Standard & Poor’s (S&P)
Four biggest challenges facing insurers in 2026 revealed
Insurance Post reveals the four main challenges general insurers face in 2026 and the solutions experts from EY, the International Underwriting Association, AM Best, Moody’s, S&P, KPMG, Pathlight Associates and Sicsic Advisory say will matter most in the year ahead.
Big Interview: Xavier Laurent, CEO of Covéa Insurance
In his first major UK interview, freshly appointed CEO of Covéa Insurance Xavier Laurent shares how he will keep the provider on the course set by his predecessor Georges de Macedo, and explains why he won't chase growth for growth’s sake.
Penny Black’s Social Diary: Meshed’s cut-out; S&P’s sliders
Penny Black is back, sharing the tittle-tattle she overheard at insurance industry events, reviewing the quality of buffets at conferences and giving a thumbs up – or down – to the sector’s social media posts.
Reinsurance outlook ranges from ‘stable’ to ‘deteriorating’
Rating agencies have shared their outlook for the global reinsurance sector, with both Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Ratings revising down their outlooks for 2026, while S&P Global Ratings has maintained its ‘stable’ outlook.
Hurricane Milton insured losses to run into the tens of billions
The insurance industry is likely to suffer losses of tens of billions of dollars from damage inflicted by Hurricane Milton last week, according to early estimates.
Reinsurers told they cannot ‘run from risk’
Reinsurers have been urged by Aon to “lean into risk” to protect the relevance of the broader insurance industry.
Insurance M&A activity slows in second half of 2022
Insurance merger and acquisition deal activity slowed significantly in 2022, hitting the lowest volume since 2019, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis.
Cost of dated technology preventing rate changes revealed
The majority of insurers are at risk of prolonged financial losses due to the time taken to implement a significant rate change to their systems, according to research by Earnix.
Reinsurers to continue to pay Russian claims, exposure limited: S&P
S&P Global Ratings expects global reinsurers will continue to pay claims arising in Russia, but said their exposure to the adverse effects of sanctions was limited.
Intelligence: Hardening continues with reinsurance renewals
January’s renewals saw reinsurers playing hardball not only in their pricing, but also in the structures of their clients’ reinsurance programmes. Post explains why the hardening market is not driven by a lack of capital, but by renewed underwriting…
Intelligence: CSR is dead, long live ESG
Although environmental, social, and governance issues have been mentioned as far back as 2006 by the United Nations with other sectors seeing it incorporated into their financial evaluations, insurance is only recently picking up the buzzword. Post…
Fewer lead underwriters in London market 'an inevitability', says Hiscox's Lawrence
The pool of lead underwriters in the London market shrinking over the next decade is an “inevitability”, Hiscox London Market chief underwriting officer Paul Lawrence has said.
Analysis: Deconstructing Aviva
With a new group CEO in role, Aviva has made serious strides in offloading its overseas operations. What inspired these moves and what does this mean for its core operations in the UK, Ireland and Canada?
Analysis: Innovating in insurance-linked securities
Where other investment markets have struggled during the global pandemic insurance-linked securities have weathered the storm well. Post finds out how London’s young regime is fitting into the existing global markets and whether there is still innovation…
Big three ratings agencies united in negative outlook for global reinsurers
Moody’s has revised its outlook for the global reinsurance sector to negative, citing weakened profitability in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, bringing it into line with other ratings agencies.
Ratings agencies assessing coronavirus impact on insurers' balance sheets
Ratings agencies have moved to assess the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on insurers. Among them is AM Best, which is developing stress tests that will assess the impact on insurance companies’ balance sheets.
Analysis: Reinsurance rates - breaking the cycle
Reinsurance rates have started to rise after a series of natural disasters in 2017 and 2018, but the increases are not being seen across the board.
European reinsurers well-placed to absorb cat losses and take advantage of continued price increases: Fitch
The big four European reinsurers are well capitalised to absorb catastrophe losses and build on pricing increases that are expected to continue into next year, Fitch Ratings has said.
Blog: M&A transactions - driving sustainable value creation
Rory O’Brien, senior managing director with FTI Consulting in London, and Ian Duncan, managing director with FTI Consulting in Dublin explain how insurers can achieve increased value from M&A transactions by focusing on the key enablers and drivers of…
Analysis: How insurers are preventing the Brexit brain drain
Insurers are coming up with ways to get round obstacles to doing business in Europe after Brexit
Marine mutuals The Strike Club and The Standard Club to merge
Marine delay insurer, The Strike Club, has announced plans to merge with fellow mutual marine insurer The Standard Club group.