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11th March 2018

Newslink Global Insurance Trends-The Week
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This week, financial services came to the fore in Chancellor Hammond's consensual speech on Brexit, following on from the Prime Minister's comments the previous week. The Association of British Insurers(ABI) and the the Confederation of British Industry(CBI) both supported the Chancellor's positioning and pressed for negotiations to start soonest-the latest Brexit outline from the EU, however, by President Tusk, omitted any mention of financial services so tough times are ahead.
Clyde & Co's annual Insurance Growth Report highlighted a recent uptick in M&As. Verisk Analytics estimated written premium for the commercial cyber liability market will reach $6.2bn by 2020, Marsh released a new survey saying energy executives are increasingly concerned about the impact of cyber-attacks on their operations, and the Global Federation of Insurance Associations(GFIA) published a set of key observations on cybersecurity and cyber insurance. Insurance Europe supported the European Commission’s Action Plan on financing sustainable growth, and also published a response to the EC consultation on the EU’s Adaptation Strategy aimed at making Europe more climate-resistant. Meanwhile, Willis Towers Watson launched its Global Ecosystem Resilience Facility(GERF).
Insurance Europe welcomed the publication of the EC’s FinTech Action Plan. FICO said that its Enterprise Security Score is the first cybersecurity rating to include powerful risk assessment and modelling capabilities to help insurers make better underwriting, pricing and portfolio decisions, whilst Infosys released a report entitled "Digital Outlook for the Banking and Insurance Industry." The Supervisory Board of Allianz SE appointed Iván de la Sota to the Board of Management to assume the role of chief Business Transformation officer. The Channel Syndicate and Canopius are to join Liberty Specialty Markets(LSM) in forming a consortium to provide capacity for Toredo, the new online platform for single situation trade credit insurance, and Greenlight Capital Re launched an Innovation Unit. Guidewire reported total revenue up 42% in the second fiscal quarter, and Sapiens' ceo said that the company "had a mixed year in 2017 from a growth and profitability perspective". The London Market Group(LMG) announced that ceo Chris Beazley will be stepping down in the summer to return to MS Amlin as MS Amlin AG ceo.
AXA moved to acquire XL Group-its share price took a dip, and Cigna entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Express Scripts. Canopius announced the completion of its acquisition by a private equity consortium led by Centerbridge Partners, and also made senior appointments. There were other management appointments at AmTrust Financial, and ArgoGlobal. Sompo International is to launch a new European specialty insurance underwriting operation in Barcelona. 2017 financial announcements included Aviva("In 2017 Aviva delivered growth and profits" said Group ceo Wilson), Legal & General(record operating profit for 2017-strong result across the board), and esure(chairman Wood said "2017 a year of positive momentum").
Articles on the above topics are included in those added to the Insurance Newslink and Financial Newslink global trends database services last Wednesday and today at www.onlystrategic.com-featuring advanced structured search, report facilities, and a free 14 day full trial.