Willis Group claims captive insurance companies could be key to future of insurance industry resiliency

The global insurance industry is undergoing extreme change. The change is brought on by the rapidly evolving risks that the industry is facing. As risk changes, insurers are feeling pressure to become more adaptive and resilient against emerging threats. The Willis Groups, one of the world’s largest insurance brokers, believes that captive insurance companies could be the key to weathering the storms of the future. Joe Plumeri, CEO of the Willis Group, attending this year’s World Captive Forum in Miami, Florida, highlighted the usefulness of captives to insurers around the…

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“SLICE” Pizza parlor insurance now available to restaurant owners

There is a growing trend of specialized insurance and it has now added another branch to its offerings, with a new type of policy – which has been called SLICE – that has been created to provide coverage to pizza parlor owners. The EPIC Programs Group, an insurance brokerage based in California, has announced that the “Safety, Loss, Control, Insurance, Coverage, Expertise” program they offer will now be speaking specifically to the liabilities faced by the owners of pizza parlors who have drivers that make deliveries. The program is already…

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Reinsurance company reports market strength despite major disasters

Willis Re, the reinsurance division of Willis Group Holdings (NYSE: WSH), has released their stimulating report “Shaken and Stirring”. Stirring is an understatement. The report shows that with the devastation in Japan, New Zealand, Chile and the Australian floods is still not enough to bring a hard market into play. The report finds that there has been rate increases on Natural Catastrophe Excess of Loss of between 5 and 50 %, but the recent massive earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand’s South Island are not significant to push market-wide pricing up.…

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Insurance giant reports a surprise in earnings

The world’s second largest insurance company, Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc., has defied predictions by analysts and reported strong fourth quarter earnings. The insurer is also declaring earnings growth in 2011 driven by a recovering economy. The growth is estimated to affect all segments of the insurer. Last year, MMC completed a deal to acquire the HSBC Insurance Brokers unit. The deal had an impact on the company’s earnings as they took restructuring charges to the acquisition. MMC expects to continue to acquire smaller regional insurance brokerages in the future…

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