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Recently, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) confirmed that insured losses from 3,123 claims resulting from Victoria’s devastating bushfires have exceeded $200 million, after the major event was upgraded to an insured catastrophe. This claim number includes property, auto, commercial and business interruption claims, of which 30% is property claims estimated as total losses. Bushfires…
Moody’s Ratings said California wildfire losses early last year failed to provide sufficient support for the latest January 1, 2026 renewals, while a mild Atlantic hurricane season in 2025 also resulted in real estate disaster prices being “slightly lower” than expected. Globally, insured losses from natural catastrophes will once again exceed $100 billion in 2025,…
As part of the new strategy, VIG Re has strengthened its client-facing senior leadership team with the appointment of Marc Haushofer as Managing Director, Asia Pacific and Joachim Mathe as Head of Special Markets. Under the VIGRe28 initiative, the company has launched a new customer service model that, as Tobias Sonndorfer, CFA, Chairman and CEO,…
Roosevelt Road Specialty, a specialty insurance platform and managed general underwriter of Roosevelt Road Capital Partners serving construction, residential real estate, sports, entertainment and other complex risk areas, announced the appointment of James Wrynn as global chief compliance officer. Wrynn will serve in an enterprise-wide role and will be responsible for overseeing global compliance initiatives,…
As previously reported, global insurance and reinsurance brokerage group WTW has completed the acquisition of San Francisco-based Newfront, a top 40 U.S. broker that combines deep expertise with cutting-edge technology, with upfront and contingent consideration payments of $1.3 billion. The acquisition expands WTW’s capabilities in the U.S. mid-market and strengthens its position in “high-growth” industries…
Insurance technology provider Vertafore has introduced new artificial intelligence capabilities in Surefyre, allowing program administrators to automatically convert PDF submission forms into web applications. Surefyre, acquired by Vertafore in 2024, is a low-code agent portal and underwriting workbench platform designed to empower managing general agents (MGAs) and wholesalers. Vertafore’s latest AI-powered features are designed to…
Grace Emson has joined WTW-owned insurance broker Willis as a senior agent in the International Property Facultative’s UK team. The executive has nearly 15 years of industry experience and has deep expertise in international real estate markets, client services and negotiations. Emson’s new role will report to Patrick Green, UK head of international adjuncts, and…
William Robert Berkley, president, CEO and director of WR Berkley Corporation, said he is seeing early signs that competitiveness in the property catastrophe reinsurance market is spreading to casualty insurance, as players strive to meet premium targets on the property side and therefore lean toward casualty insurance for revenue generation. Speaking on WR Berkley Corporation’s…
HIVE Underwriters, an independent specialist managing general agent (MGA), has expanded into specialist marine insurance with the appointment of Nick Lewis as Chief Underwriting Officer (CUO), Marine Insurance, effective July 2026. The launch of Marine marks the next stage in HIVE’s development as a multi-line specialist MGA. Under Lewis’ leadership, HIVE will develop a diverse…
Mantas, a provider of parametric cyber insurance and predictive analytics designed to help enterprises mitigate the risk of cloud outage, is launching parametric-based insurance solutions to cover the operational and financial impact of cloud outages and digital risks. To this end, the company has received a total of $1.77 million in funding from Nuwa Capital,…