It said there was a lack of permanency and that there was a decline in protection with each TRIPRA renewal which was a concern for many insurers.

Data from the ratings agency found that small-sized and some medium-sized insurers are unlikely to amass sufficient gross losses to satisfy the $160 million program trigger in 2018.

However, with the scope of terrorism changing and the shift from inflicting property damage towards newer threats such as cyber or biological attacks, insurers need to be prepared.

A.M. Best believes that an over-reliance on TRIPRA is not an adequate substitute for sound risk management.

As part of its current assessment, A.M. Best uses its enterprise risk management (ERM) evaluation, stress tests and their relationship to capital, and it expects insurers to implement a similar judgement process.

The ratings agency has said that companies that currently rely heavily on TRIPRA should be prepared to present detailed plans if the program is not renewed.

Reinsurance News reported KCC as finding that SCS losses are at almost $25 billion, which is higher on average than hurricanes and above the ten-year return period.

KCC said: “SCS losses are a growing concern of the insurance industry. This study has shown that while the numbers of tornadoes and hailstorms are not exhibiting increasing trends, there has been an increase in the annual variability of significant SCS events.

“Specifically, the number of days on which there is at least one EF1 or stronger tornado is decreasing while the number of days with large numbers of tornadoes is increasing.”

The partnership will utilize Concirrus’ artificial intelligence (AI)-powered marine insurance software to help marine insurers move from demographic-based underwriting models “to a new world of more accurate, live behavioural based underwriting”.

Andy Yeoman, Chief Executive Officer of Concirrus, said: “With recent advances in technology and the masses of data available from insurers and the shipping industry, we have found a way to understand the behaviour of the assets insured.”

Chris Payne, EY EMEIA Head of Insurance Technology Go To Market and Alliances, said: “Driving innovation within the specialty insurance market is something we are very focused on.

“The unique toolsets and data that Concirrus has access to will drive new insights in the marine insurance industry, and we are thrilled to be working together.”

In his new role, Mr. Vidovich will be responsible for the strategic direction of the general insurance claims division and will serve as a member of the general insurance executive leadership team.

He joins the company from XL Catlin, where he has served as Global Head of Claims, Insurance and Reinsurance since 2015.

Peter Zaffino, Chief Executive Officer, General Insurance, said: “Anthony is an accomplished Property and Casualty executive with a demonstrated track record of managing complex claims and legal issues.”

Mr. Vidovich said: “I am very pleased to join AIG’s General Insurance leadership team as our industry faces new and more complex risks.”

This marks a further decline from the $2.5 billion deficiency Morgan Stanley estimated for 2016, representing an overall YoY deterioration of $1.6 billion, Reinsurance News has reported.

Analysts have estimated an actuarially reasonable range of reserves between $605.8 billion and $633.7 billion, and the report found that at the 34th percentile of this range, industry carried reserves of $615.4 billion, which were $4.3 billion below the midpoint.

The report found that deficiencies are now present in five of the top six reserve lines, including workers’ compensation, personal auto liability, other liability occurrence, other liability claims-made, and commercial auto liability.

Morgan Stanley said that the bulk of the decline was in the other liability lines, which deteriorated $3.7 billion year-on-year.

The firm said that it does not consider large industry reserve releases to be sustainable, and forecasts slower reserve releases in 2018 and 2019.

The ratings agency has updated Best’s Credit Rating Methodology, in which ERM is now formally recognized as one of the core building blocks in developing a credit rating opinion on an insurance company.

Technological advancements open up new horizons in risk management and the assessment and mitigation of cyber risk poses “a myriad of challenges for insurers”.

The ratings agency said “cyber risk brings insurers’ operational risk to the fore, and for those insurers underwriting cyber risks, a focus on coverage limits and aggregation risks from industries is critical.

“Insurtech and fintech innovations and the growing use of third-party vendors for data analytics add layers of cyber and infrastructure risk, requiring that companies expand and enhance their ERM,” the report said.

The majority of losses come from the California wildfires in October and December 2017, and other related events.

Currently, the industry loss estimate from the Northern and Southern California wildfires is projected at over $13 billion, a rise from initial loss estimates of between $8 billion and $10 billion.

The company has also made a change to its reporting of operating income, a non-GAAP financial measure.

Beginning Q1 2018, Everest Re will adjust its operating income to exclude foreign exchange gains and losses.

According to the report, this is because the company believes the impact of foreign currency movements on income is not indicative of the performance of the underlying business in a particular period.

In his new role, Mr. Probert will be responsible for managing the firm’s global underwriting strategy, and to monitor technical and business performance across all portfolios.

He brings with him more than 35 years of underwriting experience and joins the managing general agent from QBE’s European operations, where he served as Director of Europe.

Talbir Bains, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Volante, said: “Jerry is a fantastic addition to the Volante team and brings an outstanding level of underwriting expertise and leadership experience to the role.

“His appointment underlines our continued commitment to achieving and maintaining the highest standards of underwriting excellence across the Group.”

As part of the venture, AIR Worldwide is producing portfolio-specific casualty losses based on its exposure management application, Arium.

Arium has a scenario-based loss assessment framework that enables companies to systematically measure portfolio loss potential and exposures to simulated scenarios representing both emerging risks and forward-projected historical events.

Ian Branagan, Senior Vice-President and Group Chief Risk Officer at RenaissanceRe, said: “We’re pleased to work with AIR to advance our industry’s ability to better understand how to model and manage casualty and specialty risk.”

Dr. Jay Guin, Chief Research Officer, AIR Worldwide, said: “Collaborating with a global leader in risk management like RenaissanceRe is a great step forward in the development of our stochastic model.”

Ms. Rycroft has 18 years’ experience in international actuarial consulting and is a seasoned expert in the North American financial market.

She joins the company from Oliver Wyman, where she most recently held the position of Senior Principal.

Bernard Naumann, President and Chief Executive Officer of Munich Re, Canada (Life and Health), said: “Rebecca is well-known within the insurance sector for her energetic leadership, her actuarial expertise, and her commitment to deliver.

“Under her guidance, the role of Chief Financial Officer will play a greater part in helping our clients navigate the changing regulatory space and grow their business.”

According to Reinsurance News, the ratings agency anticipates the DC pension savings market to grow rapidly and become a significant source of capital for UK life insurers and reinsurers due to the predominance of younger age groups.

However, the report said that the life insurance and reinsurance sector faces many challenges in its current environment.

Life insurers and reinsurers will have to carefully manage its exposure to illiquid assets, regulatory uncertainty, product innovation and the long-term prospects of digital and retail distribution.

What is more, the sector’s active product profile is considerably narrower due to the domination of pension-related products in the market, the demise of UK with-profit products and the diminished role of investment bonds.

Currently, A.M. Best estimates that around 85% of UK with-profits assets now reside either in Prudential or with the two largest closed fund consolidators, Phoenix Group and ReAssure.

In their new positions, Mr. Monks and Mr. Tasse will be responsible for broker and agent relations and business development strategies.

Mr. Monks will focus on retail distribution partners and Mr. Tasse will focus on wholesale distribution partners.

Mr. Monks brings with him more than 20 years of experience in strategic relationship management and large account distribution, and joins the company from American International Group.

Mr. Tasse joins Sompo from AXIS Capital, where he most recently served as Vice-President, Professional Liability Underwriter and Manager within the Private Equity and Venture Capital Team.

Chris Sparro, Chief Executive Officer of U.S. Insurance, said: “With Jon and Ben assuming these new roles in our U.S. Insurance operation, we will be able to build on their experience and producer networks to further expand our presence in the markets we service.”

Global insured losses from disaster events reached $144 billion, the highest-ever recorded in a single year, with the majority of losses occurring from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria (HIM).

With global economic losses at $337 billion and insured losses at $144 billion, the worldwide catastrophe protection gap was $193 billion for 2017.

The HIM hurricanes resulted in combined insured losses of $92 billion, making 2017 the second costliest North Atlantic hurricane season since 2005.

2017 was also a record year for wildfires, the study found, with wildfires across the globe resulting in combined insurance losses of $14 billion, the highest ever.

In terms of sigma criteria, 2017 saw 301 catastrophes worldwide, compared to 329 catastrophes in 2016.

More than 11,000 people lost their lives or went missing as a result of a disaster event, with millions left homeless in 2017, the report said.

From 2019, death and disability pensions and administration services will be covered by AXA, while responsibility for asset allocation and investment returns to policyholders will be with the Foundations.

The company said that ongoing low-interest rates and strong regulatory requirements in Switzerland have resulted in full-value insurance becoming increasingly lower value for money.

As part of the model transformation, AXA will transfer most of its ‎€26 billion ($32 billion) in-force general account reserves backing the pre-retirement savings benefits in its group life portfolio to the foundations.

Thomas Buberl, Chief Executive Officer of AXA, said: “This model transformation, initiated and managed by our local teams, is a further important step in our ongoing in-force management program, systematically reassessing customer needs and taking proactive actions, to create value for our customers and shareholders at the same time.”

The company will offer between $825 and $875 per share, net to the seller in cash, and the tender offer is expected to close May 7, 2018.

The “modified Dutch auction” self-tender offer will allow shareholders to indicate how many shares and at what price within the company’s specified range they wish to tender their shares.

Once the shares have been tendered and the prices specified by the tendering shareholders, White Mountains will determine the lowest price per share within the range that will enable it to purchase 500,000 shares.

The tender offer will not be conditioned upon any minimum number of shares being tendered but will be subject to certain conditions, as will be specified in the offer to purchase.

In his new role, Mr. Cooke will be responsible for establishing Neon’s name within the event cancellation market, an area previously written on an opportunistic basis, the company said.

He joins the company from Barents Re, where he most recently served as Head of Contingency, and he has held underwriting roles at ProSight Specialty Insurance and Chubb.

According to the release, Mr. Cooke’s appointment is in line with the company’s plans to refresh its proposition and portfolio offering.

Darren Lednor, Chief Underwriting Officer at Neon, said: “We have made strong progress in consolidating our existing portfolio and this has given us an excellent platform from which to expand into new lines.

“Neon is a dynamic business and we are committed to attracting fresh, experienced talent as we continue to grow.”

The researchers have cited a low likelihood of a significant El Niño as a primary factor, following a weak La Niña this past winter.

Currently, CSU has predicted 14 named storms, of which seven are expected to become hurricanes, and three to reach major hurricane strength.

The CSU Tropical Meteorology Project team anticipate that 2018 hurricane activity will be about 135% of the average season, compared to 2017’s hurricane activity which was about 245% of the average season.

The report also includes the probability of major hurricanes making landfall; 63% for the entire U.S. coastline, 39% for the U.S. East Coast, including Florida, 38% for the Gulf Coast and 52% for the Caribbean.

CSU has also predicted there will be 70 named storm days, 30 hurricane days and seven major hurricanes days.

According to the report, the high cost of acquisition and administration have affected underwriting performance, and while expense ratios remain at 40%, the trend is now broadly flat year-on-year.

Most London market insurers and reinsurers posted underwriting losses in 2017, with Lloyd’s reporting net catastrophe claims of £4.5 billion ($6.3 billion) in 2017.

The exceptions to the pattern were Beazley and Hiscox who reported combined ratios of under 100, due to the companies’ greater focus on non-catastrophe-exposed specialty lines of business.

Fitch believes that modernisation and cost-effectiveness should now become key priorities for London market insurers and reinsurers, the report said.

The multi-year agreement will allow XL Catlin access to Praedicat’s latency risk model and mass litigation scenarios, as well as its software on emerging risks called CoMeta, and Oortfolio, its portfolio modeling software.

Nancy Bewlay, Global Casualty Chief Underwriting Officer, said: “XL Catlin is committed to Insuretech innovation, to market leadership in data and analytics for underwriting, and to state-of-the-art enterprise risk management.”

“Working with Praedicat allows us to advance all three goals.”

David Brooks, XL Catlin’s Global Head of ERM, Man-Made Perils, said: “XL Catlin has developed a broad range of risk scenarios for property and casualty.

“The hardest area to build them and keep them realistic is in liability where new technologies are emerging, and the world is always changing. We were impressed with Praedicat’s science-based approach to the problem.”

Adrian Jones assumes the role of Head of Strategic Development for Asia and the Middle East, alongside his existing position as Senior Underwriter.

Leroy Almeida has been appointed Head of the Middle East Operation, a role which now incorporates marine and directors’ and officers’ product lines.

Simon Moon assumes the role of Head of Risk Underwriting and Carl Titterton, Head of Commercial Underwriting for the trade credit operation.

Nicola Marriage becomes Head of Political Risk, Damian Manning remains Head of Surety and Abhishek Chhajer continues to lead the trade credit operation in the Asia Pacific region.

Philip Amlot is appointed Head of Trade Credit and Political Risk, Americas and Arjan Van de Wall becomes Global Development Director.

Ewa Rose, Managing Director of the Division, said: “Since the launch of the business in 2010, we have expanded our geographic reach across the U.S., Canada, Singapore and Dubai in addition to the London presence and have added political risk and surety product lines to the trade credit operation.”

As part of the license, Lloyd’s managing agents can appoint coverholders and service companies, established in the CFC, to underwrite Moroccan and regional insurance and reinsurance business on their behalf.

The new office will be able to provide specialist risk solutions for a range of perils including marine, aviation and other Moroccan risks, and reinsurance of Moroccan risks and non-Moroccan risks.

Inga Beale, Lloyd’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are delighted to open our office in Morocco today as we believe that Africa is the next frontier for insurance.

“At Lloyd’s, we are determined to play a vital role in supporting economic growth and developing insurance markets in Africa.”

As part of the deal, LSM will insure a loan of $185 million from the IFC to Vietnam Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB) to support small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), micro-SMEs, and affordable housing projects in Vietnam.

The IFC first announced its partnership with LSM in September 2017 as one of two insurers which will provide unfunded credit insurance for its Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program (MCPP).

Under the terms of the agreement, LSM and IFC will approve the eligibility criteria for loans to be insured under the facility and IFC will originate, structure and administer the loans.

Peter Sprent, LSM’s Head of Global Financial Risks, said: “Economic development is a priority for Liberty Specialty Markets.

“Creating prosperity in the communities in which we do business around the world is one of our core values. Managed effectively, it can also generate positive returns for us.”

Ms. Blanc succeeds Gary Shaughnessy, who will step down as CEO EMEA and as a member of Zurich’s Executive Committee in the fourth quarter of 2018.

According to the release, Mr. Shaughnessy will continue to serve as a member of various European subsidiary boards.

Ms. Blanc joins the company from AXA UK & Ireland where she most recently served as Group Chief Executive.

Mario Greco, Group Chief Executive Officer, said: “Gary is a passionate, values-based leader who embodies Zurich’s focus on people and customers.”

“In Amanda, we have identified a high-impact proven people leader with deep experience and knowledge,” he added.

In his new role, Mr. Dugand will be responsible for overseeing TMK’s Asian business, including the Hong Kong, Singapore and China markets.

He first joined the company over 10 years ago as a Reinsurance Underwriter and most recently served as Regional Underwriting Director for TMK’s Asia division.

Charles Franks, Chief Executive Officer of TMK, said: “I am delighted to announce Alex’s promotion to the role of Regional Managing Director, Asia.

“Alex is an accomplished underwriter whose regional market expertise, skill in building profitable books of business and ability to foster collaboration between our Asia teams and international offices have been core drivers of growth for TMK.”