For many years the concept of the legal duty of utmost good faith or uberrim a fides has existed in the insurer-reinsurer relationship. The concept is alive and well in many jurisdictions (such as the USA and UK) and continues to evolve to this day. In South Africa, the notion of utmost good faith was rejected …. »
Despite ever more evidence of global warming and an increase in natural disasters over the last 18 months, the global insurance outlook remains unexpectedly soft. This trend is counter-intuitive as, given the recent rash of natural disasters, one would expect the market to be hardening. Yet when one looks at the scale of loss that …. »
Swiss Re, at its Nordic Risk & Insurance Summit (NORIS™) conference warned that the economic environment in the wake of the financial crisis is still very challenging and turbulent. The industry is moving from coping and survival to fixing profitability, product development, risk management and maximising capital efficiency. Many life companies still have a heavy …. »
Managing risk lies at the heart of what reinsurers do. In recent decades, the scope of risk management has widened significantly. It is no longer confined to traditional underwriting risk, but also encompasses risks to a company’s investments, its capital base and liquidity positions. While it might look like reinsurers take a bet on whether …. »
COVER interviewed Dr Ludger Arnoldussen, Member of the Board of Management, Munich Re, on his presentation to the AIO Conference in Zimbabwe in May. COVER: Is there serious focus on renewable energy globally and has big business bought in yet? Dr Arnoldussen: Renewable energies are globally gaining in significance. To give just one example: in …. »
2011 is turning out to be the worst year in history as far as natural disasters are concerned. There will definitely be a negative effect on the insurance industry. What that will be is still unknown, but time will tell. We asked a few people from the industry to provide us with their comments. Mike …. »
Swiss Re chief economist, Thomas Hess, says that growth in the (re)insurance industry will continue to accelerate in 2011 and stresses that (re)insurance companies can gain a competitive edge through disciplined underwriting. Looking back at 2010, most insurance companies have restored their capital to pre-crisis levels. This favourable development applies to life and non-life insurers …. »
General Results from an African Reinsurance perspective over the past three years have been mixed with large market losses, evidenced in the South African mining sector and the beverage industry in Nigeria. Coupled with these unfortunate losses, the global financial crisis had a worse than expected effect on the African economy as the world recession …. »
Become a subscriber and reap the benefits of relevant, thought provoking articles. No hype, No Speculation, Just the facts! Subscribe Now!