Κατηγορία: WORLD INSURANCE

Travel insurance is an important consideration for any trip, and an increasing number of popular destinations in Europe, Asia, North and South America are now requiring that visitors provide proof of travel insurance before being admitted into their country.

Of the countries that now require travel insurance, 26 of them are located in the Schengen area. These include: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Experts predict this trend will continue as more and more countries seek to ease the burden of unpaid medical bills left by tourists. Countries can incur these costly unpaid medical expenses via travelers who either take advantage of their free healthcare or who simply leave without paying the bill.

A lot of insurance companies suggestpeople should be sure to purchase their travel insurance in advance because somes countries will not require proof of travel insurance before granting a visa, upon arrival, however, they will require the purchase of insurance through a local provider.

National Bank of Greece has received one binding offer from Chinese group Gongbao for a majority stake in its insurance subsidiary, the lender said on Friday.

Greece’s second-largest lender by assets had put its National Insurance business up for sale as part of an EU-approved restructuring plan to focus on core banking operations.

A deal to sell the insurance business to U.S. and Dutch investors fell through in March.

U.S. fund manager Calamos Investments and EXIN Partners had agreed to acquire 75 percent of NBG’s insurance arm for 718 million euros (£630 million), but the deal turned sour after a legal row between the two buyers.

“The main objective of National Bank is for the sale procedure to be in full compliance with the terms of the EU restructuring plan,” NBG said in a statement.

The bank did not provide further details on the price offered by Shanghai-based investment company Gongbao.

Given the significant role of National Insurance in the country’s financial system, NBG said it would look at all “optimal solutions”, including an international tender to divest the business.

China has been investing in Greece in recent years. Its biggest shipping company, COSCO Shipping, bought a majority stake in Piraeus Port Authority (OLPr.AT) under a plan to turn Greece into a transhipment hub for rapidly growing trade between Asia and Europe.

Amazon appears to be restarting its funding efforts in India after Acko, the digital insurance startup in India, confirmed that the U.S. retail giant led a new round of funding for its business.

Amazon – which has been linked with an Acko investment since the start of this year – backed lending startup Capital Float last month, and now it has led a $12 million funding round for Acko alongside Ashish Dhawan, the founder of PE firm ChrysCapital, and existing backer Catamaran Ventures. The deal takes Acko to $42 million raised to date.

Acko was founded in late 2016 by Varun Dua, one of the co-founders of insurance comparison site Coverfox. With Acko, Dua is taking a deeper step into insurance with a digital-only business aimed at disrupting the $10 billion industry in India by leveraging the growth of internet access in India to democratize coverage and develop more relevant products.

The company got off to a good start when investors pumped $30 million into it last year, before it had even acquired a license to offer insurance. (That came in September.) Fast-forward 12 months to today, and Acko has covered the traditional space of automobile insurance policies, and a newer category ‘internet economy’ since January. It’s that latter focus that appeals to Amazon via this deal, which Dua told TechCrunch came about after Acko began talking to Amazon as a potential insurance partner.

Acko has gone after big name partnerships in its pursuit of internet economy deals, which Dua said primarily consists of e-commerce, ride-hailing and travel site-focused products. In April, Acko launched passenger insurance for Uber-rival Ola’s ride-hailing service, which covers riders for obvious items like minor accidents, and eventualities like missing a flight due to traffic delays. The insurance claim system is built into the Ola app to simplify the process for users.

“We know from user behavior experience that passengers tend to contact Ola when they have issues, so we wanted to set up a pretty seamless claims process that’s reasonable integrated,” Dua told in an interview, adding that Acko has covered more than 10 million Ola trips so far.

The company is likely to work with Amazon around e-commerce coverage – the first focus of which will be around gadget protection – although nothing is set in stone yet.

“The idea is to find some way to collaborate in the future,” Dua explained. “We’re a new age insurance company and [Amazon] believes it can create value. They see that bundling financial service or something in the lending space [may] happen [in the future] given the data and numbers of users they sit on”.

Allianz 1Q results signal good start into 2018, on track to meet targets
– Internal revenues grow 4.9 percent
– Operating profit down 6.0 percent or 176 million euros to 2.8 billion euros, including 142-million-euro negative currency translation effect
– Operating profit at 25 percent of full-year target-range midpoint
– Net income attributable to shareholders up 6.8 percent to 1.9 billion euros due to lower tax charge and lower restructuring charges
– Solvency II ratio at strong 225 percent at the end of 1Q 2018 versus 229 percent at end-2017

Management Summary: Strong top and bottom lines, operating result eases largely due to currency shifts
Allianz Group had a good start into 2018, posting a 6.8 percent rise in net income attributable to shareholders. Internal revenue growth, which adjusts for currency and consolidation effects, was 4.9 percent with positive contributions from all business segments. Total revenues increased 0.7 percent to 36.5 (first quarter of 2017: 36.2) billion euros. Operating profit decreased 6.0 percent or 176 million euros to 2.8 (2.9) billion euros. The main drivers for the decrease were 142 million euros currency translations and 148 million euros benefit in the prior year related to our corporate pension administration. Operating performance for the quarter is precisely at 25 percent of the Group’s full-year operating profit target, signaling that results are well on track.

Net income attributable to shareholders rose to 1.9 (1.8) billion euros, a 6.8 percent increase versus the first quarter of 2017, driven by a higher non-operating investment result, a decrease in restructuring charges and a lower effective tax rate.
Basic Earnings per Share (EPS) rose to 4.46 (4.00) euros. Annualized Return on Equity (RoE) was 13.8 percent (full year 2017: 11.8 percent). The Solvency II capitalization ratio remained a strong 225 percent at the end of the quarter compared to 229 percent recorded at the end of 2017.

On April 27, 2018, Allianz Group successfully completed the acquisition of Euler Hermes minorities and delisted Euler Hermes’ shares from Euronext Paris. This operation marked an important step in Allianz Group’s strategy to deploy capital in strategic businesses that deliver solid operating performance, and to strengthen positions in core markets and in Property and Casualty insurance in particular.

Separately, the Group completed its second share buy-back program, which was launched in early 2018, with a volume of 2.0 billion euros and 10.4 million shares in early May.

“Allianz enjoyed a good start into 2018. We had increases in both the top and the bottom lines, even if market volatility was visible at an operating level in the first quarter. This good performance puts Allianz on track to meet its 2018 yearly targets,” said Oliver Bäte, Chief Executive Officer of Allianz SE.

The introduction of the New Data Protection Act that implements the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), will be a boost for the insurance markets according to the UK’s insurance trade body.

The Data Protection Act, which received Royal Assent today, overhauls how businesses and other organisations process and handle customer data, comes into force on 25 May.

But despite the turmoil that many businesses have found by having to update the way that they collect and use customer information, the insurance industry should receive a boost from the changes as they will bring additional important data details that insurers can utilise.

The ABI points that insurers process a wide range of information, both anonymised aggregated data and some personal information, such as health data, to help assess risk, set prices and terms, and handle claims for products such as motor, health, travel and life insurance, as well as some more niche policies, such as enhanced annuities.

Insurers also need to process certain criminal conviction data, for example for motor insurance asking customers if they have any unspent motoring convictions.

Raluca Boroianu-Omura, Assistant Director, Head of Conduct Regulation, Association of British Insurers, said: “The insurance industry’s ability to process health and criminal conviction data is crucial for an effective insurance market that works in the best interests of individuals and businesses. The Act will ensure that the interests of insurance customers are protected by enabling insurers to process their data in usual way.”

Kees van der Klugt, director of legal & compliance at the Lloyd’s Market Association, said: “The GDPR raises the bar for data protection. The new Data Protection Act provisions will enhance the ability of insurers to offer a good choice of products and to assess and pay claims efficiently, whilst at the same time giving vital protection to consumers in respect of their personal data.”

The CEO and chairman of Austria’s UNIQA Insurance Group, Andreas Brandstetter, has been elected president of the European insurance and reinsurance federation (Insurance Europe) for a term of three years.

Brandstetter has headed UNIQA since 2011. He joined the composite insurer, which is active in 18 European countries, in 1997.

“I am truly honoured to be elected to represent the European insurance industry as its federation’s president,” Brandstetter said. “Our industry makes a huge contribution to society, both through the protection we offer to customers and the long-term investments we make in the economy. Society is evolving rapidly and our industry must evolve too, so this is a particularly fascinating time to be representing Europe’s insurers, both within Europe and around the world,” Brandstetter added.

Brandstetter succeeds Sergio Balbinot, member of the management board at Allianz Group, who had served the maximum two mandates as president.

York Risk Services Group (York), the leader of catastrophe and large-loss claims services and the third largest TPA nationally, has been named on Forbes’ list of America’s Best Midsize Employers for 2018. This marks the second consecutive year York has been recognized, reflecting the company’s strong focus on its core values and commitment to quality.

Forbes, in partnership with Statista.com, conducted the anonymous online survey from a sample of 30,000 American workers spanning midsize and large U.S. organizations with more than 1,000 employees. Willingness to recommend one’s own employer was given the most weight in the survey.

“York is honored to once again receive this recognition from Forbes,” said Thomas W. Warsop, III, Chairman of York. “But what we are most proud of is the vote of confidence from our employees, who live our corporate values every day.”

“It’s through their great work and dedication that we fulfill our mission of getting people and organizations back to health, work and productivity. Thanks to each and every York colleague for helping to create a company—and a workplace—that we can all be proud of”.

Hellas Direct, a next-generation insurance company, has partnered with Swiss Re, and digital banking startup Revolut to foray into the home-insurance sector of Cyprus.

The partnership will roll out an array of modern and customer-focused home-insurance products to meet the requirements of Cyprus-based policyholders.

Hellas Direct is a Cyprus-based insurance firm founded by two former Goldman Sachs executives Emilios Markou and Alexis Pantazis.

Hellas Direct said it plans to disrupt the insurance value chain by adopting an extreme focus on operational excellence.

Through its home-insurance products, Hellas Direct will offer a number of innovations into the market, such as, instant claims settlement the ability to buy insurance by the day and the payback of micro-payments on a daily basis to consumers who have not filed a claim.

Hellas Direct executive director Alexis Pantazis added: “We are thrilled to be partnering up with Swiss Re and Revolut in designing a better, cheaper, faster insurance experience for the Cyprus consumer.

“Launching a brand new, innovative offering in our homeland is of particular sentimental importance to us and is the first step in our regional expansion.”

Meanwhile, the three partner companies aim to jointly undertake R&D to launch their home insurance products into new markets while allowing them to leapfrog some of the traditional barriers of growth and expansion.

Hellas Direct is already one of the major car insurance providers in Cyprus, with more than 150,000 transactions over the last one year. It has settled more than 30,000 claims since its launch five years ago.

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has launched its fourth stress test for the European insurance sector which aims to assess insurers’ vulnerabilities.

EIOPA said 42 European insurance groups will participate in this year’s exercise, representing nearly 78 percent of the total European market coverage. EIOPA, in coordination with the national competent authorities, selected the companies according to size, European Union-wide and local market coverage as well as relevance for financial stability.

The 2018 stress scenarios encompasses a combination of market and insurance specific risks, including a natural catastrophe scenario and the exposure to cyber risk. For each stress test, EIOPA has tailored the scope and scenarios according to developments in market conditions and their potential negative implications for insurers.

EIOPA’s fourth insurance stress test aims to assess vulnerabilities of the European insurance sector to specific adverse scenarios with potential negative implications for the European financial markets and the real economy.
It intends to raise awareness of the potential threats to financial stability posed by the insurance sector at the European level and increase transparency by requesting the voluntarily disclosure of individual results by participating groups.

Gabriel Bernardino, chairman of EIOPA, said: “The scenarios reflect severe but plausible external shocks including insurance specific shocks. Furthermore, for the first time the exposure to cyber risk and best practices in dealing with these risks is assessed.

“This stress test will therefore provide further valuable insight to the resilience of the European insurance sector. The increased transparency is key to ensure a level playing field and enhance market discipline among the stress test participating groups.”

The deadline for submission of results to the national competent authorities is Aug. 16, 2018. The publication of the stress test results is expected in January 2019.

Allianz has announced plans to eliminate its exposure to coal-fired generation by 2040 as part of a wider commitment to expand its climate strategy.

The German insurance giant said that it would immediately stop insuring single coal-fired power plants as a first move in a step-by-step process to phase out its proprietary investments in coal-based businesses and its insurance coverage of such assets by the 2040 deadline.

It has also set other climate targets, including reducing the carbon footprint of its business operations, and joining the Science Based Target Initiative as a commitment to the long term development of a carbon-free economy.

Allianz is one of several insurers and large financial institutions that have committed in recent months to reducing exposure to fossil fuel-based assets.

Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali in February pledged to cut coal investments in a new climate change strategy.

“Climate change generates enormous economic and social risks. It is already harming millions of people today,” said the CEO of Allianz SE, Oliver Bäte. “As a leading insurer and investor, we want to promote the transition to a climate-friendly economy.”

“We are convinced that our approach will further improve the risk/return profile of our portfolio in the long term, and that we will strengthen our position as a forward-looking investor,” said Dr. Günther Thallinger, member of the Board of Management of Allianz SE. “As a long-term investor, we want to shape the change to a climate-friendly economy together with our clients. We will thus also strategically develop our investment opportunities in new technologies.”