Spain News

PartnerRe Gives Loss Estimates for Chile Quake, Windstorm Xynthia

Bermuda-based PartnerRe Ltd has issued preliminary estimates of expected claims from the earthquake in Chile and European Windstorm Xynthia. Total insured industry losses from the M8.8 earthquake in Chile, which hit on February 27, 2010, “will be in the range …

A ‘Great Earthquake’ Strikes Chile; Insurance Doesn’t Pose Systemic Risks to the Economy; Berkshire Buys More Munich Re

February was a short month, but a deadly one. In addition to a massive earthquake in Chile, the Northeastern U.S. was hit by three blizzards; floods and mudslides ravaged the Portuguese island of Madeira and beleaguered Haiti, and a violent …

AIR Estimates Windstorm Xynthia Insured Losses at $2 to $4.1 Billion

Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide has estimated that insured losses in France, Belgium, Germany, and Netherlands from winter storm Xynthia will be between €1.5 billion and €3 billion [$2 to $4.1 billion]. The storm struck the Atlantic coast of …

Windstorm Xynthia Leaves a Trail of Destruction; RMS Analysis

Windstorm Xynthia, which swept across Western Europe on Saturday and Sunday, [See IJ web site – https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2010/03/01/107736.htm] left a lot of damage in its wake. The storm was responsible for 59 deaths in France, with a number of people still …

Caribbean Cat Facility Teams with UN Commission for Nat Cat Strategies

The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC) announced that they will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) formalizing “a partnership to facilitate capacity building and to develop …

A Recurrence of Recalls; ‘PIGS’ in a Poke; Lloyd’s Powers on; Haiti Now Faces Floods and Hurricanes

First Toyota, then Honda – who’s next? 2010 is not starting out as a good year for car companies. Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. was already in the process of recalling approximately 8 million vehicles, due to problems with the accelerator …

Zurich Transfers More General Insurance Business to Irish Subsidiary

Zurich Financial Services Group has announced the transfer of the “vast majority of its general insurance portfolios in Italy, Portugal and Spain to local branches of its EU-based risk carrier Zurich Insurance plc, Ireland, (ZIP) effective January 1, 2010.” Zurich …

Most Property Reinsurance Rates Down at January Renewal As Capital Rebounds

Reinsurance rates across most lines of property catastrophe business declined at the Jan. 1, 2010 renewal, according to a briefing by Guy Carpenter & Co., LLC. Guy Carpenter’s World Catastrophe Rate on Line (ROL) Index declined by six percent at …

Munich Re Analyzes 2009 Nat Cats; A Lot, But Few Big Ones

A report from Munich Re confirms that losses from natural catastrophes “were far lower in 2009 than in 2008 due to the absence on the whole of major catastrophes and a very benign North Atlantic hurricane season.” However, the reinsurer …

2009 P/C Insurance Mergers, Acquisitions Large and Small

Large insurers AIG, Farmers and The Hartford made moves in 2009, as did large brokers Marsh, Aon, Willis, Gallagher, Brown & Brown, Hub and Wells Fargo. So, too, did, many regional insurers and Main Street agencies. Here are the headlines …