Insurance Jottings

Lloyd’s to Open Miami Office to Expand Its Latin American and Caribbean Business

Lloyd’s plans to set up an office in Miami to support business development in the Latin American and Caribbean markets.

 

“Latin America is a key market for Lloyd’s, with premium close to US$1.5 billion,” said Daniel Revilla, regional head, Latin America, and country manager, Mexico.

 

Lloyd’s currently has offices in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, and there are more than a dozen service companies and coverholders servicing the Latin American and Caribbean markets from Miami, he noted.

 

In addition to opening the Miami office, Revilla said, Lloyd’s also will be taking additional steps to strengthen its presence in the Latin American and Caribbean markets, including the following:

 

  • Yelhis Hernández will be appointed Mexico country manager (subject to regulatory approval). Ms Hernández has been with Lloyd’s for almost two years and has been instrumental in supporting market development across the Latin American region based in Mexico City

 

  • Following Juan Carlos Realphe’s decision to leave Lloyd’s, recruitment for a new Colombia country manager has begun. The role will be expanded to increase market development activity across Spanish-speaking South America

 

  • Valdir Serra will be strengthening the Latin America market development effort. He has been with Lloyd’s for eight years and is currently the market development executive and analyst for Brazil.

 

Mr Revilla said he will continue leading the Lloyd’s team across the region from the new office in Miami. “…I am sure these changes will allow us to more effectively support the Lloyd’s market development in the region.”

 

Charles Taylor agrees £261 million deal to go private

Insurance services firm Charles Taylor has agreed to a “compelling” takeover deal by private equity firm Lovell Minnick Partners, which it hopes will deliver attractive returns to its shareholders.

 

Property and energy only lines to turn underwriting profit at Lloyd’s

Only two of the eight businesses at Lloyd’s were profitable in the first half of 2019, pushing the corporation to an underwriting loss of £86 million, compared with a profit of £308 million in the first half of 2018.

 

Marine insurance market ‘chaotic’ as future remains uncertain, says IUMI

The ongoing global uncertainties, including the current trade tensions, will continue to impact all marine lines of business, specifically cargo and offshore energy, predicts the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI), which represents 43 marine market insurance and reinsurance associations globally.

 

Marine underwriting premiums rose by just one percent last year, but future market development remains uncertain as the marine insurance sector faces significant challenges, the International Union of Marine Insurance said on the 16th September.

 

IUMI presented its analysis of the latest marine insurance market trends, revealing that marine underwriting premiums for 2018 were recorded at US$28.9 billion, which represents only a one percent rise from 2017.

 

With significant challenges facing the market, the modest increase is not significant enough to herald an upturn in the overall market, IUMI said.

 

“Changes to frame conditions are the most likely reason for the modest increase in premiums as opposed to any real market development,” said vice-chairman of IUMI’s Facts & Figures Committee, Astrid Seltmann.

 

Ms Seltmann said global uncertainties, including trade tensions, will continue to impact all lines of business in marine insurance, but particularly the cargo and offshore energy sectors.

 

Ms Seltmann also highlighted an increase in the frequency of fires on containerships, especially ones starting in the cargo areas of vessels such as Maersk Honam and Grande America.

 

“This trend has been observed for some years and the newest statistics show a clear further increase in 2019,” Ms Seltmann said. “These fires pose a threat to the crew and cause severe damage to both vessel and cargo. IUMI is working with a range of industry bodies to improve the prevention of such events as well as fire-fighting capabilities onboard.”

 

According to the IUMI, the US$28.9 billion in global premiums were split between Europe 46.4%, Asia/Pacific 30.7%, Latin America 10.4%, North America 6.2% and Other 6.3%.

 

By line of business, cargo continued to represent the largest share with 57.4% in 2018, followed by hull (24.4%), offshore energy (11.4%) and marine liability (6.7%).

 

Experts Not Worried About Saudi-Like Drone Attack Knocking Out US Oil Production

The style of attack used against oil plants in Saudi Arabia which knocked out half of the country’s production on the 14th September is unlikely to be a risk in the United States, energy and security experts say.

 

“The US oil industry has a lot of redundancy,” said Amy Myers Jaffe, senior fellow for energy at the Council on Foreign Relations.

 

US refineries go offline often after accidents or storms, with little impact to the market, Ms Jaffe said. Even production in the country’s biggest oil field, the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, is spread across thousands of wells in a 75,000- square-mile (194,250-square-kilometre) region. The kind of gas-oil separation facility hit in the attacks in Saudi Arabia is done in smaller plants located across US oil fields.

 

“It’s pretty hard to imagine some group having people here and they’re going to fly a drone over the Houston Ship Channel or over Newark and somehow it’s not going to be noticed,” Ms Jaffe said.

 

“Could you knock out one company’s crude processing unit and throw them offline? I suppose. You’d have to go down to Midland, Texas, and get away with it.

 

“I would be more concerned about cyber vulnerability,” Ms Jaffe added.

 

The United States has more of a geographic buffer than Saudi Arabia and lacks hostile neighbours, said Ben West, security analyst with the intelligence firm Stratfor. The most vulnerable infrastructure, pipelines, can be repaired quickly, he said.

 

“Even if there were an attack, it’s unlikely to knock out half the US oil and gas production,” Mr West said. “I think Iran is much more likely to be able to carry out a cyber-attack successfully than a cruise missile or drone attack, and it’s still an unlikely scenario.”

 

Security for US energy infrastructure was tightened in the years following the attacks on the 11th September 2001 to include tighter inspection standards and better backgrounding and credentialing of workers, said Henry Willis, a senior policy researcher at the Rand Corporation.

 

“We do know that once someone figures out a way, others learn,” Mr Willis said. “I imagine if you’re responsible for facilities security and you haven’t done it already, you’re assessing how you account for drone threats.”