Insurance news

Alder has been the CEO of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong since 2011. He is also the chair of the board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and a member of the Financial Stability Board’s Plenary and its Steering Committee.

Alder’s appointment as the FCA chair for a five-year term is part of the FCA’s new strategy to improve outcomes for consumers and markets throughout the UK beginning in April 2023.

Richard Lloyd, who has been the interim chair of the FCA since June 1, 2022, commented: “We are looking forward to working with Ashley as he takes over the leadership of the FCA’s board next year. As the FCA continues to strengthen its vital work to protect consumers and our financial markets, his deep experience leading a major international regulator will help us deliver our ambitious strategy for the future.”

HM Treasury has also reappointed Dr Alice Maynard and Liam Coleman, who chair the FCA’s audit and people committees, respectively, to the FCA board for their second three-year terms.

Dr Maynard is a non-executive director on the HMRC Board and a member of the Government Commercial Office Remuneration Committee. Meanwhile, Coleman was the deputy CEO and subsequently CEO at The Co-operative Bank plc from May 2016 to July 2018. Currently, he is the chairman of Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Rowland (pictured above left) has 15 years of offshore wind experience, including underwriting, broking, and, most recently, as a lead risk and insurance specialist at a large offshore wind developer.

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Blayney (pictured above right) joins from Markel’s upstream energy team and has more than 10 years of upstream energy experience. He joined Markel International eight years ago, and most recently served as senior underwriter for upstream and midstream energy.

“Our global renewable energy team has achieved significant growth over the past two years, but these latest appointments, which combine specific offshore wind experience with traditional oil and gas experience, are a fantastic win for us,” Baker said. “With Matt and Cliff’s diverse experience and expertise, we have everything we need to continue growing our footprint and to become a leading insurer in the global offshore wind market.”

The FT reported that sources familiar with the matter have silenced concerns that Lloyd’s might seek to exercise a break clause in its lease that would have seen it change locations in 2026. A source reported that there is now “zero chance” that Lloyd’s will exit the lease that runs until 2031, and negotiations with Ping An – the Chinese owner of One Lime Street – have moved on to discussions regarding the terms through which it could potentially remain for even longer.

Sources also revealed that Lloyd’s ambition to stay beyond 2031 is dependent on reaching a consensus with Ping An, with negotiations expected to conclude by the fourth quarter. The FT noted that Ping An has declined to comment on the news.

Lloyd’s CEO John Neal previously discussed reorganising the famous underwriting room to turn it into a less formal space.

Commenting on that consideration, Lloyd’s said, “As we adapt to new structures and flexible ways of working, we are continuing to carefully think about the future requirements for the spaces and services our marketplace needs.”

“The transactional risk practice has continued to experience significant growth in the last few years,” Batalla said. “… Our deep technical knowledge, consistent underwriting approach, and unwavering work ethic enable the team to review thousands of transactions every year providing superior service to our clients and carrier trading partners.”

Most recently hired to Ryan Specialty Transactional Risks International is Rafael Giménez-Reyna. Based in Madrid, he joins the firm’s international tax team from private practice, where has spent the last 10 years advising clients on Spanish and global tax matters.

“Rafa will be working on international tax risks, but as Spain is currently a busy jurisdiction for tax insurance, it will be extremely beneficial having someone on the ground in Madrid,” said Kerry Westwell, head of tax for Ryan Specialty Transactional Risks Europe.

As stated in Article 83(1) of the GPDR, the turnover of the undertaking is a relevant element to be considered when imposing an effective, dissuasive and proportionate fine. However, according to the EDPB’s guidelines, when calculating the turnover of an insurance company, the supervisory authority should also take into account insurance premiums.

“This is not in line with the most recent accounting standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB),” Insurance Europe said. “For example, IFRS 17 – Insurance Contracts, states that the information on insurance revenue must not include amounts the insurer is obligated to pay the policyholder regardless of whether the insured event occurs, or the so-called investment component. These amounts that represent the investment of the policyholder (such as the savings component of an endowment life insurance) must be excluded from the revenues in the profit and loss account.”

According to Insurance Europe, the IASB, acting as a global standard-setter for accounting, ensured the comparability of financial reporting by insurers and companies from other industries.

“Insurance Europe, therefore, encourages the EDPB to update its guidelines to take into account the international standards set out by the IASB,” it said.

With over 20 years of experience in strategy and technology innovation in financial services, Kaul-Green joins from AXA XL, where she was chief of staff, Asia-Pacific and Europe, responsible for developing the corporate strategy, ESG governance and strategic communication.

“I’m delighted to welcome Parul to Liberty,” Hobbs said. “She brings a broad track-record in strategic and digital transformation. This is the skillset we need to deliver on our strategic objectives.”

Baker (pictured directly above), meanwhile, is responsible for developing LSM’s digital strategy for the region. She was previously head of customer proposition, a role she held since 2019. Prior to joining LSM, Baker ran an independent consulting company that worked with carriers in the insurance sector, including LSM.

“Carol has championed digital innovation within our business development team, and we look forward to her continuing to bring this value to our brokers and clients in her new role,” Hobbs said.

Upstream: Both offshore and onshore energy clients are starting to use carbon capture and storage in markets across the globe as an alternative to conventional decommission. Carbon capture and storage is also being used as a means of generating extra revenue and tax credits, where applicable.

Downstream: The sector may be approaching the end of a hard market cycle for downstream risks, which will benefit insureds with good loss records that can show effective management of natural catastrophe exposures.

Renewable energy: The renewable energy market is now more stable and profitable, the report found. However, certain trends will need to be monitored, including the effect of unpredictable global weather patterns on projects in locations with high exposure to natural catastrophes, underwriter uncertainty over some new technologies, and supply chain disruption.

Cyber: Insurers have been hiking their rates by as much as 25% to 40% in response to a recent spike in ransomware attacks.

The sector has also seen continued disruption linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact of the Ukraine conflict has reached well beyond Eastern Europe, the report found.

Global insurance resilience also improved last year thanks to strong insurance growth driven by rising risk awareness among customers and pandemic-related health spending by governments. However, insurance resilience has not yet recovered to pre-pandemic or pre-Global Financial Crisis levels.

The world insurance protection gap for health, mortality and natural catastrophe risks combined hit a new high of US$1.42 trillion in 2021, and the current inflationary environment is expected to widen that gap even further this year, Swiss Re Institute reported. Despite a strong forecast for nominal insurance premium growth, insurance resilience is expected to weaken this year due to scaled-back government benefits and declining asset values.

“The cyclical recovery in both macroeconomic and insurance resilience in 2021 cannot hide the fact that deep structural reforms are needed to drive long-term growth,” said Jérôme Haegeli, group chief economist for Swiss Re. “The current inflation shock and cost-of-living crisis are disproportionately affecting the lowest-income households and will only widen protection gaps this year.

“To secure greater resilience and support long-term economic stability, structural parameters such as infrastructure and human capital need to be strengthened and inequality reduced. Against this challenging backdrop, the insurance industry plays an important role in shifting financial risks away from individuals and ultimately increasing their resilience.”

“I am truly delighted that Paul has been appointed CEO by the board. When we launched Convex in 2019, the plan was that Paul would become CEO in due course and his appointment has been fully endorsed by our shareholders,” Caitlin said. “He has led the team which has built Convex into a superb business with a strong competitive advantage and hard to replicate intellectual property. This promotion is very well deserved.”

Brand has four decades of experience in insurance, serving as the chief underwriting officer for almost half of his 31 years at Caitlin and XL Caitlin. From 2016 to 2018, he was also the chairman at Accelerate, XL Caitlin’s in-house innovation team. It was from this point onwards when he began to work with Caitlin on Convex.

Established in 2019, Convex Group is an international specialty insurer and reinsurer focused on complex specialty risks across a diverse range of business lines. It is operated out of London, Bermuda, Luxembourg and New Jersey.

“Paul and Stephen have demonstrated an incredible ability to build a quality insurance group. The result, Convex, is a tremendous achievement and we expect the business will thrive under Paul’s leadership whilst benefitting from Stephen and Paul’s continuing partnership,” said Bobby Le Blanc, president of Onex Partners. “We fully expect that they will deliver value to shareholders over time and Onex Partners thoroughly endorses the board’s decision.”