Analysis

  • Why big data is a big deal

    17 July 2013

    It's often said that insurance will be one of the many industries to benefit from the big data revolution. Peggy Brinkmann and Nancy Watkins break down the buzzwords and explain the techniques insurers can use to improve their risk analysis, detection of claims fraud and marketing

  • New capital muscles into the reinsurance business

    12 July 2013

    Hedge funds, pension funds and wealth managers are among the newer investors reshaping the way that reinsurance operates and prices risk. These non-traditional investors like the returns available and the lack of correlation with other capital markets. But do they fully appreciate the risks? Sarfraz Thind reports

  • What the LTGA really says about the matching adjustment

    10 July 2013

    A workable matching adjustment is critical for many insurers facing the prospect of complying with Solvency II, but Eiopa's recent study on long-term guarantee measures has left some aspects ambiguous and others unfeasible. Kim Durniat delves into Eiopa's concluding report to bring out the nuances

  • Low interest rates challenge regulators as well as insurers

    05 July 2013

    Current economic policies are creating market distortions that insurers and their regulators should tackle sooner rather than later, says Daniel Hofmann, advisor to the chairman of Zurich Insurance Group

  • Phoenix breathes new life into its actuarial systems

    03 July 2013

    The UK closed-fund consolidator has replaced its myriad modelling systems with just one, in a huge three-year project that is said to have been on time and on budget. For Phoenix, the project was not only operationally necessary; it was a strategic imperative. InsuranceERM explains

  • Emerging risks test re/insurers' monitoring systems

    28 June 2013

    In an ever more complex, interconnected and fast-moving world, the task of spotting the emerging risks that could have critical impacts on insurance companies is becoming harder. Christopher Cundy reports on how firms are tackling the issue

  • Protests against FTT build up steam

    21 June 2013

    Europe's Financial Transaction Tax has now been adopted by 11 states. Many insurers argue that the tax will make running their businesses more difficult and costly -- to the detriment of their customers. With less than six months left until the official implementation date, Sarfraz Thind looks at whether the industry has time to make its voice heard

  • US has more reservations about Solvency II than a year ago

    21 June 2013

    The federal threat to the US system of state-based insurance supervision is waning, according to Jim Donelon and Ben Nelson, the president and CEO of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, but international pressure for reform is an ever-present danger. In a Q&A with InsuranceERM, the new officials also discuss progress on reinsurance collateral, the ORSA and principles-based reserving

  • RMS cloud will be AIR-less

    21 June 2013

    Catastrophe modelling firms are promising to shift risk management into a higher gear with the launch of their various platforms and RMS has even thrown open its new service to third-party modellers. AIR Worldwide's Bill Churney explains why his firm won't be joining in

  • Industry digests impact of LTGA

    18 June 2013

    The insurance industry has had barely three days to consider the report from Eiopa on the long-term guarantees assessment, but it's long enough for experts to have identified several problems and for lobby group Insurance Europe to express its disappointment at the latest proposals on Solvency II. Christopher Cundy reports