Through the agreement, Munich Re will refer insurance company clients that can benefit from the building and property data, analysis and insights that Betterview offers for a fee.

Betterview also offers cloud-based software to organize, store and analyze the drone images it captures to support an insurance company’s underwriting inspection, loss control and claims adjustment processes.

Tim Brockett, Senior Vice-President, Munich Re, said: “We are always looking to collaborate and drive innovation activities with our insurance company clients.”

David Lyman and Dave Tobias, Co-Founders of Betterview, said: “We are extremely proud that Munich Re selected Betterview as its referral partner.

“With the close of our series seed funding round in September, Betterview is uniquely positioned to meet the evolving needs of Munich Re’s clients.”

The transaction is expected to close alongside the majority acquisition of Catalina by affiliates of Apollo Global Management (Apollo).

As part of the agreement, Aditya Dutt, President of Renaissance Underwriting Managers, will join the Catalina Board of Directors.

Chris Fagan, Chairman and Chief Executive of Catalina, said: “We’re delighted to welcome RenaissanceRe as shareholders in Catalina.

“They join us at time of significant opportunity to help us capitalize on the continued growth of the non-life legacy sector.”

Kevin O’Donnell, President and CEO of RenaissanceRe, said: “We are pleased to partner with Catalina as they have demonstrated a strong, consistent track record in managing legacy businesses.

“This transaction is consistent with our strategy to expand the suite of capabilities at our disposal to bring to our clients, through partnership with a proven industry leader.”

Paul Barrett is the third appointment to the Political and Credit Risk team, and joins the company from Arthur J. Gallagher.

Mr. Barrett joins Anthony Vaughan, Senior Credit Analyst, and Paul Carrington, Underwriter, who were both appointed to the team in late 2017.

In addition, Neon has broadened its Political and Credit Risk offering to include financial guarantee, and increased tenors for existing products.

Darren Lednor, Chief Underwriting Office, said: “Last year, we significantly strengthened our capabilities and this momentum has continued into 2018.

“Our expanded team now offers a greater breadth of coverage with the addition of Financial Guarantee and increased tenor length across a number of products.”

Martin Reith, Group Chief Executive, said: “The development of our Political & Credit Risk team and appetite aligns with Neon’s refreshed underwriting strategy of offering bespoke solutions that go beyond traditional parameters.”

He succeeds outgoing Chair Maurice Tulloch, Chief Executive Officer of International Insurance at Aviva, whose term ended on December 31, 2017.

In his new role, Mr. Christian will provide support for ClimateWise by identifying commercial opportunities to help promote physical resilience to climate risk.

Tom Herbstein, Director of ClimateWise, said: “Dominic’s long and deep knowledge of insurance, coupled with his immense personal passion, makes him exceptionally well positioned to help us deliver a more sustainable insurance model.”

Mr. Christian said: “We need a proactive and collaborative response to tackle one of our most profound challenges – the widening climate risk protection gap. I have always admired ClimateWise for playing a unique leadership role in this critical area.”

The amount ceded is now $28 trillion, with reinsurance increasingly being used as a risk management tool, with capital management benefits as a secondary factor.

The report found that many life/annuity companies consider reinsurers as business partners, with half who responded to the survey saying the terms and conditions of the reinsurance contract were more important than price and security.

Ongoing consolidation in the U.S. life reinsurance segment has meant a more concentrated market, with the majority of the business spread between five companies.

The ratings agency believes there are significant barriers to entry of the U.S. life reinsurance markets, which leads to stability.

Insurers are increasingly using captives to aggregate and manage risks, especially when reinsurance is not “reasonably available”.

The report found U.S. life/annuity reinsurers cede most business to domestic reinsurers, with 30% going elsewhere for capital and tax efficiencies. Barbados housed 9.5% of ceded business in 2016, followed by Ireland (7.0%), and Bermuda (4.7%).

Both will continue in their new roles to report to Mitch Blaser, CEO of Ironshore Bermuda.

Mr. Horton will be responsible for all aspects of the company’s operations across its three core business lines, providing specialty excess insurance products, and will continue to serve as head of Iron-Excess, the company’s newly-announced initiative to expand into the London and U.S. markets.

Ms Pateras will be responsible for business development on behalf of all Bermuda profit centers and will remain head of Iron-Starr’s Healthcare practice.

“Steve and Susan bring a wealth of experience to their respective new roles and have a proven track record of contribution to the success of Ironshore,” said Mr. Blaser. “I am delighted to promote such talent internally.”

The survey has estimated that the size of North American non-life run-off market is $350 billion, and the rest of the world is $380 billion.

PwC predicts disposal of legacy business will continue to increase, driven by “further impetus from Solvency II in Europe, international insurers and reinsurers focusing increasingly on core underwriting and fulfilling a desire to gain either full legal or economic finality for their legacy liabilities through insurance business transfers or reinsurance arrangements”.

The survey found that run-off and legacy management is a priority for companies’ executive boards and anticipates Continental Europe to be the most active territory in terms of the number of deals, followed by the UK and the U.S.

Dan Schwarzmann, Head of Market Initiatives and Industries at PwC UK, said: “It is clear from our survey that the global run-off market remains extremely buoyant and there is growing recognition among insurers and reinsurers of the benefits of proactively managing legacy books.”

The appointment of Mr. Kelly is part of the company’s plans to build a diverse profitable platform of U.S. management and professional lines, the release said.

Mr. Kelly brings with him 25 years’ experience in professional and management liability lines and has held various senior underwriting and management roles.

Most recently, he served as Senior VP at Argo Pro, managing the error and omissions underwriting team.

Laurie Banez, Head of U.S. Management & Professional Lines, said: “Bill is widely respected by brokers and clients and has a diverse background of management and professional lines experience.

“As we expand our offering in the U.S., we continue to focus on doing so in the right way and with the right people, so I am delighted to welcome Bill to the team and I look forward to adding more top talent and introducing new products and services throughout 2018.”

The conference will include topics such as artificial intelligence, robotics and terrorism. In addition, James Kent (CEO, Willis Re) will be a key note speak at the event alongside Albert Benchimol (CEO, AXIS Capital). Other speakers include Dean Witherington (UK Head of Claims Performance, Zurich), Raghu Ramachdran (Head of Insurance Asset Channel, S&P), Dr Stefan Wiemer, (Swiss Seismological Service, Chair of Seismology and Director), Saad Mered, (Global Chief Claims Officer, Zurich), and John Pyall (Senior Claims Manager, Great Lakes).

To register for the IACP 2018 European Conference please visit iaclpro.org/event/iacp-2018-european-conference/ or via email to

Lloyd’s announced its decision to establish a European subsidiary last year after Britain voted to leave the European Union, and chose Brussels “because of its strong regulatory framework,” the report said.

Currently Lloyd’s application is with the Belgium regulator, and the insurance market is seeking office space and putting technology systems in place.

Ms Beale said: “We are hiring people, we hope to make some appointments shortly. We will have the Brussels subsidiary up and running by January 1, 2019.

“That is ahead of the actual official exit, but we run a market and we want to be ready for all of our businesses and syndicates that operate within the market. That’s why we are really pushing ahead.”

In discussing Lloyd’s hiring plans for the subsidiary, Ms Beale said: “it will be in the tens, probably, up to 40 or something,” and that they would move roles from other offices to the new subsidiary.

The 2018 Allianz Risk Barometer report is based on the insight of a record 1,911 risk experts from 80 countries.

Business interruption (BI) ranks the most important risk for business for the sixth year in a row, and for the first time includes cyber incidents as the most feared BI trigger – with BI also considered the largest loss driver after a cyber incident.

The report said that cyber has continued its upward trend on the risk barometer rising to second place in 2018, compared to its fifteenth ranking five years ago.

It is considered to be the top risk in 11 surveyed countries, including the Americas region, second in Europe and Asia Pacific, and is ranked the most underestimated risk and the major long-term peril.

Chris Fischer Hirs, Chief Executive Officer, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, said: “For the first time, business interruption and cyber risk are neck-and-neck in the Allianz Risk Barometer and these risks are increasingly interlinked.”

The announcement follows Oscar’s move to double its individual market presence to six states: New York, New Jersey, Texas, California, Ohio, and Tennessee.

The report quoted the company as saying that the partnership will help Oscar “accelerate expansion efforts and enable long term, capital efficient growth”.

Joel Klein, Oscar Health Chief Strategy and Policy Officer, said: “As Oscar prepares for its next phase of growth and pursues its mission to use technology to deliver better care at a lower cost, we will benefit from this strategic partnership with AXA and its global scope, deep reinsurance expertise, and a shared vision for the future of healthcare.”

Mattieu Rouot, AXA Senior Vice-President of International Employee Benefits, said: “AXA is transforming its model from a payer of claims to a partner for its clients. Our focus is on building relationships and empowering our customers.”

In her new role, Ms. Madeiros will be responsible for providing both strategic and operational compliance and regulatory affairs support to XL Group in Bermuda.

Most recently, she served as Senior Vice-President, Deputy Director and Corporate Secretary of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR), where she has worked for the past 12 years.

Sean McGovern, XL Group’s Chief Compliance Officer & Head of Government & Regulatory Affairs, said: “I am thrilled that Leila will be joining us as we build out our global Compliance and Regulatory & Government Affairs capabilities.

“Leila is highly regarded for her experience and wealth of knowledge of the Bermuda market and international regulation and policy.”

Harambee Re was first established in 2013 as Argo Group began to work with third-party investors to gain access to efficient reinsurance capacity, the report said.

According to the report the Harambee sidecar has been focused on providing capacity to back Argo’s reinsurance underwriting book since 2015.

The renewal of the Harambee vehicle in 2018 is to aid Argo in securing a source of alternative capital to back specific property portfolios underwritten by its reinsurance division Ariel Re.

Mark E. Watson III, Argo Group Chief Executive Officer, said: “Harambee Re enables us to materially increase underwriting capacity for key business units and provide a more valuable product offering to the market.

“This renewal ultimately positions us to more aggressively pursue our mission to help businesses stay in business by providing innovative insurance and reinsurance solutions that meet and exceed expectations.”

The January renewals season is the most important for European reinsurers as roughly 50% of the entire portfolio is being renewed during the period, the report said.

While the sustainability of any price increases has yet to be seen in the market, Deutsche Bank believes there is some short-term visibility for reinsurers.

Deutsche Bank analysts said: “Simplistically, this suggests a c.10% price increase on 15% of the portfolio that was loss affected and merely stable pricing on the remainder of the portfolio – which we think is not aggressive.”

The analysts added: “If we see price increases as expected in 2018, then the spill-over effects should still lead to at least stable price levels in 2019. Within our reinsurance models we reflected a real price increase of 1.5% over 2018/19 which is split into 1.25% in 2018 and 0.25% in 2019.”

The agreed valuation for the businesses being sold is £20 million ($27.5 million), the net cash consideration payable by Davies, after deducting net debt applicable to the businesses, is approximately £18.6 million ($25.6 million), the company said.

Included in the sale is the share capital of JMD Specialist Insurance Services group and its subsidiaries, as well as Randall & Quilter Bermuda Holdings and its Quest subsidiaries.

Ken Randall, R&Q Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: “The sale of our Insurance Services and Captive Management operations is a significant milestone in the Group’s decision to simplify its operations and focus on our core areas of legacy acquisitions and the writing of quality program business, which is mostly reinsured to highly rated reinsurers.”

Based in New York, Mr. Hartman will be responsible for building and developing a construction professional book and will report directly to Tom Bongi, Executive VP of Professional Lines.

Mr. Hartman brings more than 35 years’ industry experience, with extensive experience in the construction sector.

He joins Brit Global Specialty USA from Arch Insurance Group, where he led the design and environmental division.

Nick Davies, President, Brit Americas, said: “Rich’s hire by BGSU builds strongly on the progress we have been making in developing and growing our Professional Lines offering under Tom Bongi’s leadership.

“Rich brings both a long-track record in the industry and a high level of technical expertise and we look forward to delivering his skills to our clients in the construction space.”

The majority of losses are expected in Germany, France, the UK, Belgium, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

Winter storm Eleanor, known as Burglind in Germany, had wind gusts reaching up to 100 mph and flooding was reported in impacted countries including Germany and France.

Structural damages are reported in Ireland, the UK, France, and Germany, where roofs were damaged or blown off, scaffolding was stripped from buildings, and signage was destroyed.

Included in AIR’s modeled insured loss estimate is insured physical damage from wind to property, both structures and their contents, and losses to insured forestry in Finland, Norway, and Sweden.

Not included in AIR’s modeled insured loss estimate is losses due to coastal or inland flooding, business interruption and additional living expenses (ALE) for residential claims for all modeled countries, except the UK, losses to uninsured properties, losses to infrastructure and demand surge.

It said the new reinsurer has secured $780 million of equity capital commitments, including from RGA and RenaissanceRe.

Langhorne Re will allow RGA and RenaissanceRe to purchase large in-force life and annuity blocks, enabling clients to de-risk and optimize their capital management.

Scott Cochran, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Acquisitions, RGA, said: “Powered by the complementary and industry-leading capabilities of RGA and RenaissanceRe, Langhorne Re is uniquely positioned to provide competitive and flexible solutions that expand RGA’s existing client offerings.”

Aditya K. Dutt, President, Renaissance Underwriting Managers, said: “RenaissanceRe’s experience with managing third party capital and sophisticated risk management combined with RGA’s experience in the life market make this a very attractive partnership.”

The new ISO personal lines flood program will enable insurers to enter the private flood insurance market, the company said.

It will offer broad and flexible coverage options in a template similar to the standard homeowners policy that is already familiar to most consumers.

Through the program, insurers will be able to offer coverages and deductibles with options to include additional living expenses, other structures on a property, and damage to personal property in a belowground area.

Marc Treacy, Managing Director of flood at ISO, said: “This program presents a new opportunity for insurers to grow their homeowners book by providing robust flood risk protection to an underserved segment.

“Innovative insurers can be at the forefront of market disruption with a comprehensive property risk solution that provides needed insurance to new customers and fresh coverage options for existing customers.”

“Innovative insurers can be at the forefront of market disruption with a comprehensive property risk solution that provides needed insurance to new customers and fresh coverage options for existing customers.”

Dr. Schildknecht succeeds current CEO, Marcus Nagel, who has decided to leave the company to face new professional challenges.

Mr. Nagel joined the company in 2008 and has been responsible for the overall business as CEO of the Zurich Group in Germany since 2016.

Most recently Dr. Schildknecht served as Group Chief Operating Officer and member of the Group Management Committee of the Generali Insurance Group.

Gary Shaughnessy, Zurich CEO Europe, Middle East & Africa, said: “I’m delighted that Zurich continues to attract top talent, and Carsten Schildknecht will continue to drive profitable business growth in Germany and help us drive our strategy of innovation and simplification in the interests of our clients, with extensive expertise in FinTech.

Writing in Digital Insurance, she says that whilst the number of funded insurtech companies continues to accelerate, with a record $946 million invested across 64 companies in Q2 of 2017 according to data from Willis Towers Watson and CBInsights, companies that have been in the market and haven’t been able to articulate a unique solution or gain traction will fail.

She also predicts that as the market matures, investors will be able to more accurately judge which products and services can really influence the insurance value chain.

She said there will be more acquisitions as the insurance industry decides to buy in skills such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and data sciences.

Ms Notaras said the big tech companies such as Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon and Netflix do not want to become insurers but rather they aim to deliver insurance coverage to their customers.

She said there had been a dearth of insurtech start-ups that were focused on commercial insurance, but this will change in 2018.

Commercial insurance is a $300 billion market that is “ripe for new technology solutions and data sources”.

She said even a one percent increase in cost savings would be a multi-billion opportunity.

“Watch for things to heat up as insurers and tech star-ups get into the details and identify where they can work together to make an impact,” she wrote.

Dodeka XIV is a $35 million cat bond that features cover for second event risk across all natural perils in the United States.

The company said that all cat bonds issued from the Dodeka program are only available for funds and mandates managed by Twelve Capital, who have fully absorbed the entire issuance of this transaction.

Sandro Kriesch, Managing Partner and Head of ILS at Twelve Capital, said: “The Dodeka program allows our cat bond funds to invest into perils that are not readily available in securities format, resulting in improved portfolio diversification, or into transactions exhibiting more attractive economic terms.

“Especially in the aftermath of the recent hurricanes, the Dodeka program allows Twelve Capital’s investors to benefit from the current increases in premiums across collateralized reinsurance and retrocession markets.”

The company said that this figure includes and updates the initial $30 million to $55 million range previously disclosed in its third quarter report.

The most recent estimate includes the second series of California wildfires as well as other catastrophic events from around the globe.

Due to the reduction in the U.S. corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, Arch Capital anticipates that it will write down a portion of its deferred tax asset by approximately $15 million to $20 million in Q4.

The company also estimates that the effective tax rate on pre-tax operating income for the fourth quarter of 2017 will be in a range of 17% to 20%.

Based in London, Mr. Price will be responsible for all of XL Catlin’s EMEA business, including all international business placed through the London market.

He brings with him 17 years’ transactional experience and joins the company from Marsh’s Private Equity and M&A practice.

Richard Belsey has also joined XL’s insurance operations as an underwriter also based in London.
Mr. Belsey is a qualified English solicitor and brings with him more than 10 years of transactional legal experience.

Brian Benjamin, Global Head of M&A, said: “Today, global M&A activity is on the increase and the demand for insurance coverage is also on the rise.

“We are excited to have this team in place in London and welcome the deep transactional experience that Simon and Richard bring to our expanding platform.”