Insurance News ME

Brazil's Unibanco Acquires AIG Local Assets For $820 Million

SAO PAULO -(Dow Jones)- Brazilian bank Banco Unibanco (UBB) acquired certain local assets of American International Group Inc. (AIG) for $820 million, the bank said in a statement Wednesday night.

AIG to rebrand US auto insurance unit to 21st Century Insurance, and cut jobs

American International Group, which has been bailed out by the US government, plans to remove AIG from the name of its US auto insurance unit, aigdirect.com, and rebrand it as 21st Century Insurance in January 2009. The auto unit also plans to cut 6.6% of its workforce.

China's Life Insurance to Face Challenges

China's life insurance sector is to face strong challenges in 2009, said Wan Feng, president of China's biggest life insurer China Life Insurance Company Limited (601628.SH, 2628.HK), based in Beijing, capital city of China.

Generali Pilipinas premiums up

Generali Pilipinas has posted an 18-percent increase in its combined third quarter premiums, or from P1.8 million last year to P2.1 billion. The insurer offers three business lines – individual life, group insurance, and property and casualty.

AIG, foreign insurers lose market share in Shanghai

SHANGHAI, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Foreign life insurers' market share in Shanghai, China's commercial hub and a key market, declined for a third month in a row in October as troubles at overseas firms such as AIG dented consumer confidence.

New York's Cuomo Queries AIG on Bonuses and Raises

Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo demanded to know if American International Group Inc. will give bonuses or pay raises, a day after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it is scrapping 2008 awards for top executives.

Groupama Invests in Its Development in Turkey by Acquiring the Turkish Insurer Güven

Groupama has just closed the deal that gives it 99% ownership of the Turkish insurance companies Güven Sigorta and Güven Hayat from the Central Union of Agricultural Credit Cooperatives for €180 million.

Güven Sigorta, created in 1924, has a market share of 2.4% in non-life insurance and is the 13th largest in the sector. Its life insurance subsidiary, Güven Hayat, created in 1973, is the 15th largest life insurer in Turkey with a market share of 1.2%. Their 2007 premium income amounted to YTL 246 million.

Genworth buying bank, applying for gov't funds

NEW YORK (Associated Press) - After reaching a deal to acquire Interbank fsb, insurer Genworth Financial Inc. said it is applying to become a savings and loan, in a move to become eligible for funds under the government's $700 billion bank rescue package.

Executive News - Sigortam.net names Refik Berkol as new CEO

Turkey's leading online insurance aggregator names Refik Berkol as its new CEO. Sigortam.net is the first online insurance e-commerce portal in Turkey selling auto, home, health, travel and life products from 20 insurance companies with 7X24 call-center support. Sigortam.net is a venture capital project financed by iLAB.

iLAB is an investment holding company with interests in high growth internet projects such as kariyer.net (Turkey's largest online career site), Gittigidiyor.com (Turkey's largest auction site - also an Ebay affiliate), chemorbis and steelorbis (chemicals and steel e-marketplace). Sigortam.net was founded in 2001 and has currently more than 50,000 customers.

AEGON May Buy U.S. Thrift

AEGON, the owner of Transamerica Corp., has confirmed that it is currently examining the possibility of acquiring a thrift in the United States. This would potentially allow the company to qualify for the U.S. government's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).