XPRIMM News No. 341, 26 January, 2017

		Insurance Newsletter, No. 341, 26 January, 2017 Click here to subscribe! Click here to unsubscribe!

TOP NEWS IIF 2017: Re/insurance professionals from 23 countries to discuss the critical issues in the motor insurance field by Daniela GHETU, 2017-01-26 Over 80 re/insurance professionals from 23 countries have already registered for the 2017 edition of the International Insurance Forum, "New challenges for the CEE motor insurance industry", to take place in Vienna, on February 15th. More STATISTICS: CROATIA, FY 2016: GWP increase close to nil by Vlad BOLDIJAR, 2017-01-26 The aggregate GWP by Croatian insurers amounted to HRK 8.76 billion (EUR 1.15 billion) at the end of December 2016, up by 0.42% y-o-y, according to the Croatian Insurance Bureau. Non-life GWP increased by 0.91% to HRK 5.84 billion, while the life insurance segment went down by 0.55%, to HRK 2.92 billion. The aggregate value of paid claims was HRK 4.75 billion, or 3.67% more y-o-y. More A possible Intesa Sanpaolo - Generali acquisition deal: more than rumors by Daniela GHETU, 2017-01-26 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. More EUROINS Romania acquires the non-life portfolio of ATE Insurance Romania by Vlad BOLDIJAR, 2017-01-23 EUROINS Romania, part of Bulgarian EUROINS Insurance Group (EIG), has reached an agreement to acquire the non-life insurance portfolio of ATE Insurance Romania, a subsidiary of PIRAEUS Bank - a leading banking institution in Greece. The deal was signed on January 19th, 2017. "The deal is subject to customary regulatory approvals", the EIG representative pointed out in a press release. More Swiss Re's operations in India to effectively start on 1 February 2017 by Daniela GHETU, 2017-01-25 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. More XL CATLIN's Indian office to open on April 1st 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. More PERILS: October earthquake's in Central Italy losses revised to EUR 125 million by Daniela GHETU, 2017-01-26 PERILS AG has today disclosed its second loss estimate for the series of earthquakes which hit Central Italy between 26 and 30 October 2016. Impacting the regions of Lazio, Marche and Umbria, the series included three major earthquakes with moment magnitudes of Mw 5.4, 5.9, and 6.5, according to the Italian National Geophysical Institute. More JLT renewals report: reinsurance pricing remains at historically low levels by Daniela GHETU, 2017-01-26 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. More Central bank of France pleads for the cyber insurance market's development in the EU by Daniela GHETU, 2017-01-26 France's central bank Governor called on French insurers to enhance cyber risk coverage for their clients, as hack attacks and data privacy laws in Europe spur rising demand, reports REUTERS. More Geopolitical risk - the most challenging factor for the financial sector by Daniela GHETU, 2017-01-26 According to the 2017 Association for Financial Professionals Risk Survey, supported by Marsh & McLennan Companies, 49% of finance professionals believe their organizations are exposed to greater earnings uncertainty than they were three years ago while 84% report that forecasting risk is as difficult or more difficult as it was three years ago. More Major European re/insurers are eying the Iranian insurance market by Daniela GHETU, 2017-01-26 After lifting of the international sanctions, in January 2016, the Iranian insurance market became an interesting business destination for the major global players, more than 140 foreign insurance and reinsurance companies investigating the opportunity to enter the market, reports Nasr Mobin Group, an international trade firm acting globally on behalf of its Iranian clients. More A.M. Best withdraws credit ratings of UNITY Reinsurance Company Ltd. A.M. Best has downgraded the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) to B (Fair) stable outlook from B+ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) to "bb+" with negative outlook, from "bbb-" of UNITY Reinsurance Company, Ltd. (UNITY Re) (Russia). A.M. Best has withdrawn the ratings as the company has requested to no longer participate in A.M. Best's interactive rating process. More INSURANCE & TECHNOLOGY Reducing the loss ratio by effectively detecting insurance fraud Insurance fraud is a serious issue for the entire insurance sector. Payment of fraudulent claims has a negative effect on the loss ratio and on insurance premiums, which results into a competitive disadvantage. Moreover, investigating 'false positives' takes a huge amount of time and unnecessary costs. Fraudsters are getting smarter in their attempts to evade the insurer's radar. As a consequence, money flows to the wrong people and thus combined ratios are under pressure. Insurance companies must detect insurance fraud before claims are paid. The best way to reduce the loss ratio is to increase the chances of fraud detection at claims and limit false positives to a minimum. More ON THE MOVE Tomasz ROWICKI to further strengthen VIG Re's Board of Directors by Daniela GHETU, 2017-01-23 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. More John MATTHEWS appointed as TRUST Re's Head of Claims TRUST Re has announced the appointment of John MATTHEWS as its new Head of Claims, effective 23rd January 2017, following the retirement of Mr. Kuriyan OOMMAN, at the end of last year. More Alberto MINALI's dismissal drives several changes in the GENERALI's management structure by Daniela GHETU, 2017-01-26 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. More Aon Group president, Steve McGill steps down to pursue new opportunities. by Daniela GHETU, 2017-01-26 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. More Andy BRIGGS to become Aviva's CEO for UK, following the group's decision to merge its UK units by Vlad BOLDIJAR, 2017-01-23 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. More

TOP EVENT Where stands the right balance between consumer protection and consumer responsibility in insurance? Find the answers in Vienna. by Daniela GHETU, 2017-01-26 In an era of increased complexity of the financial products, consumer protection issues are a key concern for financial supervisory authorities all over the world. At the same time, there is no such protection measure that would exonerate customer of the natural duty of making responsible choices. So, where stand the right balance between protection and own responsibility? More STATISTIC UPDATES Croatia FY2016 XPRIMM EVENTS IIF 2017 - MOTOR Insurance Conference 15 February 2017, Vienna, Austria European Consumer Protection Conference 16 February 2017, Vienna, Austria IIF 2017 - MOTOR Insurance Conference 2-3 April 2017, Istanbul, Turkey FIAR 2017 - The International Insurance-Reinsurance Forum 21-25 May 2017, Brasov, Romania AIIF - Azerbaijan International Insurance Forum June 2017 Baku, Azerbaijan IIF 2017 - PROPERTY Insurance Conference 19-20 June 2017, Munchen, Germany PARTNER EVENTS 10th Annual BancAssurance Forum 7-8 February 2017, Amsterdam Insurance Fraud Forum 16-17 February 2017, Rome, Italy European Motor Insurance Summit 16-17 February 2017, Rome, Italy 5th Edition Nordic Asset Allocation: Investing in Alternative Asset Classes 23-24 February 2017, Elite Hotel Marina Tower, Stockholm, Sweden 3rd Annual Credit Risk Management Forum 2-3 March, 2017, Berlin, Germany 3rd Annual African Insurance Forum 9-10 March 2017, Johannesburg, South Africa Insurance Innovations 2017 13-14 March 2017, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Energy and Industrial Insurance in Russia and CIS 16-17 March 2017, Moscow, Russia The Winning Digital Marketing Financial Services Conference 21 March 2017, London, United Kingdom XXI Annual Conference on Reinsurance 5-6 April 2017, Moscow, Russia XI International Conference "Insurance in Central Asia" 13-14 April 2017, Almaty, Kazakhstan International Risk Management Conference 27-28 April 2017, Almaty, Kazakhstan PRESS CUTTINGS AIG to pay Berkshire USD 9.8bn in insurance transfer deal ARMENIA: Fitch Affirms Armenia at 'B+'; Outlook Stable BULGARIA: KBC wins bidding for NBG subsidiary POLISH motor insurers face pressure to automate and streamline operations CURRENT XPRIMM REPORTS KAZAKHSTAN FY2015 & 1H2016 RUSSIA FY 2015 & 1H2016 TURKEY FY2015 & 1H2016 ROMANIA 1Q2016 & 1H2016 Ins. Report CEE, SEE & CIS – 1H2016 Motor Ins. Report FY2015 & 1H2016 Property Ins. Report FY2015 AZERBAIJAN FY 2015 & 1H2016