Agis Kitsikis has been appointed as Swiss Re’s new head of P&C client markets for Canada and the English Caribbean, effective immediately. He succeeds Stefan Behr, who recently accepted the position as Swiss Re’s head of business development for Europe,…
There is growing awareness that governments can transfer the financial risk of natural disasters to both insurance and capital markets, a Swiss Re expert observes. In Asia, Africa, the United States and Britain, there are examples of national and sub-national…
Canada’s costliest-ever hailstorm contributed to the largest insured losses in North America since the first half of 2011, according to preliminary natural catastrophe estimates from Swiss Re. The hailstorm that struck Calgary in June cost the industry $1.2 billion based…
The impact of low interest rates on insurer profitability is something that warrants more discussion, suggests a senior executive with one of the world’s largest reinsurers. “This is something that significantly impacts the profitability of the insurance and reinsurance industry,…
The gap between those who are insured against catastrophes and those who aren’t is still noticeably wide, particularly as storms are supposed to get worse. Monica Ningen, president and CEO of Swiss Re Canada and English Caribbean, describes what can be done.
If P&C insurers are looking to use their investment returns to offset inadequate pricing strategies, Swiss Re has a chilling prediction for them – low interest rates could be with us for another 20 years or longer. Jerome Jean Haegeli,…
The global economy now has less capacity to absorb a shock than it did in 2007 (pre-global recession), but Canada is faring well – it is the second-most economic resilient country in world, according to the Swiss Re Institute. In…
Expect the low-interest-rate environment to continue for at least two more years, Swiss Re warned Thursday. “Insurers will continue to operate in a low-interest-rate environment for the next two years at least, meaning that industry profitability will remain under pressure,”…
Your clients may be paying higher rates but hard market may not be the right way to describe it, speakers suggested at a recent insurance conference. “I don’t personally know if I would call it a hard market yet. What…
The industry is making progress on getting a national flood insurance program, but a key challenge is getting all provinces, territories and Ottawa to agree on how it should work, the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s CEO suggested Tuesday. Unlike Britain…
Ciara Brady, who previously worked in Toronto for both Swiss Re and Chubb, becomes head of global liability for Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty effective Jan. 1, AGCS announced Tuesday. Brady will work out of Zurich and succeed Michael Hohmann…
Underwriting margins will need to improve by at least six to nine points in major western markets to deliver sustainable returns, according to the latest sigma report from global reinsurer Swiss Re. The report Profitability in non-life insurance: mind the…