Sylva de FLUITER will take over as head of UNIQA Re AG in Zurich as of 1 January 2019, the Austrian group announced. Until year end she will work hand in hand with long-time Managing Director Hans Uwe MULLER, who will retire after 14 years at UNIQA Re.

MERCER, the consulting subsidiary of MMC - Marsh & McLennan Companies, announced that Bala VISWANATHAN, CEO of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc (JLT) UK & Ireland Employee Benefits, will join MERCER as Chief Operating Officer.

According to the most recent Global Catastrophe Recap report launched by AON's Impact Forecasting team for November 2018 - the annual wildfire industry payouts is expected to exceed USD 10 billion for the second consecutive year in the United States.

Aon - one of the largest insurance broker in the world announced the appointment of Lisa STEVENS as Global Executive Vice President of AON United Operations.

Zurich Insurance Group is fully delivering on its 2019 financial targets and is well positioned to deliver future earnings growth and attractive shareholder returns, as the company announced in a statement.

Swiss Re Corporate Solutions appointed Daniel VETTER as Head Excess & Surplus North America, effective January 1, 2019, as the company announced in a press release.

MetLife announced that Eric CLURFAIN, currently Executive Vice President and Head of EMEA, has been named Chairman, President and CEO of MetLife Japan - the company's second largest market globally and its largest retail life insurance business, effective Feb. 1, 2019, following approvals.

Italian insurer GENERALI has acquired CM Investment Solutions Limited (CMISL), from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

American International Group announced that it has appointed Mark LYONS to the role of Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He succeeds Sid SANKARAN, who will remain at AIG in an advisory capacity through the year-end reporting process for fiscal year 2018.

On November 29 A.M. Best removed from under review with negative implications and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) of "a" of Sirius Bermuda Insurance Company Ltd., Sirius International Insurance Corporation (Sweden) and its subsidiary, Sirius America Insurance Company (New York).

The most important annual meeting of the Croatian insurers, the "Croatian Insurance Days", took place in Opatija, Croatia, on 7 - 9 November.

On November 1st, an Agricultural insurance conference took place in Skopje, Macedonia, organized by the Insurance Supervision Agency in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy. Drawing attention to the necessity of reducing the risks in agriculture by using insurance was the event's main purpose.

Emmanuel DJENGUE, Innovation Director, Europe - RGAX, Spain is the Keynote Speaker at IIF 2018 - Insurance in a DIGITAL WORLD Conference in Bucharest, on November 27.

Becoming a growing threat globally, cyber risks is both a challenge and an opportunity for the insurance industry. MUNICH Re's representatives talked to XPRIMM TV in Baden Baden, about the different approach to this type of risk that the Group, as one of the most active players on the cyber market solutions, proposes.

End investors, Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS) funds, and buyers - the three groups active in ILS - have predominantly weathered 2017 loss activity with a view that reinsurance products backed by 'alternative' capital have become mainstream, according to a new Global ILS Market Survey by Willis Towers Watson.

Swiss Re expects the global reinsurance industry to consolidate as the distinction between insurers and reinsurers become increasingly blurred, an executive from the Swiss Group said in Baden Baden, reports Reuters.

Current market conditions are putting increasing pressure on returns with some companies viewing consolidation as a potential solution, James NASH, CEO of International at Guy Carpenter said in his opening remarks at the Baden-Baden 2018 Reinsurance Meeting hosted by the global risk and reinsurance specialist.

E+S Ruckversicherung AG, the Hannover Re Group's unit handling German business, continues to expect a positive premium development in the German market for the January 2019 renewals, albeit at a somewhat more diminished pace than in 2018.

The market volume for cyber insurance is expected to grow up to USD 8-9 billion by 2020, Doris HOEPKE, member of Munich Re's Board of Management stressed in Baden Baden adding that, "The demand for cyber risk cover is growing continuously. We therefore see it as our duty to develop solutions."