Articles by Aaron Kirchfeld, Ambereen Choudhury and Sarah Jones

Swiss Re and UK’s Legal & General Weigh Bids for Deutsche Bank’s Abbey Life

Swiss Re AG and Britain’s Legal & General Group Plc are among firms considering bids for Deutsche Bank AG’s insurance business Abbey Life Assurance Co., according to people with knowledge of their plans. Deutsche Bank is seeking bids by the …

Aegon to Sell $8.5B of U.K. Annuity Portfolio to Rothesay Life, to Free Up Capital

Aegon NV, the Dutch owner of U.S. insurer Transamerica Corp., agreed to sell two-thirds of its U.K. annuity portfolio to Rothesay Life Ltd., helping to boost capital buffers under new regulations. Aegon will initially reinsure 6 billion pounds ($8.5 billion) …

Lloyd’s Profit Drops 30% in 2015 on Weak Prices and Lower Investment Income

Lloyd’s of London reported a 30 percent drop of full-year profit as the world’s largest insurance market was hurt by continued pressure on pricing and the lowest investment returns since at least 2001. Earnings declined to 2.1 billion pounds ($3 …

Chinese Industrial Firms Will Lead Insurance M&A in 2016, to Grow Beyond Asia

China’s biggest industrial companies want to buy insurers in 2016 as they seek to grow outside Asia as the domestic economy slows and falling insurance rates prompt more firms to do deals, according to Willis Towers Watson Plc. “We’ve been …

Beazley’s ROE of 19% Will Be ‘Difficult’ to Sustain in Current Market: CEO Horton

Beazley Plc Chief Executive Officer Andrew Horton said the company’s return on equity of 19 percent in 2015 isn’t sustainable against a backdrop of increased competition and falling insurance rates. “Margins are bound to come under pressure,” the CEO said …

U.K. Insurance Bill for Solvency II Regulation Compliance Hits $4.5 Billion

U.K. insurers have invested at least £3 billion ($4.5 billion) to be compliant with new European Union capital rules, known as Solvency II, that come into effect next month, according to an industry lobby group. More than 400 U.K. firms …

Group of UK Insurers Win BOE Approval for Solvency II Capital Requirements

Prudential Plc, Aviva Plc and Legal & General Group Plc are among large U.K. insurers to win Bank of England approval of the models they use to calculate capital requirements under the European Union law known as Solvency II. The …

Dutch Insurer NN Eyes Growth Through Acquisitions

NN Group NV, the Dutch insurer and asset manager spun out of ING Groep NV, is ready to expand and will consider acquisitions amid speculation that it could seek to acquire Delta Lloyd NV. Delta Lloyd’s shares soared. “If we …

Zurich Insurance Plans to Exit P&C Business in Middle East After Strategic Review

Zurich Insurance Group Plc said it will stop writing general insurance business in the Middle East at the end of month because of the “limited potential” for profitable growth. The decision to exit general insurance in the region follows a …

Tianjin Port Explosions to Cost Industry at Least $2 Billion: Insurer Filings

Insurer Talanx AG’s $122 million loss from port explosions at Tianjin, one of China’s worst industrial disasters, takes the net hit incurred by insurers across Europe, the U.S., Bermuda and Asia to almost $2 billion, according to filings by 26 …