S&PGlobal Market Intelligence offers our top picks of insurance news stories andmore published throughout the week.
Swiss Relooking for investors in Admin Re
* Swiss ReLtd. reportedly held preliminary discussions with pension funds and sovereignwealth funds over a potential sale of a £1 billion stake in its unit. Swiss Recould use the funds generated from the possible sale of a minority stake tofacilitate additional acquisitions.
Inkeddeals
* DARAG DeutscheVersicherungs-und Rückversicherungs-AG agreed to from unit for anundisclosed consideration. ERGO Assicurazioni will be renamed DARAG Italia SpA,following receipt of regulatory approval, and will be a platform for thecompany's activities in Southern Europe.
* NN GroupNV agreed to sell Netherlands-based independent insurance broker andrisk adviser Mandema & Partners to Van Lanschot Chabot. The deal isexpected to be completed in the fourth quarter.
* ASR NederlandNV agreed to acquire Corins, an underwriting agency operating in theDutch co-insurance market, for an undisclosed amount.
Industrypains
* Issuance of insurance-linked securities on a yearly basis to $1.37billion in the second quarter from nearly $3.00 billion, according toMunich Re'sinsurance-linked securities market update. This is the first time since 2011that ILS issuance fell below $2 billion.
* Natural disasters caused global economic of $98 billion and global insuredlosses of $30 billion during the first half, making it the costliest first halfsince 2011, according to Aon Benfield's Impact Forecasting.
Brexitvote aftermath
* Following the Brexit vote, RSA Insurance Group Plc plans to change 's statusfrom a separately capitalized and regulated subsidiary in Ireland to a branchoperation of the British insurer. RSA was scheduled to go before Ireland's HighCourt on July 5 to seek permission to transfer its Irish unit's activities toU.K.-based Royal & Sun AllianceInsurance Plc. Meanwhile, Aviva Plc Group CEO Mark Wilson said the insurer willlook into whether it needs to reverse its branch structure in Ireland.
* CEO Andrew Horton said Beazley Plc is working on obtaining European insurancelicenses for its reinsurance company in Dublin to be able to operate across theEU in case Lloyd's ofLondon loses access to the bloc due to the Brexit vote, Reuters reported.
* Analysts at J.P. Morgan said insurers and reinsurers at Lloyd'sare not very much worried of the Brexit hit on the insurance marketplace in thenear-term, Artemis wrote.Although uncertainty surrounds the U.K.'s passporting arrangements with the EU,J.P. Morgan believes that Lloyd's would not have a hard time creating newarrangements with the bloc's remaining member nations.
In othernews
* The Central Bank of Ireland fined NewIreland Assurance Co. Plc €650,000 and reprimanded it over breachesrelated to the provision of information to consumers regarding their investmentproducts and systems. The central bank said the insurance firm admitted to thebreaches as part of a settlement agreement.
* CJSC UralsibInsurance Group is studying options to its compulsory motorinsurance operations, including giving up its license for this type ofbusiness. The insurer is also considering a transfer or sale of part or theentire motor insurance portfolio, as well as branch closures.
* Legal & GeneralGroup Plc and the ICI Pension Fund a £750 million pension risktransfer deal. The insurer has executed bulk and individual annuity business of£4.5 billion year-to-date, compared to full-year 2015 annuity sales of £2.7billion.
* Willis Towers WatsonPlc namedKemp Ross global head of delegated investment solutions in the company'sinvestments business. Ross joins Willis from Aon Hewitt, where he was mostrecently senior partner, head of solutions and operations for investment.
* StorebrandASA said it will end its relationship with Moody's as part of acost-reduction program. The company will continue to work with S&P GlobalRatings.
Featuredthis week on S&P Global Market Intelligence:
Allianz CFO: Up to€3B available for acquisitions, but only until year-end: DieterWemmer also told the Börsen-Zeitungthat the German insurer's Latin American units are struggling and that themarkets have exaggerated Brexit fears.
Passing legalmilestone, SCOR is well-placed to pick up French state biz: SCOR isa big step closer to grabbing business worth hundreds of millions of euros inpremiums after a tribunal ruled that the French natural catastrophe reinsurancemarket should be opened up to competition.
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