FITCH Ratings has assigned EUROINS Romania Asigurare Reasigurare SA (EUROINS Romania) an Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) rating of 'BB-', and EUROHOLD Bulgaria AD (EUROHOLD) a Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'B'. The Outlooks are Stable.

Slovenian insurer TRIGLAV announced it will enter the life insurance market in Macedonia in early November, by establishing a new company, TRIGLAV Osiguruvanje Zivot.

Austrian VIENNA Insurance Group (VIG) has agreed to fully acquire the Sarajevo-based MERKUR Osiguranje. The agreement for the acquisition was signed on 30 October 2017. The transaction is subject to approval by the local authorities.

Swiss Re estimates its preliminary combined claims burden in Q3 from the hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the earthquakes in Mexico to be approximately USD 3.6 billion, net of retrocession and before tax.

MetLife reported a third quarter 2017 net loss of USD 87 million, compared to net income of USD 571 million in the third quarter of 2016. On a per share basis, the net loss was USD 0.08, compared to net income of USD 0.51 in the prior-year period.

EUROHOLD Bulgaria saw a 20.7% y-o-y increase in revenues in the first 9 months of 2017, to BGN 714.9 million, the company's 3Q Financial Report reads.

Chubb Limited today reported a net loss for the quarter ended September 30, 2017 of USD (70) million, or USD (0.15) per share, compared with net income of USD 1,360 million, or USD 2.88 per share, for the same quarter last year.

Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) announced that two of its Slovak units, the bancassurer Poistovna Slovenskej sporitelne (PSLSP) and Kooperativa poistovna will merge with effect from 1 April 2018, subject to approval by the local authorities.

MUNICH Re is expecting a third-quarter loss of EUR 1.4 billion owing to exceptional major-loss expenditure. The Group now projects a small profit for the full year 2017.

CROATIA Osiguranje, the ADRIS Group's insurance arm, increased its net nine-month profit by 17% y-o-y, to HRK 219 million, while consolidated GWP amounted to HRK 2.5 million, 3% up.

Following the exceptional series of large natural catastrophes in Q3, French reinsurer SCOR has recorded a net loss of EUR 267 million in Q3. Yet, the balance of the first nine months of 2017 remained positive (EUR 25 million).

XL Group Ltd reported its 3Q 2017 results, significantly impacted by the recent nat cat losses, the groups reporting net loss of USD 1.04 billion, compared with net income of USD 70.6 million the previous year.

Lloyd's announced revised net claims estimates for Windstorms Harvey and Irma of a combined USD 3.9 billion plus a preliminary claims estimates for Windstorm Maria of USD 0.9 billion.

"2017 looks set to become the most expensive catastrophe loss year ever for the P&C sector, mostly due to the hyperactive 2017 hurricane season," finds the Viewpoint Report - Winds of change launched yesterday by JLT Re.

One of the key issues sweeping life insurance and pension funds is the low rate environment as it continues to make it difficult for firms to meet their yield target. In the search for yield a new trend has risen, involving investment in alternative assets. Alternative have become increasingly desirable with their ability to give higher returns, but of course this comes at the price of higher risk.

To develop comprehensive risk management solutions to deal with the increasingly complex risks, a holistic view of the risk landscape and the use of the very latest technologies are needed, is MUNICH Re's view.

ZURICH Insurance Group said that it expects to pay out aggregate Q3 claims related to the three major hurricanes impact - Harvey, Irma and Maria, worth of USD 700 million (net of reinsurance and before tax). After tax, the losses are expected to be around USD 620 million.

American International Group (AIG) announced it expects to record insurance losses of roughly USD 3 billion during the third quarter from the recent hurricanes and earthquakes.

The third quarter of 2017 is likely to bring a new record in terms of costs caused by natural catastrophes, according to "Impact Forecasting", Aon Benfield's catastrophe model development team.

Austrian insurer VIG announced that its Bulgarian units BULSTRAD and BULSTRAD Life dominate the local insurance market, a combined market share of 14.5% in Bulgaria and GWP of EUR 84 in 1H2017.