Programmes across a number of different lines of business and geographies generally renewed closer to expiring levels at 1 January 2017, says JLT Re's recently launched 'In the Balance' Renewal Retrospective Report. The global provider of reinsurance broking and consultancy sees reinsurance pricing remaining at historically low levels, while the value and efficiency of reinsurance capital are reinforced.

Aon plc has announced on January 25th that group president, Steve McGill is leaving the firm to explore new opportunities. Eric Andersen, CEO of Aon Benfield and Mike O'Connor, CEO of Aon Risk Solutions, will work together to jointly build Aon's global risk business and report directly to president and CEO Greg Case. The transition is effective immediately.

Milan - Assicurazioni Generali's Board of Directors, which met today under the chairmanship of Gabriele Galateri di Genola, deliberated to terminate the employment contract with General Manager and Group CFO Alberto MINALI.

After days of persistent rumors, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA confirmed its interest in acquiring a significant stake in Assigurazioni GENERALI SpA, a deal which would put together Italy's second-biggest bank with the country's leading insurer.

XL CATLIN has received final approval to open an onshore branch office in India from the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India. It plans to open the office in time for April 1 renewals.

Swiss Re is among the first five foreign reinsurers to receive branch license to operate in India. As it has recently received the approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to open a branch in Mumbai, the reinsurer will open its Indian branch on 1 February 2017, headed by Kalpana SAMPAT.

American International Group agreed to pay 9.8bn to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway to take on long-term risks from commercial policies written in prior years.

AVIVA announced is bringing its UK insurance businesses together - life insurance, general insurance and health insurance - under the leadership of Andy BRIGGS. Andy will become CEO UK Insurance, responsible for all AVIVA's insurance businesses in the UK.

Tomasz ROWICKI will join the VIG Re's Board of Directors, effective as of 1 March 2017. Currently he serves as a Member of the Managing Board of Compensa Non-Life Lithuania, responsible for underwriting, reinsurance, claims and IT.

"2017 will look very close to 2016. For basic reasons, we are still going to face a low interest rate environment and the regulation is going to be tough again," Italian GENERALI's CEO, Philippe DONNET, has stated in a recent interview with CNBC on the occasion of the World Economic Forum 2017.

According to the "January 2017 Reinsurance Market Outlook" released by the reinsurance broker AON BENFIELD, the estimated value for the reinsurance industry capital rose by 5.3% to a new high of USD 595 billion at the end of September 2016 (vs. USD 565 billion in FY 2015). " Overall demand increased for the industry, but growth has been isolated to few regions and lines of business", AON BENFIELD pointed out in the study.

IT/Telecom outages are the number one cause of supply chain disruption, has concluded the recent "Supply Chain Resilience Report 2016" released by the Business Continuity Institute following a survey produced in association with Zurich Insurance. Summarizing the responses provided by 526 professionals of 64 countries, one of the most important findings of the report is that insuring supply chain losses is a key factor in building greater resilience of companies.

Slovenian insurer TRIGLAV announced its plans to book a profit before tax of EUR 70-80 million in 2017. At the same time, the Group plans to book around EUR 930 million in consolidated gross written premium (vs. approximately EUR 900 million planned for 2016), while the planned combined ratio of the TRIGLAV Group is around 95%.

Despite a 50% increase in insured losses from natural catastrophes during 2016, the global reinsurance industry achieved profitable results for the third quarter. Barring any last minute disasters, 2016 remains on track to close out another profitable full year, reads the recent Willis Re report on the 1st January renewal season, "Struggling to Stabilize".

The Munich-based ALLIANZ announced it successfully concluded the sale of its South Korean life insurance unit (ALLIANZ Life Insurance Korea) to China's ANBANG Insurance Group.

AXA announced today that it had completed the sale of Bluefin Insurance Group Ltd ("Bluefin"), its P&C commercial broker in the UK, to Marsh. AXA recorded an exceptional negative impact of Euro 82 million, which will be accounted for in 2016 Net Income.

HANNOVER Re received the approval (R3) to establish a branch in India from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), the reinsurer announced on 28 December 2016. The opening up of the Indian market to foreign reinsurers enables HANNOVER Re to enjoy direct access to the country's growing insurance market, operating both property and casualty as well as life and health reinsurance.

TRUST Re has announced an increase in its authorised capital from USD 200 million to USD 500 million and an increase in its issued and paid-up capital from USD 200 million to USD 250 million.

A.M. Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A++ (Superior) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) of "aa+" of General Reinsurance Corporation (headquartered in Stamford, CT) and its core property/casualty and life reinsurance/insurance subsidiaries operating in the United States and internationally. These companies are collectively known as the General Re Group (Gen Re).

A.M. Best has upgraded the Financial Strength Rating to A- (Excellent) from B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating to "a-" from "bbb+" for Arab Insurance Group (B.S.C.) (Arig) (Bahrain). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) has been revised to stable from positive.