Monte Carlo reinsurance Rendez-Vous a go-go

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Mairi

Last week the reinsurance world descended on the glamorous Monte Carlo for the annual reinsurance Rendez-Vous.

Among the diamonds, champagne and glitz of the setting, real work was being done, brokers standing their ground on reinsurance pricing for the January 1, 2012 renewals, reinsurers saying prices will rise by up to 10%.

This dance will continue in Baden Baden in October, when the real negotiations are finalised, and may well result in a 5 to 7% rise, according to those in the know.

This year, there was a newcomer to the event, however. World Risk and Insurance News – a new dedicated insurance news channel launched there and has produced several reports on the back of it – and they are very good, well edited and well presented with good content. Continue reading →

Welcome to our new website

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Mairi

We are really pleased with our new website www.rein4ce.co.uk and re-branding, which we have launched today just in time for the reinsurance conference, Les Rendez-Vous in Monte Carlo.

Please give us your feedback – and anything you would like to see on here that is not explained.

As many readers know, we are a public relations company that specialises in financial services, particularly insurance and reinsurance and we also deal with the companies that serve this market.

We also have a niche expertise in business to business social media – a skill set developed out of a need in the market. So, if you are so inclined and are on any platforms, please find us – we are on Twitter (@rein4cePR and @reinsurancegirl), Facebook, and LinkedIn and Mairi Mallon and Stephen Breen are also on Google+.

And if you are not, here is a wee video (showing my age here) to help us celebrate…. Celebration time! Cool and the Gang

Insurance industry gets social media – check out the Twitter use at #BIBA2011!

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Mairi

Last week UK brokers gathered at their annual event, BIBA 2011 in Manchester and for the first time in UK insurance and broker communities, social media was used fairly widely.
This follows hot on the heels of risk managers and insurers gathering in Vancouver a week earlier for RIMS 2011, which was a staggering success on Twitter.
BIBA attendees used #BIBA2011 to bookmark their tweets about the event, RIMS used #RIMS2011.
What was interesting was who was using Twitter. In Vancouver, what was most striking was the use of Twitter by BIG corporates – there is a list here in the last blog – but included Aon Corporation, FM Global, XL Capital, ACE Ltd, Zurich, Willis and Marsh. In the Manchester event, there were a lot more individuals and much of the noise came from press such as Post Magazine, Insurance Age and Insurance Times and their reporters. Continue reading →

What a Tweetup! Well done to those at #RIMS2011

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Mairi

RIMS (knicked from excellent Risk Management Monitor)

Well, well. Knock me over with a feather – social media has come to risk management. At the RIMS conference in Vancouver we saw a whole swathe of mega-corporates Tweeting their hearts out, expressing opionons, talking to each other and delegates.

It is normal for the press now to tweet, but the most surprising thing was the gusto with which some really embraced Twitter this year.I have to acknowledge Risk Management Monitor here – I’ve stolen one of their pictures here. They did a grand job for those of us who could not make it and kept us up to date with words and pictures.

There were some big corpoations who obviously get it, with @AonCorp and @ZurichNAnews topping my list of non-press Tweeple (twitter people). Other biggies out Tweeting their corporate messages out (and doing a very good job too) were: Continue reading →

Monte Carlo report

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Mairi

Last night the Rendez-Vous at Monte Carlo, reinsurance’s big annual conference, kicked off in usual glittering style at the Guy Carpenter party in the Hotel de Paris.

Sipping glasses of Tattinger, the good and the great of the reinsurance world met in the gilded ballroom. Chief executives and presidents rubbed shoulders with brokers and caught up with each other. Continue reading →

Monte Carlo here we come

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Mairi

It is that time of year again, when the good and the great of the reinsurance world head to Monte Carlo for the annual Rendez-Vous. Bermudians and Americans will already be winging their way across the Atlantic, while most BA flights from London and Zurich on Sunday contain most of the worlds’ reinsurance brains in one metal vessel – wonder what the risk assessment for that would be… Continue reading →

YouTube…? In reinsurance? Twitter…? For risk managers? What is the world coming to…

Posted on June 18, 2010 by Mairi

Woo-hoo. The revolution is coming. This week we saw Airmic (RIMS for the UK) tweet up. In other industries, this may not seem such a big deal, but in the insurance and reinsurance/ risk management world, it is a mini-revolution. Big screens showed every time anyone tweeted with #AIRMIC2010 – and it really made an impact during the conference.

And at the same time the reinsurance industry started using YouTube. As I write, there have been 12,244 views of the video – which is a lot if you are not a cute kitten falling off a workspace or a child getting whacked by their brother. Called “The New Insurance Tax” it shows how people and businesses buy insurance, then this risk is offset by the insurers buying reinsurance. There is even a fan page on facebook... Continue reading →

It’s not rocket science… Social Media and insurance and reinsurance

Posted on March 26, 2010 by Mairi

I had a busy week last week in Bermuda, with the excellent World Insurance Forum, a breakfast briefing on social media for international business, and helping organise, PR and co-chair Reinsurance Magazine’s Bermuda Reinsurance Club. I managed to zip around on a moped for a while, re-living my youth, but did not make it to swim with the dolphins again – next time when the wind is not so high.

The World Insurance Forum was video cast, so if you were not there, you can watch it. Some really good sessions to watch if you are stuck in an airport with an iphone and some time to spare – very modern and 2.0 of WIF to record the sessions. And there was lots of great coverage of the Bermuda Reinsurance Club both before the event (well, I am a PR person…) and after…with cover in Bernews, four stories in The Royal Gazette (the best two linked here) and The Bermuda Sun. Continue reading →

Forums, Social Media and Reinsurance Clubs… all in sunny Bermuda

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Mairi

I’ve got a busy week ahead. I’m off to Bermuda for a week on Sunday and have a hectic schedule. Not only is the World Insurance Forum on, with a dazzling array of top CEOs on show, with its associated lunches and dinners, but the week is stacking up with other events too.

First of all, on the quest to enlighten all those who will listen, I’m holding a breakfast briefing for International Business on Monday morning (March 15) on how they can use social media. International Business is the term used in Bermuda for companies that are domiciled there but do not do business with the locals, so it is the likes of Renaissance Re, AXIS,Arch, Endurance, Ariel Re…. there are quite a few of them. Anyhow, I’m on a mission with Goldgerg Segalla’s top blogger and LinkedIn master Dan Gerber, to show all who are willing to listen in a room in BUEI that social media can be for grown ups – and can be used in a corporate way. Thanks to @MunichReAmerica and @RiskDebate (Zurich) for calling it a “must attend event” on Twitter. Continue reading →