Features
North American Insurance Conference: Line in the Sand
December 1, 2003 Vikki SpencerThe skies may have been clear over St. Pete’s Beach for the annual North American Insurance Conference this fall, but the prospects for the insurance industry are far from bright, speakers told the conference. Insurers are facing a crisis of confidence, with everyone from regulators to raters, and especially consumers, taking a jaundiced view of the industry. And, alarmingly, there are fears the industry may already be sinking back into the soft pricing/writing for marketshare environment that led to its current stormy situation.
CAMIC 2003: Passages
December 1, 2003 Vikki SpencerPassages: from the French “passager”, literally meaning to execute a passage – the insurance industry today is navigating its way through a host of changes, not the least of which is being provided by a constantly shifting legal and regulatory environment. For Canada’s mutual insurers, which met recently in Montreal for the annual Canadian Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (CAMIC) convention, some of these challenges take on a unique flavor.
Turning Soft…
December 1, 2003 Sean van Zyl, EditorSome in the property and casualty insurance industry believe that “price stabilization” could translate into “soft market” as insurers head into a new year. U.S. industry results at this year’s half mark already showed a dramatic reduction in the growth…
Kingsway Disposes of Florida-Based MGA
December 1, 2003 by Canadian UnderwriterKingsway Financial Services (TSX: KFS) has sold its approximate 25% equity stake in USA Insurance Group to BISYS Group Inc. (NYSE: BSG) for a net proceed (consisting of both cash and stock in BSG) of about US$19.6 million. USA Insurance…
RSA Canada Combined Ratio Drops
December 1, 2003 by Canadian UnderwriterAs parent company Royal & SunAlliance Group announced its overall losses had narrowed to 146 million pounds from 156 million pounds for the first nine months of 2003, the Canadian operation says its own financial results are improving. Despite losses…
Drilling Down for New Solutions
December 1, 2003 Craig HarrisThe oil and gas industry was already facing steep insurance rate hikes and capacity concerns before the terrorist attacks of 9/11. More than two years after that event, it is still reeling from coverage restrictions, record-level deductibles and a massive spike in prices. However, the bigger players appear to have learnt their lesson of the insurance market’s pricing vagaries, and they have identified and created alternative risk transfer mechanisms.
IBAO 2003 Convention: A Crises of Credibility
December 1, 2003 Vikki Spencer and Sean van ZylThe recently held Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) annual convention hosted a panel of primary insurer CEOs who were put before the firing line of the 500-plus audience of mostly independent brokers who felt that the “hard market” has brought on an unnecessarily “hard attitude” by insurers in their relationship with the brokerage community. While defending the “strength” of company relations with brokers, the CEOs admit that some actions taken by insurers during the latest hard market in terms of cutting broker contracts and forcing “standard risks” into the non-standard market may have been overly severe – the cost being a loss of faith in insurance companies from brokers to consumers.
Aon Re Chief Cautious of Market’s Strength
December 1, 2003 by Canadian UnderwriterThe global property and casualty insurance industry at both the primary and reinsurance levels faces significant challenges in the year ahead despite the overall increase in profitability brought on by the hard market, comments Dennis Mahoney, chairman of Aon Re…
Ontario Government Gives Auto Insurers the Freeze
December 1, 2003 by Canadian UnderwriterNew legislation introduced by the Ontario Liberal government to freeze auto insurance rates offers both “good news” and “bad news” for insurers, says the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). While the IBC opposed the idea of formalizing the rate freeze,…
St. Paul and Travelers Merge in Stock Deal
December 1, 2003 by Canadian UnderwriterThe St. Paul Companies Inc. and Travelers Property Casualty Corp. recently announced a merger of the two companies to form a US$20 billion global operation based on net written premiums. The deal, which involves a trading of stock between the…
RIBO AGM Unveils Market Capacity Concerns
December 1, 2003 by Canadian UnderwriterThe concern over brokers facing limited market availability was among the issues faced this past year by the Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario (RIBO). At its recent AGM, the organization’s outgoing president Art Langley notes, “2003 has been a difficult…
Optimum General Recovery Maintains Steam (December 01, 2003)
December 1, 2003 by Canadian UnderwriterMontreal-based Optimum General continued to climb back into the black in the third quarter ended September this year, posting a net profit of $411,000, equal to 4 a share for the period compared with a net loss of $743,000, or…