MONTE CARLO, Monaco--Sept. 13, 2004--Tort litigation is prominent on minds of European insurers, according to the findings of a survey commissioned by The Insurance Leadership Institute of GE Insurance Solutions (NYSE: GE) and independently conducted by Tillinghast.
Commenting on the report titled Facing the Future: Challenges for European P&C Insurers, Ron Pressman, Chairman, President and CEO of GE Insurance Solutions, said: It's interesting that the top emerging claims issues appear to be tort and litigiousness since they haven't been leading issues in Europe.
Escalating tort costs (58 percent) and increased litigiousness (55 percent) top the list of major claims issues expected to affect European insurers in 2004/2005. Also, 83 percent of respondents agreed that the general increase in litigiousness in Europe would lead to substantially higher liability claims.
In the past, these issues have been seen primarily as U.S.-centric issues, Pressman added. These findings have confirmed anecdotal observations of a seeming increase in court awards in the UK.
The European Executive Survey 2004 was conducted between March and July 2004. A total of 79 insurers responded -- mainly small- to medium-sized insurers operating in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Scandinavia. The survey findings were released this week at the reinsurance industry's Monte Carlo Rendezvous.
With more than $50 billion in combined assets, the GE Insurance Solutions group of companies is one of the world's leading providers of commercial insurance, reinsurance and risk management services.
Members of this group have been protecting people, property and reputations for more than a century. Additional information is available at www.geinsurancesolutions.com.
The Tillinghast business of Towers Perrin provides global actuarial and management consulting to insurance and financial services companies and advises other organizations on risk financing and self-insurance. The company helps clients with issues related to mergers, acquisitions and restructuring; financial and regulatory reporting; risk, capital and value management; and products, markets and distribution.
For more information and an executive summary of the survey, contact: GE Insurance Solutions
John Novaria
+1-816-448-7608
[email protected]
Tillinghast
Alison Stock
+44 20 7170 2678
[email protected]
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CONTACT:
GE Insurance Solutions
John Novaria, 816-448-7608
[email protected]
or
Tillinghast
Alison Stock, +44 20 7170 2678
Jeff Wilson
GE Capital Corporate Finance
[email protected]
1-203-749-6340