Putting a face to Lloyd’s
August 1, 2000 Vikki SpencerFollowing major restructuring in the mid-1990s, including the influx of corporate capital, Lloyd’s is embarking on a campaign to rejuvenate its image. Part of the strategy is the recent announcement that Lloyd’s would allow itself to be supervised by the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority, says Julian James, Lloyd’s North American director
CNA Re closes Canadian offices
August 1, 2000 by Canadian UnderwriterThe Chicago-based CNA Group is the latest of reinsurance players to be placed on the injury list as a result of losses on Canadian business. CNA Re, which writes its business in Canada through a wholly-owned U.S. registered subsidiary, Niagara…
Reinsurance market innovations: Staying Alive
July 1, 2000 Glenn McGillivray, head of corporate communication at Swiss ReinWhat are some of the world’s reinsurers doing to move forward amid what has been the worst market downturn in recent memory?
WANTED: Partners against natural disasters
July 1, 2000 Linda Matthews, COO of Royal & SunAlliance CanadaFor most Canadians, a natural disaster is something that takes place half a world away, generally in poor, under-developed countries, across the hurricane swept Caribbean, or along the southeast coast of the U.S. But more natural disasters are happening in our own backyard, adding to the burden of risk management, and raising concern that resources for immediate disaster relief will be spread too thin.
When it rains, it pours
July 1, 2000 by Canadian UnderwriterThe torrential and almost record downpour resulting from a rainstorm which struck southern Ontario over the weekend of May 12th and 13th of this year is expected to cost insurers about $68 million in insured damages, according to preliminary figures…
Reinsurance market outlook: Margins Wear Thin
July 1, 2000 Sean van Zyl, EditorThe global reinsurance market suffered its worst underwriting year in 1999, largely as a result of natural disaster catastrophe losses estimated to having cost the industry about US$24 billion. European reinsurers finished 1999 with an alarming 131% combined ratio, the…
Kingsway acquires AXA fleet book
June 1, 2000 by Canadian UnderwriterInsurer AXA Canada has sold its book of commercial trucking business, consisting of ten vehicles and more, to specialty insurer Kingsway Financial Services Inc. The book is valued at about $23 million in annual premium. As part of the arrangement,…
Catastrophe loss mitigation: Saving What We Have
June 1, 2000 Sean van Zyl, EditorIncluded in the federal government budget for the current fiscal year was a long-range allocation of several billion dollars to be earmarked for provincial infrastructural development projects. The property and casualty insurance industry’s recently formed Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction…
Kingsway produces 1st quarter recovery
June 1, 2000 by Canadian UnderwriterFollowing a fourth quarter loss for the 1999 financial year, specialty listed insurer Kingsway Financial Services Inc. (TSE:KFS) brought its bottom-line figures back into the black for the first quarter of the current year. Earnings for the first quarter of…
Queensway regains profit momentum
June 1, 2000 by Canadian UnderwriterListed insurer, Queensway Finan- cial Holdings Ltd. (TSE:QFH) bounced back into the black in the first quarter of the current financial year, disclosing a 3 a share profit compared with a 47 a share loss for the same period the…
U.S. data threatens long-term growth
May 1, 2000 by Canadian UnderwriterImbalances in growth rates for property/casualty insurance premiums, losses and expenses could lead to a record downturn, says Frank J. Coyne, president and chief operating officer of Insurance Services Office Inc. (ISO). Forecasts based on third-quarter 1999 growth rates show…
U.S. yearend figures dismal
May 1, 2000 by Canadian UnderwriterFor the 1999 financial year the U.S. property and casualty insurance industry produced a disappointing 6.6% rate of return compared with 9.2% for 1998 and 11.9% for the year prior. The industry’s drop in shareholder returns for the year was…