Daily Market Update

Mergers set to increase in reinsurance industry… Climate change summit starts on Monday… Media hit by cyber attack from ‘Syrian Electronic Army’… Banks warn of new ATM risk…

Insurance News

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Mergers set to increase in reinsurance industry
The coming years will see an increase in mergers and acquisitions in the reinsurance industry according to credit rating agency Fitch. Reinsurance M&A has been limited recently due to a lack of willing sellers and inherent uncertainty tied to large acquisitions but the deal by RenaissanceRE Holdings to acquire Platinum Underwriters Holdings may spark further activity. Fitch notes that a larger reinsurance organisation has a greater financial ability to lead reinsurance programmes and therefore be in a better position to evaluate and select risks, and negotiate pricing and terms and conditions. In the current competitive environment, stronger, more established reinsurers are maintaining capacity at the expense of smaller, weaker companies.
 
Climate change summit starts on Monday
The United Nations climate summit starts in Peru on Monday. The conference will aim to gain some agreements from member nations ahead of next year’s Paris conference where final agreements will be signed. The big push will be for consensus on legally binding targets for cutting carbon emissions but that may be hard to achieve. Europe wants all targets to be set in stone; the US wants some to be fixed with some scalability similar to proposals from New Zealand. Other countries are in agreement that measures need to be taken but oppose any firm commitments.
 
Media hit by cyber attack from ‘Syrian Electronic Army’
A group calling themselves the SEA or Syrian Electronic Army have caused disruption to media outlets around the world with targeted cyber attacks on websites. The hackers gained access via software used frequently by media sites to deliver locally-focused content, initially through a domain server.
 
Banks warn of new ATM risk
Banks are warning of a new form of ‘skimming’ which is harder to detect by end users. Previously criminals would insert a fake card reader into ATMs and copy data from the magnetic strip when the user’s card was inserted. In the more primitive operations the user would not connect to their account and be unable to withdraw cash, arousing suspicion. More sophisticated systems would allow the transaction to go ahead but users or bank staff may notice that the card slot did not look genuine. These new techniques involve a ‘wiretapping’ device connected inside the ATM. The device intercepts the data and transmits it to a receiver situated nearby to the ATM. However, currently these new devices still rely on a hidden camera on the ATM to record PIN numbers so covering the keypad with your hand as you input your PIN is still good advice. 

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