April 2004/1

WTC leaseholder Silverstein Properties and insurers led by reinsurance giant Swiss Re are litigating over which contractual wordings the various parties used in placing the building's insurance cover. This phase of the trial, which began on 9 February,

David Schiff looks at legal reform... You've heard it before. The legal system is out of control. The plaintiff's bar is ruining America. If we don't get legal reform, terrible things will happen: businesses will go bust or go elsewhere; jobs will be l

Allianz back in profit but fails to convince A turnaround from 2002's record EUR1.2bn loss to a healthy net profit of EUR1.6bn for 2003 failed to convince the markets as German insurer Allianz admitted it still had some way to go in the struggle to rever

US life insurer Lincoln National reduced its exposures to workers' compensation carve-out losses written by Sun Life and Phoenix after successfully appealing part of an arbitration decision that ruled it was exposed to losses emanating from the notorious

2003 preliminary results reflect excellent underwriting conditions Amlin posts 83% combined ratio Amlin announced a combined ratio of 83 percent (against 95 percent in 2002) and a 31 percent increase in gross written premium to £937.4mn for its 2003 y

New run-off appointment, but 2001 loss uncertainty leaves 20 syndicates open Lloyd's is understood to be attempting to address the issue of run-off for open year accounts with the appointment of Stephen McCann as head of run-off for the Lloyd's market.

Leeds United's roller-coaster ride from Premiership darlings to near bankruptcy eased to a halt this month when it emerged the Yorkshire football club had been bought out of administration by a consortium of local businessmen. On 19 March the club's ad

The Berkshire Hathaway owned Lloyd's insurer Marlborough Underwriting Agency has refocused its strategy to concentrate on wholesale reinsurance business. As a consequence, last month its Syndicate 1861 transferred the renewal rights for much of its pr

Straight talking Willis supremo Joe Plumeri warned the London market that it must change its outlook to achieve consistency of returns, growth and earnings, as he enthralled his Lloyd's library audience in his 10 March Insurance Institute of London lectur

Lloyd's insurer Catlin has ended its long wait and gone public on the LSE. The IPO, London's second largest in 2004, raised £109mn ($200mn), with shares priced at 350p. This comes in at the bottom end of the 350-420p range predicted by Catlin in a 17 Marc

Markel CEO and President Tony Markel has praised Lloyd's for reforms carried out since 2002, but has warned of the need for further change. Markel's comments came in a speech to a crowded Lloyd's library on 16 March, 2004, when he said he was encourage

In our regular monthly News Digest, we round up key stories from the last month, presenting them to you in easily digestable snippets.