Latest Europe Headlines
All the headlines from our Europe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Struggle Continues Over Payment of Holocause Claims
Mar 26 2001 // The Western world is haunted by the specter of the German government killing millions upon millions of Jews (and others) in concentration camps. I couldn’t sleep when I first saw the pictures in the 1950s. My...
Pru/Am Gen Merger Tops Insurance Deals
Mar 26 2001 // Last January, Prudential plc Chief Executive Jonathan Bloomer indicated he was still looking for opportunities in the U.S. The search culminated March 12 in Houston, Texas, with the announcement that Britain’s...
Fortis Posts 19% Net Profit Gain to $2.46 Billion
Mar 23 2001 // Fortis, the Belgian-Dutch financial services group, released its 2000 results showing a healthy gain of 19 percent in net operating profit to €2.768 billion ($2.463 billion) compared to €2.136 billion ($1.9 billion) in...
Paying for Holocaust Insurance Claims
Mar 5 2001 // The Western world is haunted by the specter of the German government killing millions upon millions of Jews (and others) in concentration camps. I couldn’t sleep when I first saw the pictures in the 1950s. My...
Citigroup Spells Out European Growth Plan
Feb 22 2001 // Citigroup plans to focus its European expansion on corporate and investment banking as well as wealth management services, the Financial Times reported Wednesday. “There are lots of opportunities in investment...
AXA’s Wood Named CEO of Prudential UK, European Operations
Feb 21 2001 // Prudential PLC has appointed Mark Wood as chief executive of the company’s UK and European Insurance businesses effective June 21. At that point Wood, 47, will take over responsibilities from chairman and executive...
New Swiss Re sigma Study: Insurance Industry in Central and Eastern Europe — Current Trends and Pro
Feb 21 2001 // The latest sigma study from Swiss Re provides a detailed overview of Central and Eastern European insurance markets with an analysis of the latest developments in life and non-life insurance in 27 countries, including the...
Swiss Re Says Earnings Up, Non-Life Renewals Successful
Feb 8 2001 // Swiss Re announced that it “expects earnings for the year 2000 to be up slightly more than 20%,” and that “significant improvements” had been made in the recent reinsurance renewal period. The...
AGF Premium Income Up For 2000
Feb 7 2001 // France’s AGF, 51 percent of which is owned by Germany’s Allianz, posted strong growth in premium income in all sectors for the year 2000. Overall premium income rose 17.8 percent in 2000 to €15.74 billion...
GE Challenges Halifax Bid For Equitable
Feb 5 2001 // The battle for troubled U.K. mutual insurer Equitable Life heated up over the weekend with the mortgage lender Halifax tabling a £1 billion ($1.47 billion) bid for the sales forces, offices, administrative systems and...
ING Confirms Sale of U.S. Bank Operations, and Restructuring
Jan 31 2001 // Dutch financial services and insurance giant ING confirmed that it would sell its U.S. investment banking operations to Holland’s ABN Amro bank for an estimated $275 million, and would restructure its European and...
Liberty Mutual To Acquire Hartford’s Spanish Subsidiary
Jan 23 2001 // Liberty Mutual announced that its Liberty International unit would purchase Hartford Seguros, The Hartford Financial Services Group’s Spanish subsidiary, for an undisclosed amount. The company, which will be renamed...
Eureko Directors Ousted from PZU Board
Jan 11 2001 // On Tuesday, Polish Treasury Officials, who control 56 percent of the shares in Poland’s largest insurer, Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen, ousted directors from Eureko, the European consortium of insurance companies,...
Welcome to our First Ever
Jan 8 2001 // The demarcation between years always seems to take on a contemplative aspect. We look back to where we’ve been, and then look forward to weigh our expectations. Will the market continue to harden? Will the dot-coms...
Allianz May Acquire Stake in Czech Insurer
Dec 21 2000 // Germany’s Allianz is in talks with the Czech government concerning the acquisition of its 30 percent holding in the country’s biggest insurance group, Ceska Pojistovna. The move would further strengthen...
Allianz To Strengthen European Fund Management Business
Dec 4 2000 // A report in London’s Financial Times highlights the plans of Germany’s Allianz to increase its fund management business in Europe, as a “third pillar” to go with its life and general insurance...
ING : Profits Up – Barings Out
Nov 20 2000 // At the same time that Dutch financial services giant ING announced increased profits for the first 9 months of the year, it also confirmed widespread rumors that it was “reviewing the future positioning of its...
U.S. TOBACCO FIRMS SUED BY EU
Nov 20 2000 // Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds were named in a complaint by the European Union’s governing commission for complicity in the smuggling of thousands of container loads of cigarettes without paying the applicable...
RMS Launches New Data Tool For European Cat Risks
Nov 7 2000 // Risk Management Solutions (RMS) of Menlo Park announced the creation of “Exposure Plus(TM),” which it describes as, “a tool for the creation of property exposure data for catastrophe risk analysis of...
U.S. Tobacco Firms Sued by EU – Accused of Smuggling Cigarettes
Nov 7 2000 // Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds were named in a complaint by the European Union’s governing commission for complicity in the smuggling of thousands of container loads of cigarettes without paying the applicable...
