Specialist Insurer News

The Water Quality Insurance Syndicate (WQIS) appointed John P. Phillips as Senior Underwriter based in Houston, TX. Phillips will report to Justin A. Mongello in New York, NY."We are very excited to have John join the WQIS team as he brings a wealth of experience, expertise, and first-hand knowledge of WQIS' customers and our broker partners. For certain a great addition to our team," said Justin.Phillips was most recently Head of Marine Programs at Aspen Insurance U.S.-based in Houston, in charge of the development and management of all Specialty Marine Programs throughout the Americas.

The London-based marine insurers the Strike Club and the Standard Club have announced plans for the Strike Club to join the Standard Club group.According to a press statement Strike Club will continue as a member-controlled dedicated mutual delay insurer, operating as class of Standard Club and supervised by existing board.Both mutual insurers are managed by companies within the Charles Taylor group.The Standard Club will create a new Strike class in each of the Standard companies, into which The Strike Club business would transfer. There will need to be minor changes to The Standard Club’s Byelaws, and to the Articles of the subsidiary companies (Standard UK, Asia, Ireland and Re), to give effect to this, it said.These changes will need members’ approval.

Ships exposed through GPS systems, have limited back-up; cyber insurance typically doesn't cover jamming, property damage. Shipping companies grappling with the threat of cyber attacks on vessels are finding insurance policies often fall short, officials involved in both industries say, a risk that could feed through into global prices. Digitalisation means electricity networks, emergency services, industry and agriculture are all vulnerable to hacking by criminal gangs for extortion or, for political reasons, by militant groups or foreign states. But ships are also exposed to interference through electronic navigation devices such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) and lack the backup systems airliners have to prevent crashes.

To mark the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, specialist insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) has released a report analyzing windstorm risks and losses and how to mitigate future losses, given increasing weather volatility. Chris Fischer Hirs, CEO of AGCS, said “Even without considering the influence of climate change, the prospect of increasing windstorm losses is more likely in future due to continuing economic development in hazard-prone urban, coastal areas around the world and in Asia in particular.

Markel International, a specialist insurer with a worldwide product portfolio, appointed Matthew Cannock as Managing Director of Markel International in Singapore. The Monetary Authority of Singapore has approved his appointment as Managing Director and as Principal Officer. Matthew will take up the position at the end of August from Peter Phillips, who has led Markel’s operations in Asia Pacific since 2007. Matthew joined Markel in 2012 as marine underwriter with responsibility for developing Markel’s regional marine capability, focusing on marine hull, cargo and liability business.

In a move designed to further enhance its service to its Members TT Club, the specialist insurer for the international transport and logistics industry, has appointed a network partner in India. Pandi Correspondents (Mumbai) Pvt Limited, which has offices in Chennai, Kolkata and Goa in addition to Mumbai will be integrated into TT Club’s claims IT system and has been delegated claims handling authority. Phillip Emmanuel is the leader of the Club’s operations in Asia-Pacific based in Hong Kong. “One of TT Club’s strongest attributes is its global claims service. As a mutual we are dedicated to handling our Members’ claims in the most comprehensive and effective manner possible. Our Members’ operations touch every part of the world and as such our service must be truly international.

Three leading exponents of improved risk management in ports and container handling facilities have published recommended safety standards for container yard equipment. TT Club, PEMA and ICHCA International have identified additional safety devices that can be implemented on yard equipment, along with other operational changes in order to reduce injuries and fatalities as well as cargo, property and equipment damage. The three organizations have in the past united in campaigning for increased safety measures to be adopted to address common safety issues arising in quay crane operations. Now their attention turns to container yard equipment. “These headline findings point to a heavy concentration of avoidable incidents,” comments Laurence Jones, TT Club’s Director of Global Risk Assessment.