InsuranceERM published more than 1,300 news items and 100 features during 2019. Statistics from our website show these were the most popular stories for the year…
Ransomware scenario envisages $193bn loss
This story from January 2019 covered the launch of a cyber loss scenario developed by the Cyber Risk Management (CyRiM) coalition, led by Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University’s Insurance Risk and Finance Research Centre.
Insurers’ hunger to understand the potential losses from cyber risks probably accounts for the popularity of this story – along with the huge figure in the headline.
Insurers rank their most dangerous risks for 2019
Enterprise risk management experts Dave Ingram and Mark Mennemeyer put together this February 2019 article based on a poll of 186 insurance executives asking which risks they expected to be “most dangerous” in the coming year.
The top three were:
- Strategic direction & opportunities missed: Few respondents felt confident with their own - or their management's - ability to make all the right choices for their companies' future directions.
- Cybersecurity & cybercrime: Cyber remained a major risk, though not the top risk, perhaps reflecting the growing availability of internal skills and external insurance options.
- Pricing & product line profit: Despite a year where natural catastrophe losses were fairly benign, insurance executives were still concerned about making profits.
German life insurers relish €4.5bn-plus saving on ZZR contributions
German regulators created the interest rate reserve (Zinszusatzreserve or ZZR) in 2011, to "create a cushion for the time when capital returns alone are not enough to finance the rate guarantees on life policies from times of markedly higher interest rates".
As interest rates slumped, the ZZR grew to a collective €65bn. But the rate of addition to the reserve slowed somewhat following a revision to the methodology. In this May 2019 article, David Walker analysed the solvency and financial condition reports of German life insurers to understand their ZZR contributions for 2017 and 2018.
Eiopa proposes extensive reforms for Solvency II 2020 review
The eagerly awaited guidance from the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority on reforms to Solvency II was always going to be a well-read story on InsuranceERM.
Published on 15 October 2019, Christopher Cundy summed up the lengthy document that contained some pleasant and not-so pleasant surprises for the industry.
InsureTech Connect: What happens in Vegas?
In September, InsuranceERM’s New York-based editor Sarfraz Thind travelled west to the world’s biggest insurtech jamboree in Las Vegas. He found the insurance and technology party remained in full swing, despite the slow pace of adoption in the industry.
Karel Van Hulle: “I want the objectives of Solvency II to be remembered” / Solvency II's biggest unintended consequences
A two-part interview with Karel Van Hulle, the “godfather of Solvency II”, to coincide with the publication of his book about the EU regulation.
Karel revealed his views on how Solvency II had been implemented in the EU, the benefits it had brought, and what could be improved.
Centene and WellCare in $15bn US health insurer tie-up
The March 2019 announcement of Centene buying WellCare Health for more than $15bn was one of the larger M&A deals of the year, and marked an important alliance for two firms focusing on government-sponsored healthcare programmes.
The group will have 22m members across all 50 US states, but the complexity of the regulatory clearances required meant the deal is only expected to close in the first half of 2020.
ICS 2.0: comparability is the hot topic at IAIS Abu Dhabi meeting
The development of an international Insurance Capital Standard (ICS) has been a fraught affair. Earlier in the year, InsuranceERM had reported on the US animosity towards the ICS’s market-adjusted valuation approach.
By November, ahead of the crucial meeting of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors, a compromise plan was beginning to form, as Paul Walsh reported here.
Solvency II, IFRS 17, local GAAP, Basel IV... where is the consistency?
This article by Allianz’s chief financial officer Giulio Terzariol, leading German analyst Carsten Zielke and consultant Serge Moulin set out the industry’s concerns at the proliferation of inconsistent rules by which they are required to manage their businesses.
Its exhortation for a closer alignment between IFRS and Solvency II obviously struck a chord with readers.
A capital management toolkit for life re/insurers
This March 2019 article by Paul Fulcher and Luca Tres proposed 10 strategies for European life re/insurers to help them manage their capital in a Solvency II world. The paper described how the entry of private equity houses, hedge funds and insurtech firms into the life insurance markets should encourage a change of mindset in what has been a very traditional industry.