All Features articles – Page 11
-
Features
Insuring the uninsurable
Reinsurers face a future of ever-increasing catastrophe losses. The World Bank’s Eugene Gurenko discusses the industry’s role in an age of climate change.
-
GR Focus
Modelling for investors
As the market for insurance-linked securities takes off, catastrophe modelling agencies are striving to make their products simpler for investors to understand and easier for issuers to apply. David Banks reports.
-
Features
Pooling together
With the rising cost of natural catastrophes around the world, public private solutions could provide a model for the future. Dr Simon Young explains how the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility has set a precedent.
-
Analysis
Argo Group: Sea change
Argo Group has had a busy decade. The recent Bermuda convert has seen its premiums explode from $100m in 1998 to just shy of an estimated $2bn this year. Mairi Mallon reports.
-
Features
Holding back the rates
It became everyone’s favourite buzzword during the record years of 2006 and 2007. Now with falling earnings, increased competition and subprime losses, it’s time to put ERM to the test, argues Ronald Gift Mullins.
-
GR Focus
Bermuda: Trouble in paradise?
The credit crunch, unpopular policies and the ever-looming threat of a major catastrophe loss are just some of the challenges facing Bermuda reinsurers. Some say Bermuda is losing its shine and yet the market has enjoyed two years of record profits. Helen Yates takes stock.
-
CEO Q&A
Lee Brandon
An interview with Lee Brandon, director and chief executive officer of PRO Insurance Solutions.
-
Cover Story
Fragile China
It has been called “China’s Hurricane Andrew”. Following the Sichuan earthquake in China, Helen Yates asks how future events could be better insured and whether a government-backed catastrophe pool could be the solution.
-
Country Analysis
Switzerland: The pressure cooker
Switzerland is increasingly home from home for Bermuda reinsurers. David Banks assesses its alpine attractions.
-
Industry Matters
Expecting the unexpected
Steve Smith says the science points to a hurricane season in line with the heightened risk period – or worse.
-
Features
Taking a fresh look
Solvency II will have a greater impact on run-off in Europe than the credit crunch. Those are the predictions, discovers Liz Booth. The new regulations will force companies to think more strategically and to consider exit solutions for their dead wood.
-
Investment Analysis
When a hedge fund sneezes
Will reinsurers catch a cold? Hedge funds experienced their first negative quarter on record in Q1. That could have dire consequences for the insurance companies and products they invest in, explains Lindsey Rogerson.
-
Country Analysis
Germany: Waking the bear
Germany’s strong economy and heavyweight reinsurance players can do little to hold back the credit crisis. Many recognise the impact of subprime will go much deeper than first thought, as Herbert Fromme reports.
-
Features
Bermuda shorts in Lloyd’s
Bermudians flocked to Lloyd’s last year, driven by the need to diversify into new markets. Given the two-way traffic between the jurisdictions, do Bermudians and Londoners make a natural fit? Or are Bermuda shorts proving a chilly option for Lloyd’s? Mairi Mallon investigates.
-
GR Focus
The talent time bomb
Those who are managing the world’s biggest risks are neglecting one of the major hazards for their own business – continuity of skills. David Banks looks at the talent crisis facing the London market and its interests abroad.
-
Features
Captive king
Despite its grand ambitions, the Cayman Islands is not yet a serious rival to Bermuda’s reinsurance crown. But it is the world’s second-largest captive jurisdiction. Ana Paula Nacif reports.
-
Features
Lighting the way forward
In a competitive sector, another year of record profits and benign catastrophe losses are simply exerting more downward pressure on energy reinsurance rates. But there is still some opportunity for reinsurers, discovers Jon Guy.
-
Investment Analysis
Investment: Spreading nasty rumours
Using negative market sentiment for positive gain has become an increasingly prevalent fact of life. As the downturn in the global financial markets gathers pace, the vultures are circling, discovers Lindsey Rogerson.
