Eastwood Talking about BHSI

[thefatbaboon]

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/east/2014/03/31/324441.htm

 

 

[Guest longinvestor]

Thanks for posting. This looks to be brewing into something very big for BRK.

 

Picked out some comments,

 

“We can build business anywhere in the world that we think is appropriate for us to build in, which means generating acceptable profit for Berkshire Hathaway,”

 

"Collectively, for Berkshire’s flagship company, National Indemnity and its affiliates, policyholders surplus stands at roughly $110 billion...“Just for your context and perspective on that, it’s about 15 percent of the total policyholders surplus in all property/casualty insurance industry. It’s a big, big number,” he said. “This is a risk-taking business, so if you want to be in this business, it’s always nice to have a big balance sheet where you can do a lot of things.”

 

And, Eastwood said, Warren Buffett likes the insurance business. “He loves what he calls float. He loves collecting premium dollars. He loves to invest it. And so my team and I get up every day and try to write insurance business and ship the premium dollars to Omaha.”

[Guest longinvestor]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-19/berkshire-targets-airline-hassles-in-new-challenge-to-aig.html?cmpid=yhoo

 

Americans spent almost $1.9 billion on travel coverage in 2012, the U.S. Travel Insurance Association said in October. The most popular policies cover trip cancellation or interruption, and sales in that segment increased 15 percent from 2010, according to the group.

 

 

More float coming to BRK.

[Guest longinvestor]

http://www.stevenspointjournal.com/article/20140601/SPJ01/306010357/On-Job-Noel-helps-lead-Berkshire-Hathaway-Specialty-Insurance-into-travel-insurance-business

“I’m excited about this opportunity,” said Noel, whose title is president of Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, in a statement. “We’ve created simple, inexpensive travel insurance that covers what’s never been covered before. It’s a real game-changer in the marketplace, and the timing couldn’t be better, with the record number of flight delays and cancellations this past winter combined with the rising cost of air travel. Consumers are desperately seeking assistance when things go wrong.”

 

AirCare is billed as the first low-cost, fixed-benefit flight-protection coverage available up to one hour before flight departure. Coverage is priced at $25 per trip and pays $1,000 to travelers for tarmac delays of more than two hours; $1,000 if a traveler experiences lost or stolen luggage; $500 if a flight delay causes a traveler to miss a connecting flight; $500 for luggage delayed more than 12 hours; and $50 if a traveler experiences more than a two-hour flight delay.