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The Bondi Beach attack on 14 December was declared a terrorism event under the Terrorism and Cyclone Insurance Act 2003 (TCI Act) and a Terrorism Reinsurance Pool (TRP) was activated, with the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) declaring the attack a major event. The Treasury Secretary’s declaration activates the provisions of the Act regarding qualified…
XS Global, an independently owned managed general underwriting (MGU) platform, has expanded into the Asia Pacific region with the establishment of XS Global Asia Pacific Ltd (XSGAP) in Hong Kong, led by Steven Barnett, CEO Asia Pacific and member of the XS Global Executive Committee. Licensed in Hong Kong in July 2025 and approved as…
Credit ratings agency AM Best said South Korea’s financial authorities have relaxed regulations on discount rates, a move expected to ease solvency pressure on the country’s non-life insurance companies. Falling market interest rates, coupled with tighter rules for calculating discount rates, have created challenges for insurers’ capital adequacy. The report noted that the newly announced…
Global specialty insurer Tokio Marine Kiln (TMK) has appointed Harry Gregory as underwriter to its liability team, effective immediately. In his new role, he will report to Oliver Delaney, Head of Accountability and will be responsible for the design and implementation of accountability programs for domestic and multinational companies in the energy, power and renewables…
New data from Root Platform, the API-first core platform for empowering insurance, shows that half of managing general agents (MGAs) are at the beginning of their digital/API transformation journey. A poll of MGA senior leaders conducted at Root’s recent market briefing revealed that 50% of attendees were still in the early stages of their digital/application…
MNK International, part of the MNK Group and an independent Lloyd’s broker, announced the appointment of Naman Kumar as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Naaman brings a distinguished career characterized by transformational leadership at leading institutions in global finance, insurance and reinsurance. Prior to his new appointment, Kumar served as Group Chief Financial Officer, where he…
Global consulting, brokerage and solutions firm WTW reported that U.S. commercial insurance rates increased 3.8% in the third quarter of 2025, continuing an easing trend observed earlier this year. This follows increases of 3.8% in the second quarter of 2025 and 5.3% in the first quarter of 2025, according to WTW’s Commercial Insurance Pricing Survey…
Global reinsurer PartnerRe has announced the appointment of Mark DiTaranto as its new global head of claims. DiTaranto joins PartnerRe from AXA XL, where he spent nine years, most recently as global head of claims for reinsurance. After 11 years with XL Catlin, he joins the company as Director of North American Reinsurance Claims. Prior…
Michael van der Straaten, CEO of Antares Global, a London-based specialist insurance and reinsurance brokerage, has set out his outlook for the specialist reinsurance market in 2026, looking at the factors that are likely to influence underwriting practices and the wider evolution of business models within the industry. Van der Straaten highlighted how changes in…
Specialty insurer Beazley has secured $300 million in cyber reinsurance protection through its latest cyber catastrophe bond, PoleStar Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1). This is the fourth and largest 144A cyber disaster bond issued by Beazley, a subsidiary of PoleStar Re Ltd. This means the insurer has $670 million in cyber catastrophe bonds and more than…