Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary buys UK insurance units
A subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway is to acquire two insurance units of UK based Charles Taylor PLC. Tenecom Ltd, part of Berkshire, will acquire Cardrow Insurance and Beech Hill Insurance according to Nasdaq.com; no financial details have been revealed. Charles Taylor has been planning to dispose of its non-life insurance assets and focus on making acquisitions in the life insurance sector which its CEO David Marock says “offer attractive opportunities and generate cash releases for the group.”
Risk landscape changing faster than ever before says Munich Re
Global reinsurer Munich Re says that the risk landscape for insurance companies and their clients is changing faster than ever before. It says that working with partners and clients to identify insurance solutions is key for the industry and produces good results. The company says that technology is providing challenges and opportunities and the insurance sector needs to keep up with changes in order to benefit.
Among the growth areas in the digital world are driverless cars and cyber-risk and Ludger Arnoldussen from Munich Re says the environment is fast-changing and demands swift reponses: "The demand for insurance solutions to combat cyber risks will increase rapidly. It will be necessary to consider quite diverse client profiles, ideally by way of modular product systems." Arnoldussen is urging insurers to be proactive on assessing risks and having products in place to meet new risk profiles.
Aussie insurer pulls back from China
Four months ago Australia’s largest general insurer IAG announced a push into China despite the concerns of some of its major investors. Now the company has scrapped the plan for more investment in the country according to Reuters. It reports that the move, although unusual in the way it has happened, is following a trend from international insurers which have found the market high risk for low returns. Canada’s Sun Life is one major name that has scaled back its Chinese exposure while New York Life quit China completely in 2011.
Zurich cuts 500 insurance jobs
Global insurer Zurich is cutting 500 jobs from its 5,500 workforce. It’s understood that all of the jobs are in the firm’s German unit. The firm suffered large losses in China earlier this year and was forced to pull out of a deal to buy RSA.
