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.”

The reinsurance agreement is with 28 private reinsurance companies, effective from January 1, 2018, to January 1, 2019.

The program is structured to cover 18.6% of losses between $4 billion and $6 billion, and 54.3% of losses between $6 billion and $8 billion.

FEMA paid a total premium of $235 million for the coverage, the release said.

Roy E. Wright, Director of FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program, said: “Recent flooding disasters make even clearer the need for FEMA to share more of the financial risk from flood insurance with the private markets. Congress provided us the authority, and FEMA is committed to expanding the use of these risk transfer tools.”

“As of January 1, 2018, more than 91 thousand survivors filed claims for Hurricane Harvey, and FEMA has paid over $7.6 billion in losses to those policyholders.

“With reinsurance, FEMA strengthened its ability to recover from these flood losses, recovering $1.042 billion from the private markets.”

In his new role, Mr. Moy will be responsible for underwriting and building the company’s U.S. hull, protection and indemnity and liability business for the marine and marine construction sectors.

Most recently he served as Chief Underwriting Officer at Water Quality Syndicate and brings with him a wealth of experience in the marine sector.

The appointment follows Beazley’s announcement that it was establishing a U.S. marine platform with the strategic aim of capturing opportunities that do not typically get placed outside of the U.S. domestic market.

Steve Vivian, Head of U.S. Marine, said: “John’s depth of experience and expertise makes him uniquely qualified to build out our hull and liability portfolio in the US.

“He has an extensive network across the marine broking, insurance and client communities in the US and is highly regarded for his knowledge of the market. I am delighted that he is joining us at this important stage of our growth.”

The second estimate is a revised estimate of the property insurance market loss, compared to the initial loss estimate of €291 million ($349 million) on November 16, 2017.

In line with the PERILS loss reporting schedule, the third loss estimate for Xavier will be released six months after the event on April 5, 2018.

PERILS is an independent Zurich-based organisation providing industry-wide natural catastrophe exposure and event loss data.

In his new role, Mr. Zaffino will be responsible for planning and executing on the division’s business strategies and assume oversight for the Everest Insurance Company of Ireland and the Everest Lloyd’s Syndicate operations.

Mr. Zaffino most recently served as President of the North America Insurance Division at Everest Re and first joined the company in 2015.

Dominic J. Addesso, President and Chief Executive Officer of Everest Re Group, said: “Jon has done a tremendous job in the build out of the North America Insurance Division and elevating the Everest name in this important marketplace.

“His strong leadership capability and strategic vision make him the ideal candidate for leading the continued build of Everest’s global insurance brand.”

Including uninsured losses, the overall loss from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the earthquake in Mexico, including other natural catastrophes, amounted to $330 billion, the second highest figure ever recorded.

The loss figure of $330 billion was almost double the ten-year inflation-adjusted average of $170 billion, for all types of natural disaster.

Insured losses were almost three times higher than the average of $49 billion and Munich Re identified a total of 710 natural catastrophes, significantly more that the average 605 per year.

Torsten Jeworrek, Munich Re Board member responsible for global reinsurance business, said: “This year’s extreme natural catastrophes show how important insurance is in absorbing financial losses in the wake of such disasters.

“Munich Re is willing to develop this business further – we have the necessary capacity and expertise.”

Mr. Goldie’s previous role as CEO of Specialty Lines will be covered by PartnerRe CEO Emmanuel Clarke, assisted by Greg Haft as Deputy CEO specialty lines.

Mr. Haft will lead within Specialty Lines, a newly formed unit of Specialty Property, Marine and Energy and previously served as Head of Global Catastrophe and Property, North America.

Mr. Clarke said: “In both cases, I am very pleased that we have been able to draw on the strength of our internal talent to fill these important positions and to provide meaningful opportunities for growth for our leaders.”

The company said that the transaction will have an accretive impact on SCOR’s return-on-equity (ROE) and earnings per share, adding it is in line with the strategic plan “Vision in Action” and its profitability and solvency targets.

The acquisition of MutRé will also provide SCOR with the ability to strengthen its life and health reinsurance offering to the French mutual insurance industry, SCOR has been a major technical and commercial partner of MutRé since the company was created in 1998.

The acquisition fully respects SCOR’s close historical relationships with its mutual insurance partners, the company said.

Mr. Rosengarten first joined the company in 2008 and will continue with XL Group on a part-time basis, working as an advisor to Stephen Robb, XL’s Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Norton most recently served as Deputy Chief Enterprise Risk Officer and prior to joining XL served as Chief Risk Officer for Ironshore.

Mike McGavick, Chief Executive Officer of XL, said: “On behalf of our Leadership Team and our Board of Directors, I’d like to thank Jacob for his many contributions to XL and for his role in establishing and growing our enterprise risk management processes and for establishing XL as a thought leader in this space.

“It is very gratifying that our deep bench strength allows us to fill this critical role from within.

Fielding is a widely respected ERM leader with broad and deep experience across the spectrum of existing and emerging risks facing a company such as ours, with its broad global reach.”

While individual exchange business has reported losses, this segment still constitutes only a small portion of health insurers operations and other product lines, particularly the employer group, remain profitable.

A repeal or replacement of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is still a possibility.

However, the ratings agency argues that after several failed attempts to pass a bill in 2017, the House and Senate may choose to focus on other issues over the next year.

A.M. Best also believes that insurers have been able to handle the challenges facing the industry so far, and does not expect any significant deterioration in market conditions over the next year.

The ratings agency also notes that the improvement in risk-adjusted capitalization due to slower premium growth, combined with an improvement in earnings, is a trend that is expected to continue.

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The risk transfer blog Artemis first reported in December 2017 that Neon had gained approval from the Prudential Regulation Authority to establish the first ILS vehicle to transact business in the UK.

The reinsurance agreement with Syndicate 2468 provides Neon with the ability to bring third-party investor capital into its structure to support its London market underwriting.

The transaction was completed on January 1, and sees NCM Re assuming a portion of Neon Syndicate 2468’s property treaty reinsurance and direct and facultative portfolios.

Martin Reith, Neon Group Chief Executive, said, “I am both excited and proud to see Neon making history – not only is it a testament to Neon’s commitment to doing things differently but it also underpins our attitude as a business – unafraid to lead the way and embrace change.”

Following the deconsolidation, AGER will be renamed to Athora Holding and will launch in mid-January.

In 2017, AGER successfully raised €2.2 billion ($2.6 billion) in capital, which the company said was an important step towards AGER’s goal of becoming a European run-off consolidator and life reinsurance partner.

AGER announced in August 2017 its intention to acquire Aegon Ireland, a Dublin-based insurer, and expects to draw down capital to close the acquisition.

As part of the deconsolidation, Athene will remain a minority shareholder in AGER along with other global investors.

Athene will also be a preferred reinsurer for AGER’s spread liabilities and have representation on its board of directors.

The new division will initially focus on the North-West region of the U.S and will write hull/P&I and primary and excess marine liability.

Based in Seattle, Mr. McAbee joins the company from Crum & Forster where he served as Head of Ocean Marine and brings with him 20 years’ experience in the sector.

Gene Hinman, Chief Executive Officer of Pioneer’s U.S. operation, said: “Zach has an impressive track record of developing profitable books of business in this niche market and Pioneer will provide him with an excellent platform from which to trade with his established network of close broker relationships.

“This recent appointment is in line with our strategy to establish a regional hub network to access local markets and enhance the scope of our business.”

The ratings agency, which has had a negative outlook on the commercials lines segment since 2011, expects the sector to post an underwriting loss for 2017, but still record net profits.

While the pricing environment remains challenging, most companies within the sector have adopted tools that allow for greater insight into business profitability.

A.M. Best does note that challenges remain that could drive longer-term deterioration for the segment but does not anticipate any substantial deterioration in the market in 2018.

The ratings agency said: “Changes in underwriting and pricing fundamentals have resulted in core underwriting results that coupled with overall strong risk-adjusted capitalization levels are allowing companies to absorb shock losses that previously would have strained capacity.”

The subsidiaries are comprised of Lexon Insurance Company, Bond Safeguard Insurance Company, and Fortress National Group.

The company said that all of Lexon Surety Group’s staff and office locations will be retained and the transaction is expected to close in March 2018, subject to regulatory approvals.

David Campbell, President of Lexon, will continue his role and be appointed Vice Chairman of the Lexon Board. Meanwhile Brian Beggs of Sompo International will become the Chief Executive Officer of Lexon.

Mr. Christopher Sparro, CEO of U.S. Insurance at Sompo International, said: “Lexon has a strong reputation in the surety market, and this acquisition will position us to substantially accelerate the growth of our U.S. primary surety portfolio and our presence in this specialized market.”

The investment is to fund a new reinsurer, Armour Group, which will co-invest in global property and casualty run-off transactions in parallel with the investor group’s affiliates.

Through the investment, Armour will receive expansion capital for the new reinsurance group, as well as a platform to execute on the growing run-off market opportunities.

Brad Huntington, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Armour, said: “We are excited to have Aquiline as a partner as we enter our next phase of growth.

“Given Aquiline’s deep insurance industry experience, we believe they are an ideal partner to help us grow the team and scale our operation.”

Jeff Greenberg, Chairman and CEO of Aquiline, said: “Aquiline’s investment in Armour reflects the growing demand for run-off as an option for insurance companies that are looking to solve deteriorating reserve positions and optimize their capital.”

Currently Markerstudy underwrites more than 5% of the UK motor insurance market and generates premiums of about £750 million ($1.01 billion), the company said.

The Qatar Insurance Company Group has an existing relationship with Markerstudy through Qatar Re and QIC Europe (QEL).

Gunther Saacke, Qatar Re’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “This transaction builds on the strong foundation of our existing relationship.

“It provides Qatar Re with a greater share of lower volatility business that has performed consistently well for us, balancing our specialty and catastrophe book.”

Kevin Spencer, CEO of Markerstudy Group, said: “For a long time we have had a tremendous relationship with Qatar Re.

“Their proactive approach has assisted our development and this is a natural evolution; to combine our strengths to establish a primary player in the UK insurance sector.”