Latest Europe Headlines

All the headlines from our Europe Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Arch Re Europe Announces Leadership Team Reorganization

Jun 13 2012 // Arch Reinsurance Europe Underwriting Limited announced that Maamoun Rajeh will be appointed as the company’s President and CEO as of July 1, 2012. He will succeed Helmut Söhler, who will assume the position of Vice...

U.S. Exempts India, Other Countries, Not China, from Iran Sanctions

Jun 12 2012 // The United States extended exemptions from its tough, new sanctions on Iran’s oil trade to seven more economies on Monday, leaving China the last remaining major importer exposed to possible penalties at the end of...

Deeper Euro Zone Integration to Take Time Says EU Commissioner Rehn

Jun 12 2012 // Tightening fiscal integration in the euro zone and surrendering more sovereignty in the name of deeper cooperation between member states may be possible only in the medium term, the EU’s top economic official said on...

Analysis: EU’s Spain Bank Rescue May Bring only Brief Respite

Jun 11 2012 // Euro zone finance ministers rushed Spain into an EU-funded rescue for its debt-stricken banks to pre-empt the threat of a bank run if Greece’s debt crisis flares again but any respite for Madrid and the euro may be...

EU Insurers Still Coming to Terms with Solvency II as Start Date Nears

Jun 8 2012 // “Over the next 18 months it’s estimated that Ireland will spend 100 million euros (app. $125 million) on preparations for Solvency II (SII),” said Garvan O’Neill, a partner in...

U.S. to Issue More Waivers on Iran Sanctions Next Week

Jun 8 2012 // The United States will announce a new list of countries that will receive exceptions to financial sanctions on oil trade with Iran as soon as early next week, a government official said on Thursday. Not all of Iran’s...

Best Maintains AVIVA and Subs Ratings Under Review; Negative Implications

Jun 7 2012 // A.M. Best Europe – Rating Services Limited has reviewed and maintained the under review status of the financial strength ratings of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a+” of the...

Best Announces Further Rating Actions on Euro Zone Insurers

Jun 7 2012 // A bulletin from A.M. Best notes that the rating agency has “been actively monitoring the financial crisis and its effects on European countries, stress-testing the balance sheets of (re)insurers against their...

Traynor Joins Greenlight Re Ireland to Build UK, Europe Expansion

Jun 7 2012 // Greenlight Reinsurance Ireland, Ltd., a subsidiary of Cayman Islands-based Greenlight Capital Re, Ltd., a specialist property and casualty reinsurer, announced that Caryl J. Traynor officially joined the company on June 1,...

Ratings Recap: Dubai Insurance, Legal & General, London General

Jun 6 2012 // A.M. Best Europe – Rating Services Limited has affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘B++’ (Good) and issuer credit rating of “bbb” of the United Arab Emirates’ Dubai Insurance Company...

Will There Ever Be a United States of Europe?

Jun 6 2012 // From recent news you will have learned that the euro zone crisis continues to be the 700 pound gorilla in the room of the global economy. It’s become increasingly clear that, whatever happens in Greece on June 17,...

Economic Storm Clouds Continue to Gather over Europe

Jun 6 2012 // In many ways Ireland is a “microcosm for Europe,” said Danny McCoy, the Director General of the Irish Business & Employer’s Confederation (IBEC) at the EIF Forum. He described the present situation as...

Irish ‘Yes’ Vote Assures Continued Support; Euro Zone Crisis Still Weighs

Jun 5 2012 // Ireland held a referendum on Thursday, May 31 – a straight yes or no vote on whether the country would write the “Stability Treaty,” the austerity measures agreed to last fall by the 17 euro zone countries,...

Global Downturn Puts Investors, Companies in Retreat

Jun 5 2012 // Gripped by fears that Europe’s debt crisis is driving the world economy into a ditch, companies are delaying plans to raise capital and canceling deals, while investors are taking refuge in cash or any other place...

Europe, U.S. Agree on Streamlining Air Cargo Safety

Jun 1 2012 // The European Commission and the U.S. Transport Security Administration have agreed to recognize each other’s air cargo security regimes, a move that will cut costs for carriers, an EU executive said on...

Top Trade Credit Insurer Pulls Cover for Exports to Greece

May 31 2012 // The world’s biggest trade credit insurer, Euler Hermes, has suspended cover for exporters shipping to Greece because of the mounting risk of them not being paid in the event the debt-laden nation is forced out of the...

EU Proposes Cross-Border Bank Rescues

May 30 2012 // European Union countries could be obliged to bail out one another’s struggling banks, according to a draft EU law that marks a big step towards greater EU financial integration likely to upset some members,...

How Relevant Is Insurance? Asks XL CEO McGavick

May 29 2012 // XL Group CEO Mike McGavick asked a provocative question in a keynote speech at the European Insurance Forum in Dublin last week. How relevant is the insurance industry in today’s globalized world? “The...

Why ‘Project Bonds’ Are a Good Idea: Wynn

May 25 2012 // European Union backing for extra infrastructure finance may sound like a deliberate distraction from deadlock over much bigger euro bonds, but in fact it is a great idea – the trouble is the tiny sums involved and...

AIA Calls for More International Market Access for U.S. Insurers

May 23 2012 // The American Insurance Association has issued a statement, which points out several instances of a “disconnect between the continued significant global insurance capacity and a strong demand for insurance products...