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Based on a survey of 2,000 global business leaders conducted by Opinion Matters, a new report from specialist insurer Beazley highlights a growing focus on internal organisational risks among CEOs and executives, showing a significant increase in the concern over employer risk. In 2021, 11% of executives identified this as their top risk, but the figure has risen to 22% in the current survey.

In its latest “Risk & Resilience” report titled “Spotlight On Business Risks 2023,” Beazley sheds light on changing perceptions around various business and executive risks. The report indicates a shift in the risk landscape for business leaders, encompassing aspects from employee risks to reputation management and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) regulation.

Notably, over one-third (35%) of global executives are now considering insurance options that encompass risk and crisis management due to mounting business challenges.

The rise in workplace issues, partly attributed to the #MeToo movement and an increase in staff reporting, has also led to a surge in allegations and heightened concern among executives. Additionally, a deterioration in staff mental health post-pandemic has intensified the need for workplace support initiatives. A concerning 27% of executives feel ill-equipped to handle contemporary employer risks.

The report also delves into the connection between employer and reputational risks. Companies face increased public scrutiny over staff treatment, leading to potential reputational backlash. The so-called “culture wars” and pressures for organisations to address societal issues add to reputational challenges. Business leaders predict managing reputations will become increasingly difficult, with 17% currently ranking this as their top risk, projected to increase to 19% in 2024.

Furthermore, the report examines the complexities of evolving ESG regulation worldwide, especially challenging for multinational companies in varied legal environments. Executives in the US and Canada show greater concern over compliance with ESG-related legislation than their counterparts in the UK and Singapore.

While many businesses are proactively addressing environmental responsibilities, 22% of global business leaders now rank ESG as their primary business risk, up from 19% in 2022. However, 26% of global executives feel unprepared to manage and respond to ESG-related risks effectively.

“Global business leaders are dealing with a challenging array of new and persistent risks that threaten their business models. It might seem counter-intuitive that executives are increasingly looking inward at their workforce and workplace to meet today’s challenges. However, the last few years have shown us the importance of executive decision-making that drives positive change in the workforce and supports colleagues,” Beazley Group head of specialty risks Bethany Greenwood said.

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RSA Insurance has announced the introduction of its Equal Parental Leave Policy, a significant addition to its family-friendly initiatives.

The policy will offer an equalised and extended period of leave for all parents, irrespective of gender.

This initiative, effective from Jan. 1, is part of RSA’s comprehensive diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) strategy. It aims to support all employees, challenge traditional gender roles, and encourage parents to participate actively in early childcare.

Under the new policy, every parent with a minimum of six months of service will be entitled to up to 52 weeks of parental leave, with 26 weeks fully paid. This applies to parents with children born or adopted after the specified date.

Additionally, RSA has formed a partnership with From Babies with Love, a social enterprise focused on supporting orphaned and abandoned children through its non-profit parental leave gift service. As part of this collaboration, RSA provides new parents with a “baby box” from From Babies with Love, containing organic and ethically sourced baby clothing, aiding them in the initial weeks of parenthood. This initiative has already assisted more than 26,562 children globally.

RSA DE&I head Gemma Jackson said that this new commitment will further support the families at the insurance group. She stressed that gender should never be a barrier to spending time with newborn children.

“It’s also the latest step in our ambition to be leading in our sector on diversity, equity, and inclusion by 2026. Equal parental leave is known to be a key enabler in improving gender equality in the workplace and contributes to driving down the gender pay gap, which remains a target for improvement across the industry. And so, we hope that this new policy will help to increase opportunities for colleagues and improve equity across the organisation,” Jackson said.

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Allianz Partners has officially announced the appointment of Anna Kofoed as the new CEO of travel and member of the board of management.

In her new role, Kofoed succeeds Damien Ladous, who has been managing the travel line of business since 2021 and the group finance function as CFO since early 2023. Ladous will now concentrate solely on his responsibilities as group CFO and continue his involvement on the board of management.

According to her LinkedIn, Kofoed joins the company following her tenure at Amadeus, a global travel technology firm known for its B2B and B2B2C travel services. In her most recent position at Amadeus, she served as executive vice president for EMEA travel sellers.

Her career at Amadeus included various global leadership positions encompassing marketing, sales, strategy, and business planning. She is an alumnus of Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, holding an International MBA, and a recent graduate of Harvard’s Advanced Management Program.

“Anna has extensive experience in the travel industry, and combined with her technological expertise, she will be invaluable in helping Allianz Partners achieve its growth ambitions, develop its travel ecosystem platform, and become the digital travel companion that it aims to be,”said Tomas Kunzmann, Allianz Partners CEO. “Anna can build on Damien’s excellent leadership of the travel business during a period of unprecedented changes and strong business performance. I’m delighted Damien will now be able to focus on leading Allianz Partners’ Group finance function as group CFO.”

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The Talanx Group has reported a substantial increase in its group net income for the first nine months of 2023, reaching €1.279 billion. This robust financial performance has led the company to revise its full-year earnings forecast upwards, now anticipating over €1.5 billion.

Looking further ahead, Talanx expects its group net income to surpass €1.7 billion in 2024, exceeding its previous medium-term target of around €1.6 billion in 2025. This marks a significant achievement for the group, achieving and surpassing its target a year earlier than planned. Talanx intends to unveil new targets for 2025 in March 2024 alongside its 2023 financial statements.

During the period up to Sept. 30, Talanx’s insurance revenue increased by 8% year-on-year to €32.3 billion, with a double-digit rise of 11% when adjusted for currency effects. The group’s operating profit saw a 23% increase to €2.8 billion, and its net income grew by 38% to €1.3 billion. This growth was evident across all divisions, with primary insurance in particular enhancing its contribution to group net income from 43% to 47%. The return on equity stood at 18.4%, well above the strategic target of over 10%.

Key to this performance was the strong insurance service result, driven by inflation-related price hikes and large loss payments staying within budget. In 2023, the group adopted new IFRS 17 and IFRS 9 accounting standards, ensuring comparability with prior-year figures.

The insurance service result for the first nine months of 2023 rose by 44% to €2.6 billion, with Primary Insurance experiencing a 66% increase, attributed to inflation, interest rate effects, and large loss payments. Large loss payments reduced to €1.6 billion from €1.9 billion the previous year, with the pro rata large loss budget of €1.7 billion not fully utilised. Notably, the group faced a significant loss from the February 2023 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, amounting to €329 million.

The net insurance financial and investment result before currency effects was €1.0 billion, a decrease from €1.2 billion. However, the higher insurance service result compensated for this, resulting in a substantial rise in both operating profit and group net income. Operating profit surged by 23% to €2.8 billion, and Group net income increased by 38% to €1.3 billion. The Solvency 2 ratio as at Sept. 30 was a robust 222%.

In the third quarter, insurance revenue grew by 7% to €11.4 billion. The insurance service result improved significantly to €950 million, and operating profit increased to €802 million. Group net income for the quarter saw a substantial rise to €452 million, and the combined ratio improved to 93.3%.

“The Talanx Group can look back at an extremely successful nine months: we shall exceed our ambitious financial targets for 2023 and have lifted our earnings forecast to significantly more than €1.5 billion. Primary Insurance made a major contribution to this, generating strong operating profit and above-average growth. This demonstrates our continued resilience, even in a challenging market environment, and shows that our focused strategy is paying off sustainably,” Talanx AG board of management chairman Torsten Leue said.

“Based on our strong results in the financial year to date, we are expecting to reach our medium-term target, which was originally for 2025, a year earlier than planned. Furthermore, we shall exceed it with our new target for Group net income of €1.7 billion,” Leue said.

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HSB, a specialist insurer and provider of inspection and risk management services, has announced the appointments of Sarah Purnell, Michael Farrugia, and Lydia White within its UK business development team.

“Relationships with our partners are crucial to us so we are pleased to add more quality to an already strong team,” said Ian Fox, the UK head of sales at HSB.

“Collectively, all three appointments will help drive our insurance growth ambitions and enable us to deliver customer service excellence by increasing the support we provide to our broker partners,” he added.

Who are the new additions to HSB’s UK business development team?

Purnell and Farrugia have joined the company as business development managers for the East and West Midlands, as well as East Anglia and the Home Counties respectively, while White has been promoted to business development manager for the North West region.

“Sarah and Michael bring over 60 years’ of insurance experience to our business, meanwhile Lydia is an emerging talent and has flourished in various roles since joining HSB,” said Fox.

Purnell previously took the role of business development manager at British Engineering Services and Rural Insurance, according to her LinkedIn. She also has experience being a senior trading underwriter at Zurich Insurance Company, Ltd., a development underwriter at AXA Insurance, and a business development manager and underwriter for Brit Insurance.

Farrugia has over 30 years of experience within the insurance sector. According to his LinkedIn, he took up the role of area business manager at Anchor Insurance Brokers and was a financial consultant for Withers Parke Ltd. before spending 14 years with the DAS UK Group. There he held roles such as broker account manager, business development manager, and BTE partnerships manager.

White, meanwhile, joined HSB in 2017 where she has garnered knowledge and experience in underwriting and client services areas within the Northern region. Her LinkedIn shows that prior to her time with HSB, she worked as a sales assistant at companies such as Bank Fashion, Bella Boutique, and ARK Fashion before she became an administrator for JD Sports Fashion plc.

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The 20-20 vision of hindsight is often touted and admired but if you could go back in time and deliver a message to your younger self, what would you say? The response from Susie Cook, VP of Underwriting Initiatives at Allied World, will likely resonate with many – “be braver and don’t worry if you feel like you don’t have all the answers.”

Ahead of the upcoming Women in Insurance Summit in London, Cook spoke with Insurance Business to discuss the power of taking a creative and courageous approach to building a career in insurance. Looking back, she noted that the real evolution has not been how she took a ‘build-your-own-adventure’ approach to her career but rather her acceptance that this is an approach that should be celebrated.

“When I started out in my early 20s, all the different development programmes and performance reviews were centred around that question of “where do you want to be in five years’ time?”,” she said. “I think it’s amazing that there are people who leave school and university and have structured career goals and plans, but I’ve never been one of those people.

“I used to worry that maybe I wasn’t ambitious enough, maybe I lacked direction – and as a young professional, it was easy to take that negatively. But now I do think there is more of an understanding that choosing your own adventure and having variety in your career is actually quite empowering.”

Cooked noted that it’s great to look across the market now and see the evolution away from a one-size-fits-all approach to building an insurance career. When you’re just starting out, it’s easy to fret if you don’t know exactly where you fit in the ecosystem, she said, but there is increasing recognition that if you’re able to demonstrate transferable skills and capability across a wide range of disciplines, then the world really is your oyster.

“My message is not to panic if you don’t know where you fit in because very often, doors you never knew existed will start to open if you demonstrate that you’re capable, that you’ve got the energy, the enthusiasm, the drive and the right personality to succeed,” Cook said. “You can always learn the technical bits but passion comes from within.

“Use those early years to explore, be curious to try different things and to find what works for you. Just because you started somewhere doesn’t mean you will stay there. And the other thing is, you don’t have to be the best at everything. I’ve learned that recognising your weaknesses is in itself a strength.”

That recognition is essential to being a great team worker, she said, because it means you’re more aware of the strengths and capabilities of the people around you. All too often, women tend to hold quite self-limiting beliefs that they shouldn’t try something if they’re not going to be best at it but to build a meaningful and fulfilling career takes bravery – it takes expanding your comfort zone and with that, your understanding of your own potential.

Firmly attesting to her long-held belief that a career in insurance can be an adventure, Cook looked back on the rather untraditional trajectory she has enjoyed to date. Taking the road less travelled has allowed her to work in areas of the insurance market she would never have been able to access if she’d taken a more linear approach, she said, and that feeds right through to the role she has today.

Being a new role for Allied World there was opportunity to shape that ‘blank sheet of paper’ and get involved in parts of the business that might otherwise have been out of reach, Cook said. The culture of trust and empowerment at Allied World presents an environment that she welcomes, as the interplay of personal motivation and internal openness and support is integral to building a rewarding and satisfying career, and keeping it fresh.

“Because of that alignment,” she said “I’m now in a role that ticks all the boxes of what motivates me, keeps me learning, and one that is definitely an adventure. Cheesy as it sounds, I do believe an insurance career can be an adventure but it’s a two-way street. The culture of your company and vision of those around you creates the opportunity, but you need to have the self-confidence and belief to seize that opportunity.”

In much the same way that lacking confidence in yourself can be a self-fulfilling prophecy, making the effort to build up your self-confidence can lead to tremendous outcomes. That’s what it takes to tear down the barriers between you and the place you want to get to, she said, and what’s amazing to see is how this mindset can benefit your personal life as well.

“As an example,” she said, “I have a geniune fear of heights, I’ve had it ever since I was a youngster but one of my hobbies is mountaineering – and you wouldn’t think those two go hand in hand! But it got to the point where I realised that I wanted to be out there on the mountains and if I didn’t get over my fear, then I wasn’t going to realise that ambition and that just isn’t an option for me.

“So, I started to upskill myself, I went on courses, I built up my tolerance gradually by starting small and in that way, I developed my experience and my confidence. I learned to manage my fear. And I use the same tactics at work because once you realise you can do something, you realise you can do a lot more.”

The advice she would give her younger self is exactly the same as that which she gives her colleagues and her young niece and nephew who are just embarking on the early steps of insurance careers.

“Don’t panic, you have time but use it. Just keep nudging at the door of opportunity,” she said. “Keep pushing your boundaries and keep pushing your comfort zone. I know I’m still doing that today and that won’t change. Because that’s what stops you from getting stuck in a rut and complacent, and from losing your energy and your motivation. Be comfortable with being a little bit uncomfortable because not necessarily knowing what the next chapter will bring is what keeps the adventure going”.

‘Protecting society from an unprecedented cyberattack will require more than insurance’ – there’s a stark warning to be found in the Geneva Association’s (GA) new report into the global cyber protection gap. Speaking with Insurance Business, Darren Pain (pictured), GA cyber director and author of the report – ‘Cyber Risk Accumulation: Fully tackling the insurability challenge’ – highlighted the core issue at the heart of this insurability challenge.

“A longstanding problem in the cyber world is that the economic losses associated with a major cyber incident are potentially catastrophic,” he said. “The worry for insurers and reinsurers is that, because they underwrite the cyber risks of households and firms, they may well be on the end of a concentration of those risks within their balance sheets.

“They worry quite a lot about what their capacity is to provide that level of protection to households and firms, given that their balance sheets are ultimately constrained in terms of how much capital can allocate to cyber risks.”

The limited power of cyber risk models

Over time, he said, the sector has become better at analysing cyber risks as more incidents generate more data, and advancements are made in combining forensic detail with more advanced risk models. However, he noted that a key takeaway from the GA’s report is that cyber models do remain fundamentally immature – with results still quite volatile and inconsistent.

Pain’s thesis is that simply having more data and information is not the silver bullet to protecting against cyber risk. It’s certainly part of the solution, he said, and it’s clear that better risk quantification is needed in cyber. However, there are certain elements of cyber that are beyond the reach of probabilistic reasoning. It’s not fatalistic to acknowledge that there are limits to what cyber risk models can do and that it’s a “fool’s errand” to search for the perfect model.

“[Our message] is that models are definitely needed but advances in modelling alone won’t guarantee an increase in risk-absorbing capacity,” he said. “So, we look to other ways and recognise the need to think about a multi-stakeholder approach in order to get our arms around this insurability challenge.”

How to meet the ‘insurability challenge’ head on

To do this means looking beyond just the insurance and reinsurance sectors, he said, and the GA’s report has highlighted three additional key considerations. The first is the need to promote greater capital market involvement in cyber risk transfer. Cyber needs to attract a broader class of investors who are interested in taking on peak cyber risks, particularly given that capital markets are much deeper and are more liquid than reinsurance or insurance.

“Secondly, there are some elements of cyber exposure that extend well beyond the reach and knowledge of re/insurance,” he said. “ So I think we really need to tap into mechanisms that allow us to cooperate more with either government agencies or technology companies themselves, who ultimately have the most insight on the threats and vulnerabilities out there.”

The third consideration pinpointed by the GA is the need to incentivise IT security providers to take more responsibility for some of the hidden costs incurred by their users. Pain believes there is scope for enhanced liability for some hardware and software providers, encouraging these companies to build more cyber safeguards into their products and services – and so enhance cybersecurity, both among themselves but also across their customer base.

“Those are our three main concrete [takeaways] but I think, ultimately, the elephant in the room is that if you did all that… to my mind at least, you still have to fundamentally address the role that government has to play as a potential financial backstop against catastrophic cyber losses. We have plenty of examples of such arrangements for other types of perils and I think cyber is another candidate area. Even if it’s just to take away the extreme peak risks, in doing so we may well encourage more of the private sector to take on additional cyber exposure. So I think we do really need to engage in that debate with policymakers.”

Public-private partnership – a critical tool in bridging the cyber protection gap

Though estimates of the global aggregate cyber protection gap may differ from source to source, the multi-trillion-dollar figures being suggested reveal the scope of the challenge at hand. Pain noted that he does not believe the insurance and reinsurance sectors alone can close the protection gap and that a more collective approach is required.

The conceptual case for a form of a public-private partnership is pretty compelling, Pain said, as he believes that cutting the size of catastrophic losses faced by private insurers and reinsurers could ultimately attract more risk-absorbing capacity into the sector. In addition, increased cyber insurance has the potential to encourage improved cyber hygiene among the populace. But in order for reinsurance and insurance to fulfil its potential cyber governance role, the tail risk of extreme cyber losses somehow needs to be curtailed and a government backstop may be a means to support that.

“I don’t think there’s a consensus yet in the market,” he said. “Some risk carriers are still a bit nervous about government intervention within cyber insurance … In large part perhaps, thinking about what unintended consequences might arise.

“Most notably, people wonder whether a backstop might encourage lax cybersecurity postures where people don’t invest in cyber hygiene because they assume the government will pick up the tab. Likewise, I think some insurance market participants worry that a government facility might come with a mandate to take on some cyber exposures which remain well outside their risk appetite.”

While acknowledging those concerns, however, Pain emphasised that all of these issues apply to public-private partnerships already established to deal with other perils. There are clear lessons from both the successes and the challenges faced by these other schemes, he said, and how they operate. For him, the heart of the matter is more about design and implementation, rather than any conceptual misgivings.

“Unless we do something to cut the tail of the aggregate probability distribution for cyber losses, I think we won’t get a significant increase in capacity from the private sector,” he said. “And so, I think that’s where we have to go… Because in the end, taxpayers may well find themselves absorbing the losses that could accompany a major cyber catastrophe.

“To my mind, it’s better to get something in place that leads you to a more optimal risk-sharing arrangement ex-ante, rather than scrambling around in the midst of a massive cyber event trying to pick up the pieces. I think we should be ahead of the game as a sector and try to engage with policyholders. But it’s also about taking a multi-stakeholder approach and reaching out to the other players [in the ecosystem] that can help us build a more sustainable cyber insurance market.”

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Lancashire Holdings has published its trading statement for the period up to Sept. 30, detailing its financial performance.

In the reinsurance segment, the expansion of casualty reinsurance operations was a notable driver of growth. Specialty reinsurance continued to capture new business due to a favourable rating climate. Property reinsurance classes also saw considerable rate enhancements. The Rate on Line Index (RPI) stood at 123% for this segment.

For the insurance segment, property insurance remained the dominant growth force, spurred by marked rate increases in direct and facultative property classes and the progressive development of the property construction portfolio.

In specialty insurance, there was an uptick in premiums in the political risk division, while energy and marine sectors saw growth leveraging positive market dynamics. Aviation insurance recorded robust RPIs, although the main renewal phase is anticipated in the final quarter. The segment’s RPI reached 112%.

The implementation of IFRS 17 introduced insurance revenue as a new financial metric. Considering this new standard, the insurance revenue climbed by $200.9 million, a 22.1% increase in the first three quarters of 2023 compared to the same period the previous year. The factors boosting gross premiums written similarly propelled the rise in insurance revenue.

Regarding loss events, the first nine months of 2023 witnessed a series of natural catastrophes, including wind and convective storms in the US, wildfires in Hawaii, an earthquake in Turkey, hurricane Idalia, and cyclone-induced floods in New Zealand. Additionally, some risk losses were recorded, particularly in the energy sector, though these were not materially significant individually.

“During the first nine months of 2023, we have continued to successfully implement our long-term strategy to manage the market cycle and deliver strong profitable growth through a portfolio of diversified products,” said Alex Maloney, Lancashire Group CEO. “I am always impressed by the talent, hard work and dedication of our people across the Lancashire Group and I would like to thank them for their ongoing commitment to the business. I would also like to thank our clients, brokers and shareholders for their continued support.”

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Arch Insurance International has unveiled its new intangible assets division, with operations starting forthwith. This development follows the acquisition of select components of Aon’s intellectual property (IP) liability MGA business.

The newly formed unit is under the leadership of Ian Lewis (pictured above), appointed as the head of intangible assets. The team, consisting of five specialists transitioning from Aon, will provide a suite of insurance products targeting the rapidly shifting landscape of intangible assets.

Businesses of various scales will have access to coverage for intellectual property infringement, contractual liabilities, invalidation risks, and business interruption losses. Lewis will operate under the direction of Duncan Smith, head of professional lines at Arch.

With a career spanning over three decades, Lewis is acknowledged for his expertise, especially in the intellectual property and intangible risk sectors. Before his new role, he was the global head of intellectual property underwriting solutions at Aon and has previously held positions at Tokio Marine Kiln, Samian Underwriting Agency, and Miller Insurance Services.

The London-based underwriting group also includes Justyn Hardcastle as senior underwriter, Carys Bickmore and Ben Kemsley as underwriters, and Chris Sclimenti, who is based in the US, as a senior underwriter. Sclimenti will liaise closely with the London team and will lead the development of Arch’s life sciences practice.

“The launch of our intangible assets team is a natural progression for Arch as we continue to expand our professional lines offerings,” said Hugh Sturgess, CEO of Arch Insurance International. “We see significant opportunities for growth in this class and are well positioned to offer our brokers and mutual clients comprehensive solutions to respond to the evolving risks to their intangible assets. By bringing on board an established and respected team led by Ian, we seek to establish Arch as a lead market in the intangible assets space.”

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