technologies, and also announced that its life and annuity software suite was now available over the Cloud, running on the Microsoft Azure platform. Xchanging and Total Objects hosted a second market update for its newly-developed TreatyCloud solution, and Sequel responded to the challenge from Lloyd's chiefs for instech to match fintech. Direct Line's cio won the British Computer Society(BCS) CIO of the Year award, and Startupbootcamp InsurTech announced 10 international start-ups.
The Willis/Towers Watson merger finally received the approval of both sets of shareholders. Swiss Re confirmed its commitment to deliver long-term profitability and economic growth at its Investors' Day, and Liberty Mutual indicated a major net loss for the third quarter caused by deconsolidation of its Venezuelan subsidiary and a rise in energy investment-related losses. Fidelis received the nod to open in London, and Argenta and W.R. Berkley are to underwrite through the Lloyd's Asia platform. Ironshore is expanding in Europe and entered the New Zealand market, whilst RSA reached agreement to sell its stake in its Russian subsidiary.
AIG announced the formation of a new streamlined Executive Leadership Team which will result in four senior managers leaving the company. There were also senior appointments at Asta-managed Syndicate 2525, EY, and Towers Watson. Marsh announced a new ceo at recently-acquired Jelf Group, and Tom Bolt, for seven years a respected director of Performance Management at Lloyd's, is to leave in mid-2016.
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