Insurance

UnitedHealth faces a long and painful recovery

13 May 2025

Chairman Stephen Hemsley is back as CEO after the insurer’s robust run abruptly stopped. The best elderly patients have been cherry picked, costs are rising and public glare makes it harder to deny care. Even radical therapy may fail to rescue $300 bln of lost market value.

Taiwan insurers get a stern currency warning

12 May 2025

The local dollar’s strong rally against the greenback will hit earnings at Cathay Life and peers, which have some $760 bln invested abroad. Hedges and reserves soften the blow. But the underlying mismatch of domestic policies funding overseas assets is an enduring risk.

Buffett’s exit risks shrinking Berkshire’s vistas

5 May 2025

Decades-long 20% stock gains secured the Sage of Omaha’s legacy. Successor Greg Abel inherits $348 bln of cash, but a tougher world. Cookie-cutter ideas aren’t sufficient, as buyout shops ape a trademark tactic and everything from climate to AI pressures key holdings.

Generali’s corporate fog gets briefly clearer

24 Apr 2025

Shareholders at the Italian insurer backed CEO Philippe Donnet and a group of directors put forward by investor Mediobanca. The result avoids a divided board, which could have complicated governance. But it’s just a warm-up for a bigger battle that will shape Generali’s fate.

Swiss insurer deal is baby-step in right direction

22 Apr 2025

Baloise and Helvetia are merging to create a $20 bln group, the country’s second largest. Under-pressure Baloise gets a share in cost savings of over $2 bln and greater scope to hike prices. But a tie-up with Zurich Insurance Group might have done the same, with a juicy premium.

China insurers find capital home in Hong Kong

31 Mar 2025

The $127 bln Ping An and peers are upping purchases of the city's stocks as they hunt for yield. Low interest rates and a lack of investment options on the mainland will sustain the trend. That should help narrow the premium onshore shares trade at to their Hong Kong equivalents.

Prudential’s India listing may prove short-sighted

25 Mar 2025

The insurer might seek a $12 bln valuation for its local asset management unit. Returning proceeds to shareholders could boost Pru's stock, which trades at a discount to AIA. But a sale would be a partial retreat from a fast-growing market while giants like BlackRock pile in.

Bank investors bet on car loan scandal airbags

13 Mar 2025

A court verdict on mis-sold motor loans could pave the way for large fines for lenders like Lloyds. Yet that would undermine chancellor Rachel Reeves’ growth agenda, and the regulator has ways to limit the damage. Current stock prices imply a dent rather than a pile-up.

Insurers will struggle to dodge climate-change tab

26 Feb 2025

From California to Delhi, losses from floods and wildfires are growing. Meanwhile, insurers are pulling cover to protect themselves. Governments can’t let that happen en masse, though, meaning the $3.6 trln property and casualty sector will end up paying one way or another.

Japan’s M&A wave is just getting started

13 Feb 2025

The country’s corporate giants, nudged by reform, are exploring big deals. Carmakers Honda and Nissan, convenience store 7-Eleven’s owner and others are testing waters at home and abroad. In this week’s Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists debate how far it will go.

L&G’s US exit is lucrative way to flip the script

7 Feb 2025

The UK insurer is selling its American protection unit to Meiji Yasuda for $2.3 bln in cash. As EU companies scramble to gain share in the world’s largest economy, the timing is odd. But L&G boss Antonio Simoes is also exploiting Japanese demand for US assets to get a good price.

European mega fund deal swaps scale for complexity

21 Jan 2025

Insurer Generali and French bank BPCE are pooling asset managers. A quirky joint-venture structure, and sceptical Italian shareholder, add risk in a sector where M&A is already tricky. The quid pro quo is a chance to create a 1.9 trln euro champion in a consolidating market.

Ping An’s tech dreams may yet exit intensive care

16 Jan 2025

The $110 bln insurer’s days of spinning off web-based ventures to help boost its value are long over. But a quirky special dividend is giving it back majority control of beaten-down but cash-rich Ping An Healthcare just as the online medical firm’s fortunes look set to improve.

UnitedHealth lacks antidote for chronic anger

15 Jan 2025

The $500 bln US medical conglomerate’s relentless growth ostensibly aimed to reduce costs for patients, but conveniently expanded its market dominance and bottom line. With consumer and political dissatisfaction hardening, boss Andrew Witty will struggle to be part of the cure.

Los Angeles fires expose inflated US home prices

9 Jan 2025

Devastation around the country’s second-largest city has already led to one damage estimate beyond $50 bln. New California rules ease the way for insurers to charge more to cover the risks. Once the blazes are contained, housing market realities will start to spread nationwide.

Insurance risks will be a proxy carbon tax

27 Dec 2024

Governments have failed to introduce a global levy to bring down fossil fuel emissions. But climate change is increasingly forcing up the cost of living. With insurance becoming more expensive and scarcer, the risk is that carbon pricing happens – but in a highly regressive way.

Insurers will stake their claim in private credit

24 Dec 2024

Buyout giants like Apollo and KKR have grabbed hold of an industry dragged down by dire valuations and aged policy books and used it to crack open a $34 trln credit market. As private lenders consolidate, insurers will flip the script by making their own acquisitions in 2025.

Nippon Life plays up Japan Inc’s existential angst

11 Dec 2024

The insurer is buying smaller US rival Resolution for $8.2 bln. Returns look low, and the weak yen makes overseas purchases more expensive. But the deal diversifies earnings too reliant on a shrinking home market. Assuming Washington allows, such transactions will keep flowing.

A $13 bln cash sale breaks buyout doom loop

9 Dec 2024

In a tough market for M&A and IPOs, private equity shops have been recycling assets to sate anxious investors. GTCR’s deal to offload its insurance broker to Arthur J. Gallagher provides a sign that the tide may be turning. Whether animal spirits will persist is the question.

UnitedHealth tragedy opens deep healthcare wounds

5 Dec 2024

The murder of insurance boss Brian Thompson drew a slew of callous responses, including on a company Facebook post. Industry profit is rising in a nation spending double its peers on healthcare for worse outcomes. Policy ideas are weak, but political risk is amping up.