The relocation will not cause job loss in either Chicago or the US, it stressed.

As part of its global growth strategy, Aon will change its jurisdiction of incorporation from Delaware to England.

The move is anticipated to close in the second quarter of 2012.

All change in Germany—Harth takes over at XL, Dehm at Chartis and Blumenthal at Lloyd’s

XL Group plc has announced the appointment of Michael Harth as Country Manager Germany, with effect from 16 April.

In this role he will be responsible for all the group’s insurance business activities in Germany.

Mr Harth replaces Michael Dehm who is believed to have joined Chartis in Germany as head of its German and Austrian business.

Mr Harth joins from Marsh GmbH, where he was a Member of the Management Board with co-responsibility for the company's Southern Region in Germany. Before Marsh, Mr Harth held various positions within the Allianz Group, including that of Senior Underwriter Financial Lines at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty AG.

Also in Germany, Lloyd’s has appointed Jan Blumenthal as its General Representative for the country.

He will also take over the function of Country Manager for Germany and for Austria.

He joins Lloyd’s from Willis Germany where he was Chief Client Advocate and a member of the Management Executive Board.

He replaces Burkard von Siegfried who retires at the end of January after 20 years’ service as Lloyd’s General Representative in Germany.

Equinox plans expansion in France

Equinox Global, an approved Lloyd’s cover holder specialist in trade credit insurance, is planning to establish a new Equinox Global office in France.

Alban De Malherbe has joined the company to set up the new office and will be based in Paris and London. He was recently Vice President, Trade Credit Regional Manager for Europe at Chartis.

Mike Holley, Chief Executive Officer of Equinox Global, said, “Europe is an important and growing market for Equinox Global and Alban will not only support our own expansion, but importantly will provide our European clients accessibility, expertise and innovative solutions for all their trade credit insurance needs supported by a first class local servicing.”

Equinox Global Limited is a Managing General Agent, and an approved Lloyd’s cover holder, which exists exclusively to underwrite and manage trade credit insurance.

XL combines engineering function

XL Group plc’s insurance segment has combined its Property Underwriting and XL Global Asset Protection Services (XL GAPS) engineers to form one unified team of nearly 200 risk engineers worldwide.

The group has also announced the appointment of six new Regional Engineering Leaders.

According to Joseph Tocco, Executive Vice President of XL’s North America Property and head of XL GAPS, “With this new alignment we have pooled our risk engineering talent together to allow easy deployment of those resources and greater flexibility to fit the business needs of our insureds, our XL GAPS clients, and our underwriters.”

Munich launches photovoltaic product

Munich Re has launched a new insurance product that insures against the risk of the insolvency of photovoltaic manufacturers, complementing its performance guarantee cover.

The product covers the risk borne by operators that solar module output may, in the course of time, fall below the level guaranteed by a manufacturer which can no longer be held liable under its warranties because of insolvency.

Developed in conjunction with Deutsche Bank, the new optional cover was used by Munich Re for the first time for a solar park project in southern Italy jointly financed by Deutsche Bank and Rabobank.

The new cover caters for large solar parks with an output of more than 20 MW.

Coverage of such risks is subject to the proviso that Munich Re already insures the module manufacturer’s performance guarantees.

Alterra gains approval for Brazilian arm

The Brazilian insurance and reinsurance regulator, Superintendencia de Seguros Privados (SUSEP), has given final approval for Alterra Capital Holdings Limited to establish a local reinsurance company.

Alterra Resseguradora do Brasil S.A. will be located in Rio De Janeiro. Carlos Caputo, Chief Executive Officer of Alterra Latin America, will also serve as Chief Executive Officer of the company.

Marty Becker, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alterra, said: “Alterra Re Brasil will complement our Alterra at Lloyd’s office in Rio de Janeiro, providing us with additional reinsurance opportunities.”

Alterra pointed to recent changes in the Brazilian reinsurance regulations which it said have enhanced the position of local reinsurers by replacing the ‘first right of refusal’ requirement with a rule making it compulsory for insurance companies that purchase reinsurance to cede a minimum of 40% of each risk to local reinsurers.

AXA signs up to Detica NetReveal claims fraud prevention service

BAE Systems Detica has announced that AXA has signed up to use its Detica NetReveal insurance claims fraud prevention service as part of an AXA initiative to select a single solution across the group.

Detica NetReveal is designed to reduce the risk of fraudulent customer claims and improves investigation times for personal and commercial motor and property lines of business.

Detica said that the selection of the solution followed a number of European pilot projects and it will be delivered as a hosted service, enabling AXA to benefit from reduced costs in IT spend and implementation times.

“As part of a global programme to use a single platform, AXA can benefit from processes, workflows and reporting which are standardised across AXA’s global business units,” said the company.

“By giving investigators the ability to monitor and clearly identify and prioritise suspicious activity as well as quickly access and analyse customer data, AXA entities will be able to improve customer service through faster claims handling times and also minimise the time and resources spent on investigating claims incorrectly flagged as being suspicious,” it added.

Pierre Brigadeau, Group Chief Claims Officer, AXA Global P&C, said: “All insurers need to focus on claims fraud, and Detica NetReveal will provide us with effective means of reducing risk—preventing and discovering more fraudulent claims, improving positive customer service levels and allowing AXA to have more efficient claims organisations.

“In other words, we shall investigate fewer cases, increase our efficiency and preserve honest customers from paying for fraudulent claims activities.

According to Detica its NetReveal service links related entities within a company’s data to reveal networks of suspicious activity that are otherwise hidden beneath seemingly innocuous claims.

“Unlike traditional rules-based systems that can only monitor fraud methods already known to occur, the NetReveal solution provides a single view of customers and their known associates, scoring individual and network behaviours across an organisation’s entire portfolio of products and brands. In doing so, it facilitates the speedy resolution of honest claims and effective decision-making at policy inception, whilst uncovering and prioritising the risks associated with suspicious activity,” it said.

QBE expands Dubai office

QBE has expanded its Dubai branch’s underwriting capability into general liability facultative reinsurance for Middle Eastern and North African clients.

Noufal Manzil, Property & General Liability Underwriter, will underwrite the class with a primary focus on developing a book of SME business driven by public and product liability requirements.

Mr Noufal has been with QBE’s Dubai operations since May 2009 and has been developing a book of local property and general liability business.

Prior to QBE, Mr Noufal was at Hannover Re and Allianz Reinsurance where he held a variety of underwriting roles.

Khalil Eid, General Manager at QBE, said: “We’re delighted that we can now offer a local service to brokers and cedants in the region that is backed by our significant capacity and financial strength. The move increases our ability to offer business insurance for companies operating in a broad range of trade and industry segments and in wide-ranging territorial and jurisdictional environments.”

ACE launches Trade Credit portal

ACE today formally announced the launch of ACE 360, a web portal to allow clients to monitor and administer their trade credit policies online. The portal is designed to particularly benefit businesses with multiple policies.

The insurer said that ACE 360 would simplify policy administration, allow customers to manage their exposures more effectively and provide bespoke management information, including the ACE Grade which denotes the financial strength of suppliers.

ACE said that it has been designed to be ‘pragmatic.’ It provides, for example, the ability to attach documents from Word, Excel or in PDF as a reference in the limit application process. and is offered in five languages.

Stuart James, Global Head of Trade Credit said: “An interactive web portal is a vital part of the seamless service ACE offers clients and we know it is crucial for ACE’s development as a global Trade Credit insurer. When configuring ACE 360 we took the views of clients into account, including their experiences with other systems, and we have been encouraged by the initial feedback we have received. We wanted to use the latest technology to provide a simple and valuable tool. The number of clients taking up this new service has already outpaced our expectations.”

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