Articles by Charles E. Boyle

The Perilous North Atlantic – Europe’s War Time American Lifeline

Crossing the North Atlantic on a modern ocean liner is a pleasant and mostly uneventful experience these days. But gazing into the depths of the presently rather stormy ocean evokes the past, and the deadly conflicts, shipwrecks and other disasters …

FERMA Forum Focuses on ‘Great Difficulties’ in an Ever Riskier World

The FERMA Forum differs from the Reinsurance Rendezvous in Monte Carlo, as it is mainly attended by corporate risk managers, rather than reinsurers and brokers. This year, however, two overriding concerns were uppermost in the minds of those attending both …

Monte Carlo 2015: Reinsurers Reexamine How They Do Business

The annual Rendez-Vous de Septembre in Monte Carlo, Monaco traditionally focuses on one or two signatory concerns within the industry. This year, things were different. The 2,700 registered attendees were faced with addressing the pace of change within and without …

Lloyd’s and its Syndicates 2015 – Adapting to Changing Times

If one word could describe Lloyd’s of London, it would be “change.” There are very few business enterprises that have stayed in business as long as Lloyd’s – 327 years. It has survived wars, plagues and famines. It has seen …

ILS Puts Reinsurance Market on a New Course: Twelve Capital’s Butler Explains How

Zurich-based Twelve Capital is only five years old, but it, along with similar companies, has already fundamentally altered the reinsurance industry. It’s taken a remarkably short period of time for “alternative capital” to morph into “insurance linked securities (ILS),” and …

UnipolSai, Willis Capital Confirm Italian Cat Bond for Azzurro Re; 1st in Europe

UnipolSai Assicurazioni S.p.A. (UnipolSai), a multi-business Italian insurance company of the Unipol Group and Willis Capital Markets & Advisory (WCMA) part of Willis Group Holdings plc, have confirmed the “completion of the re/insurance industry’s first indemnity-trigger catastrophe bond primarily for …

U.S. Forecaster Sees El Nino Likely to Last into Spring in No. Hemisphere

A U.S. government weather forecaster on Thursday raised the likelihood that El Nino conditions would last into the Northern Hemisphere’s early spring to 85 percent, boosting the probability that drought-stricken California could see increased rains. The Climate Prediction Center, a …

Technology, Supply Chain & Regulation Top ACE Europe’s List of EMEA Risks

A list, compiled by the ACE European Group, sets out the “new wave of interrelated, fast-changing risks, reflecting rapid changes in the global economic landscape and the increasing role of technology and multinational expansion as growth drivers, tops the list …

‘Seismicity’: Re/insurers Ponder the Impact of Human-Caused Earthquakes

Earthquakes, the natural kind caused by the movements of vast tectonic plates, have been occurring since the dawn of time. But now there is a new type of quake, the study of which has been labeled “seismicity,” which is being …

Reinsurance Industry Faces Uncertain Future as Time Moves On

It’s around two months until the annual Reinsurance Rendezvous in Monte Carlo, where the reinsurers, brokers, carriers, lawyers, accountants and cat modelers discuss the state of their industry. That industry, until recently a rock solid bastion of the “we do …