Jose Ribeiro
Jose Ribeiro, managing director, Asia-Pacific, AM Best, said other sectors expected to grow in Asia include captive insurance in multiple regions and foreign ownership of insurance companies in China.
December 14, 2018 Full Story
J. Patrick Gallagher
The tight job market is making it harder to recruit and fill positions at Arthur J. Gallagher today than just 18 months earlier, J. Patrick Gallagher, chairman, president and CEO, said during an investor conference.
December 14, 2018 Full Story
Insurance companies operating in Panama’s insurance market have demonstrated sound capitalization levels, profitable underwriting practices and evolving risk management profiles, and these factors are supporting AM Best’s stable market segment outlook on the industry.
December 14, 2018 Full Story
Agent/Broker
Broker Network Names New Chief Executive Officer
Broker Network Ltd. has appointed Des O’Connor the next chief executive officer as the U.K. insurance brokerage group also announced the departure of Andy Fairchild as CEO after four-and-a-half years leading the network.
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Former Equine Insurance Agent Pleads Guilty in $1.3 Million Fraud Scheme
An ex-insurance agent who specialized in selling insurance coverage to horse owners pleaded guilty to fraud charges in connection with a $1.3 million scheme which bilked clients, insurers and finance companies, prosecutors said.
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Asia/Pacific
Tim Grafton
Commercial Coverage
Philipp Cremer
Cyber Insurance
Andrew Maher
Europe
Lard Friese
Health
California, New York Approve Cigna’s $67 Billion Acquisition of Express Scripts
Insurance regulators in California and New York have approved the proposed $67 billion acquisition of Express Scripts by Cigna Corp. after the companies agreed to certain conditions to ensure the stability of each state’s health insurance markets.
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Personal Lines
Citizens Board Adopts 8.2% Personal Lines Insurance Hike for 2019
The Citizens Property Insurance Corp. board approved a proposed average statewide 8.2% personal lines rate increase for next year, driven by escalating nonweather water losses in South Florida. It still needs approval from the state Office of Insurance Regulation.
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Ratings
AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Agrinational Insurance Company and Its Subsidiaries
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) of “a-” of Agrinational Insurance Company (Burlington, VT) and its wholly owned subsidiaries (collectively referred to as ADM Insurance Group). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.
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AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Argus Group Holdings Limited and Its Subsidiaries
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) of “a-” of Argus Insurance Company Limited (Argus Insurance) and Bermuda Life Insurance Company Limited (Bermuda Life). Both companies are subsidiaries of Argus Group Holdings Limited (Argus Group) [BSE: AGH.BH]. Concurrently, AM Best has affirmed the Long-Term ICR of Argus Group of “bbb-”. The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. All companies are domiciled in Hamilton, Bermuda.
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AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of East Africa Reinsurance Company Limited
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B (Fair) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “bb+” of East Africa Reinsurance Company Limited (EARe) (Kenya). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) remains stable.
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AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of El Águila, Compañía de Seguros, S.A. de C.V.
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A- (Excellent), the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) of “a-”, and the Mexico National Scale Rating of “aaa.MX” of El Águila, Compañía de Seguros, S.A. de C.V. (El Aguila) (Mexico City, Mexico). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.
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AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Humboldt Re Limited
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” of Humboldt Re Limited (Humboldt Re) (Guernsey). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) remains stable.
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AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Kelvin Re Limited
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” of Kelvin Re Limited (Kelvin Re) (Guernsey). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) remains stable.
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AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Misr Insurance Company
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “bbb” of Misr Insurance Company (MIC) (Egypt). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. MIC and Misr Life Insurance Company are directly owned by Misr Insurance Holding Company, and form part of the consolidated Misr Group.
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AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Misr Life Insurance Company
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “bbb” of Misr Life Insurance Company (MLIC) (Egypt). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. MLIC and Misr Insurance Company are directly owned by Misr Insurance Holding Company, and form part of the consolidated Misr Group.
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AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Pacífico Compañía de Seguros y Reaseguros S.A.
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” of Pacífico Compañía de Seguros y Reaseguros S.A. (PCS) (Lima, Perú). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) remains stable.
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AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Sun Life Financial Inc. and Certain Subsidiaries
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A+ (Superior) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) of “aa-” of Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (Sun Life) (Ontario, Canada) and Sun Life and Health Insurance Company (U.S.) (SLHIC) (Lansing, MI) – the core insurance subsidiaries of Sun Life Financial Inc. (SLF) (Ontario, Canada) [NYSE: SLF] (collectively referred to as Sun Life Group). Concurrently, AM Best has affirmed the Long-Term ICR of “a-” and existing Long-Term Issue Credit Ratings (Long-Term IR) of SLF.
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AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of ZEP-RE (PTA Reinsurance Company)
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “bbb” of ZEP-RE (PTA Reinsurance Company) (ZEP-RE) (Kenya). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) remains stable.
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AM Best Downgrades Issuer Credit Rating of Wapic Insurance Plc
AM Best has downgraded the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating to “b” from “b+” and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of C++ (Marginal) of Wapic Insurance Plc (Wapic) (Nigeria), the operating holding company of the Wapic group of companies. The outlooks of these Credit Ratings (ratings) have been revised to negative from stable.
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AM Best Removes From Under Review With Developing Implications and Affirms Credit Ratings of Sovereign Assurance Company Limited
AM Best has removed from under review with developing implications and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A+ (Superior) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “aa-” of Sovereign Assurance Company Limited (Sovereign) (New Zealand). The outlook assigned to these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.
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AM Best Removes From Under Review With Developing Implications, Affirms Credit Ratings of Lincoln Benefit Life Company
AM Best has removed from under review with developing implications and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” of Lincoln Benefit Life Company (Lincoln Benefit) (Lincoln, NE). The outlook assigned to these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.
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AM Best Removes from Under Review With Negative Implications and Affirms Credit Ratings for Halyk-Kazakhinstrakh
AM Best has removed from under review with negative implications and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “bbb” of Halyk-Kazakhinstrakh, Insurance Subsidiary Company of Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan, JSC (Kazakhinstrakh) (Kazakhstan). Kazakhinstrakh is a wholly owned subsidiary of JSC Halyk Bank (Halyk Bank), a leading retail bank in Kazakhstan. The outlook assigned to these Credit Ratings (ratings) is negative.
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AM Best Revises Outlooks to Stable for Texas Farm Bureau Casualty Group Members, Affirms Credit Ratings of Affiliates
AM Best has revised the outlooks to stable from negative and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) of “a” of Texas Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company and Farm Bureau County Mutual Insurance Company of Texas. These two companies comprise the Texas Farm Bureau Casualty Group (the Group).
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AM Best Upgrades Issuer Credit Rating of Custodian and Allied Insurance Limited
AM Best has upgraded the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) to “bb+” from “bb” and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of B (Fair) of Custodian and Allied Insurance Limited (CAI) (Nigeria). The outlook of the Long-Term ICR has been revised to stable from positive while the FSR outlook remains stable. CAI is the wholly owned non-life subsidiary of Custodian Investment Plc.
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AM Best Upgrades Issuer Credit Rating of MAPFRE Fianzas, S.A.
AM Best has upgraded the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating to “a+” from “a” and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Mexico National Scale Rating of “aaa.MX” to MAPFRE Fianzas, S.A. (MF) (Mexico City, Mexico). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) remains stable.
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AM Best Upgrades Issuer Credit Rating of MAPFRE MÉXICO, S.A.
AM Best has upgraded the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating to “a+” from “a” and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Mexico National Scale Rating of “aaa.MX” to MAPFRE MÉXICO, S.A. (MM) (Mexico City, Mexico). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) remains stable.
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Regulation
DFS Levies $2.5 Million in Fines against Aetna, Oscar for Violations of Insurance Law
The New York Department of Financial Services levied a total of $2.5 million in fines against Aetna Inc. and Oscar Insurance Co. for violations of state insurance laws. The companies also signed consent orders promising to fix problems identified by DFS.
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Announcements
BestWeek: Why AM Best Changed Its Outlook For the Global Reinsurance Sector
A panel of AM Best analysts examined the current state of the global reinsurance market, including the impact of mergers and acquisitions, technology and how relationships are changing between reinsurers and primary insurers, according to the latest issue of BestWeek.
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