Latest London Headlines

All the headlines from our London Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Insurers Weigh Premium Hikes for UK’s Tall Buildings After Grenfell Tower Fire

Oct 23 2017 // Insurers are considering raising premiums for tall buildings in Britain with flammable cladding panels and no sprinklers or even excluding related risks following the Grenfell fire in London earlier this year.Inquiries...

AIG UK Sells Its 1st Sharia-Compliant M&A Policy in London

Oct 19 2017 // AIG UK said on Thursday it had underwritten its first sharia-compliant warranty and indemnity policy out of London’s M&A insurance market, as the city looks to Islamic finance to help bring new...

Compensation for London’s Grenfell Fire Victims May Be Capped at $5M: Reuters

Oct 18 2017 // The bill for compensating families of those who died in the Grenfell Tower fire in London may be as low as 4 million pounds ($5 million), according to several lawyers and a Reuters analysis of how damages laws apply in...

AXIS Capital Completes Purchase of Novae; Executive Team Announced

Oct 18 2017 // AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd. it has finalized its acquisition of Novae Group plc, which creates a $2 billion insurer in London and a top ten re/insurer at Lloyd’s, with 2016 global gross written premiums of $6...

Q3 Catastrophe Losses Will Bring Rate Hikes by London Market Insurers: Fitch

Oct 16 2017 // Catastrophe losses from the recent U.S. hurricanes and Mexican earthquakes will lead to price rises on London market insurers’ loss-affected lines and could also affect wider market pricing trends, according to Fitch...

Everest Re in London Taps Hiscox’s Armitage, Gairdner from Tokio Marine Kiln as Sr. Underwriters

Oct 12 2017 // Everest Re Group Ltd. announced the addition of several new senior underwriters to the London team of Everest Reinsurance (Bermuda) Ltd. Luke Armitage joins Everest Re’s London office as senior underwriter for motor...

Hiscox Names Markham as CEO for London Market Business

Oct 11 2017 // Specialist global insurer Hiscox announced the appointment of Kate Markham as CEO for its London Market business, subject to regulatory approval.Markham has been at Hiscox for five years and most recently was managing...

Uber: Giving UK Drivers Workers’ Rights Would Cost Millions of Pounds

Oct 10 2017 // Uber said on Tuesday that paying National Insurance contributions for its British drivers would add tens of millions of pounds to the taxi app’s costs were they to be deemed employees.Uber currently classifies its...

Insurers, Reinsurers Tally Maria, Irma, Harvey and Other Disaster Losses

Oct 10 2017 // Losses from Hurricane Maria and other recent natural disasters, including hurricanes Irma and Harvey, the Mexico City earthquake and other events, have led global insurers and reinsurers to issue profi warnings.tBelow are...

UK Broker Capsicum Re Appoints Williams as Cyber Security Specialist

Oct 9 2017 // Capsicum Re, the London-based specialist reinsurance broker, announced the appointment of Conrad Williams as the latest addition to its cyber team. He will report to Ian Newman and Samantha Thompson, partners in Capsicum...

German Firms with UK Operations Should Prepare for ‘Hard Brexit’

Oct 5 2017 // German firms with a presence in Britain should make provisions now for a “very hard Brexit,” Germany’s biggest industry group said on Thursday, because the government in London does not know what it...

Growing List of Re/Insurers Make Decisions on Post-Brexit EU Headquarters

Oct 3 2017 // Everest Re Group Ltd. has said its Dublin-based unit has received approval from the Central Bank of Ireland to become a non-life insurer, joining a growing list of insurers setting up regulated EU operations in case...

Chubb Taps Hiscox’s Hosking, Promotes Bear to UK Middle Market Broker Roles

Oct 3 2017 // Chubb has announced the appointment of two new positions within its Middle Market Independent Broker segment.Hannah Hosking has been appointed as Head of Distribution – Independent Brokers UK&I, while Steve Bear has...

UPDATE 2: Global Re/Insurers Estimate Price Tag of Q3 Hurricanes & Quakes

Oct 3 2017 // Losses from Hurricane Maria and other recent 2017 natural catastrophes, including Hurricanes Irma and Harvey, the Mexico City earthquakes and other events, have led global insurers and reinsurers to issue profit...

Heffernan Insurance Brokers Opens London Unit, Led by JLT’s Murrell

Oct 2 2017 // Heffernan Insurance Brokers, the Walnut Creek, Calif.-based independent insurance broker, announced it has opened a London brokerage, Heffernan Brokers UK Ltd., led by Nick Murrell as executive vice president.Murrell joins...

Puerto Rico Power Outage to Mean More Business Interruption Claims

Oct 1 2017 // Puerto Rico’s island-wide power outage will mean a surge in insurance claims for lost business income that will increase the already high cost of damage caused by Hurricane Maria, likely tipping some big reinsurers...

Top Challenges for London’s Re/Insurers Are Soft Market, Brexit, Regulations: IUA

Sep 28 2017 // The top three challenges facing London market companies are the soft market, Brexit and regulatory compliance, according to a survey of International Underwriting Association (IUA) members.In an online questionnaire,...

Update: Lloyd’s of London Reports 16% Drop in H1 2017 Profit to $1.6B

Sep 28 2017 // Lloyd’s of London expects net losses of $4.5 billion from hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which analysts said would eat into the insurer’s capital and hit its profitability.Although losses from natural catastrophes...

EU Regulator Warns UK Insurers to Avoid ‘Fronting’ in Post-Brexit EU HQs

Sep 28 2017 // London-based insurers applying for licenses to operate in the European Union after Brexit will be scrutinized for any attempts to game the system, the bloc’s insurance watchdog said.Insurance specialists say some...

Ironshore’s New Iron-Excess MGA Is Based on Iron-Starr Excess Agency Model

Sep 26 2017 // Using a Bermuda joint venture between Ironshore and C.V. Starr & Co. as a model, Ironshore announced the launch of Iron-Excess on Monday.Ironshore, a Liberty Mutual company, describes Iron-Excess as an expansion of the...