MERCER, the consulting subsidiary of MMC - Marsh & McLennan Companies, announced that Bala VISWANATHAN, CEO of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc (JLT) UK & Ireland Employee Benefits, will join MERCER as Chief Operating Officer.

According to the most recent Global Catastrophe Recap report launched by AON's Impact Forecasting team for November 2018 - the annual wildfire industry payouts is expected to exceed USD 10 billion for the second consecutive year in the United States.

Bancassurance has proved to be an effective distribution channel for Insurance/Reinsurance companies and has become extremely profitable for the bank's Retail banking / Consumer banking / Wealth management / Insurance business segment.

In the coming consolidated world of financial services, Bancassurance has quickly gained popularity in Africa as both banks and insurers recognize the need for partnerships in an increasingly competitive market.

Aon - one of the largest insurance broker in the world announced the appointment of Lisa STEVENS as Global Executive Vice President of AON United Operations.

The rating agency STANDARD & POOR's (S&P's) has confirmed its "A+" rating for the DEUTSCHE Ruck Group. The outlook remains "stable".

Nine Romanian MTPL insurers and UNSAR, the insurers' association, were fined by the national Competition Council with total fines of approx. EUR 53 million for violation of the national and European competition regulations by coordinating market behavior to increase compulsory MTPL insurance charges.

Among the re/insurance companies rated by A.M.Best there are 23 entities domiciled in the CEE, SEE and CIS regions. Out of this total, 5 companies have an "a" Issuer Credit Rating (ICR) and an "A" Financial Strength Rating (FSR)

The Bulgarian insurance market saw a 21.5% increase in GWP volume throughout between 2008 and 2017, the 10 years for which xprimm.com statistical database in presenting market results. The MTPL insurance class had the largest contribution, in absolute terms, to the market growth.

Zurich Insurance Group is fully delivering on its 2019 financial targets and is well positioned to deliver future earnings growth and attractive shareholder returns, as the company announced in a statement.

Swiss Re Corporate Solutions appointed Daniel VETTER as Head Excess & Surplus North America, effective January 1, 2019, as the company announced in a press release.

MetLife announced that Eric CLURFAIN, currently Executive Vice President and Head of EMEA, has been named Chairman, President and CEO of MetLife Japan - the company's second largest market globally and its largest retail life insurance business, effective Feb. 1, 2019, following approvals.

Italian insurer GENERALI has acquired CM Investment Solutions Limited (CMISL), from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

The board of CIG Pannonia Life Insurance decided on 28 November to raise capital at its general insurance unit by HUF 1.5 billion (~EUR 4.63 million) and modify the unit's dividend policy, Hungarian news agency MTI reports.

American International Group announced that it has appointed Mark LYONS to the role of Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He succeeds Sid SANKARAN, who will remain at AIG in an advisory capacity through the year-end reporting process for fiscal year 2018.

For January-October 2018 GWP of the local insurers amounted to BYN 1.01 billion. Growth rate reached 16.7%, according to the data, published by the Ministry of finance of Belarus.

On November 29 A.M. Best removed from under review with negative implications and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) of "a" of Sirius Bermuda Insurance Company Ltd., Sirius International Insurance Corporation (Sweden) and its subsidiary, Sirius America Insurance Company (New York).

In October the insurance market saw positive growth in terms of total assets and capital: assets increased by 0.2% to KZT 990.4 billion, total capital went up by 0.1% to KZT 462 billion, as allinsurance.kz informed.

A.M. Best has announced that it has been registered as a credit rating agency (CRA) by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to provide ratings through its new subsidiary, A.M. Best (EU) Rating Services B.V., based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

A.M. Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and a Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "a-" of Colonnade Insurance S.A. (Colonnade) (Luxembourg), a member of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (Fairfax) (Toronto, Canada) group of companies.