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

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 →

Watch out – here comes Hurricane season

Posted on May 28, 2010 by Mairi

Hurricane Ike 2008

The start of the Atlantic hurricane season on June 1 never really meant that much to me until I went to live in Bermuda and within the first month became glued to the weather reports as swirls of clouds spun slowly towards this unprotected dot in the middle of the Atlantic.

As it came nearer, I was surprised by the ferocity of the winds bending and stripping the trees, the swell that turned the turquoise ocean to dark muddy water, the rip currents that pulled the sand from under your feet and made you retreat from the water’s edge quickly. Continue reading →

Will there be less champagne flowing at the 2009 Rendez-Vous?

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Mairi

This time in two weeks I will be in Monte Carlo along with another 2500 or so people from the weird and wonderful world of reinsurance.
For those of you not familiar with the annual Rendez-Vous, it is the largest reinsurance conference in the world, a place where the brokers and underwriters do a preliminary dance to decide on reinsurance pricing for the January renewals.
For those of you who have never been to Rendez-vous, it is a conference unlike any other. The hub of the action takes place around Casino Square and in the Cafe de Paris, where men (and a handful of women) in chinos and button-down pastel-coloured shirts meet. Over €10 espressos, there are half hourly meetings where numbers are scribbled down on bits of paper, pushed around, and debated hotly, before everyone gets up on the half hour mark, shakes hands and checks the Blackberry for the name of the person and location of the next half hour meeting. This merry dance goes on from the Sunday 9th of September to Wednesday 9th of September, sometimes even to the Thursday.
Every night there are lavish cocktail parties, champagne flowing with fancy canapés to nibble on, followed by rich dinners and late drinks, followed by even later drinks and sometimes a spot of gambling. Chief Executives can be seen at tables at the two casinos, which seems appropriate, given the nature of the business. At the late night bars, pocket loads of business cards are collected, as people meet and exchange industry gossip and arrange to meet again in Baden Baden in October (or London, Bermuda, Zurich, Dublin or New York).
But this year, will the credit crunch affect the way people spend? According to the Principality of Monaco, only the world-famous Grand Prix brings in more money than the Rendez-Vous. Already parties have been cancelled and few have sprung up to take their place. What do you think? I’ve created a short (only four questions) survey to see what you think of spending at Monte – please take it and I’ll publish the results.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Md07orF1Qmn6IlAcPPAwlQ_3d_3d
http://www.rein4ce.co.uk/