GC Securities, a division of MMCSecurities and a member of Marsh and McLennan Cos., announced theplacement of a catastrophe bond benefitting the government ofMexico's Fund for Natural Disasters (FONDEN). The $360 million,three-class catastrophe bond is issued by the International Bankfor Reconstruction and Development, and represents the first listedproperty and catastrophe bond issued under its Capital-at-Risknotes program.

MMATrion, a Marsh and McLennan Agency LLC company,lauched BeneCap, a program that provides underwriting, enrollment,administration and claims handling of employee paid voluntarybenefits through an existing captive insurance company.

Insurance brokerage HubInternational Limited hasacquired the assets of the following entities:

• East West Insurance Services Inc.
• Bianchi & Associates Inc.
• Steve Mariani Insurance LLP.
• Patrice Varin
• Rogers, Gunter, Vaughn Insurance Inc.

Terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Itasca, Illinois-based insurance brokerage and risk managementservices company Arthur J. Gallagher &Co. has acquired Canadian company GPL AssuranceInc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

California insurance brokerage and consulting firmKeenan has launched a comprehensive emergencypreparedness program called Incident Management Ready (IMReady).The new suite of products and services is designed to prepare anyentity or organization for a disaster or mass casualty eventoccurring at its facility, including active shooter/active killerscenarios.

Insurance and finance industry software solutionscompany Sapiens International Corporation has openeda new head office in Sandton, South Africa. The expansion followsSapiens' announcement that it intends to leverage Microsoft's twonew data centers for its cloud-based services in South Africa.

LexisNexis Risk Solutions has addedmulti-language capabilities to its LexisNexis Global TelematicsPlatform. The technology platform processes data from insurers,original equipment manufacturers and other after-market datasources as part of insurers' UBI programs.

Genpact has acquired OnSource, a provider ofInspection-as-a-Service products for Property & Casualtyinsurance carriers and customers. Terms of the deal were notdisclosed.

NSMInsurance Group has launched a new pet insuranceprogram called 4Paws Insurance.The program was developed with help of Sandy Boucher, a seasonedinsurance professional with over 25 years of experience in thehuman and pet healthcare sectors.

Fort Worth, Texas-based Interstate Restoration willcontinue to work with the Tropical Meteorology Project at ColoradoState University, translating into $28,000 in new funds for theresearch project. Interstate Restoration has been working with theproject since 2014.

Alan D. Schnitzer, CEO of TravelersCos., has been elected chairman of the company's boardof directors, effective immediately. He succeeds John H. Darsburg,who will assume the position of independent lead director, the rolehe held prior to becoming chairman.

Travelers Cos. has also completed itsacquisition of UK-based commercial insurer Simply Business. Theacquisition was funded through a combination of debt financing andinternal resources, Travelers said in a release.

NAIC President and Wisconsin InsuranceCommissioner Ted Nickel signed a memorandum of understanding(MOU) with Argentina's National Superintendence of Insurance(Superintendencia de Seguros de la Nacin [SSN]) during NAIC'sSummer 2017 National Meeting. Superintendent Juan Pazo signed theagreement on behalf of the SSN.

Jacksonville, Florida-based property & casualty insuranceretailer Brightway Insurance has openedBrightway, The Landers Agency in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The newlocation was opened by Kanie Landers, who opened their firstBrightway agency in Glendale, Colorado last year.

Insurance industry software provider MariasTechnology has added Microsoft Azure cloudhosting to its offerings. Customers and prospects can now choosebetween having their systems and applications hosted on equipmentin the Marias data center or in the Microsoft Cloud with Azure.

Boca Raton, Florida-based Seeman Holtz Property& Casualty Inc. has acquired thefollowing:

• R. Wine Insurance Agency
• Buywise Insurance Agency
• Frank NaClerio Agency

Terms of the deals were not disclosed.