April 2004/2

Bermudian insurer Aspen Insurance Holdings announced last week the appointment of Ian Campbell as new finance director of Aspen Insurance UK Ltd.

London based broker Howden has grown its Scandinavian presence by acquiring a majority interest in the Swedish broker Holm & Co.

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) followed through with its threatened downgrade of the various Travelers’ entities it placed on CreditWatch on 17 November 2003, when the agency greeted the proposed merger by revealing its intention to align Travelers’ ratings with

Munich Re is restructuring its struggling primary insurance subsidiary Ergo after it contributed to the reinsurer’s first loss for 98 years.

Quoted Lloyd’s insurer Chaucer Holdings has announced an eightfold increase in profits, helped by supercharged premiums on the back of the hard market.

Start-up liability specialist Novae Underwriting has announced that Ian West will become its underwriting director.

Marsh & McLennan (MMC), the parent company of US insurance broker Marsh, has seen a drastic change in the structure of its business, due in part to the market timing scandal at its fund management subsidiary, Putnam. Further worries for the coming year ar

AIG director Frank Zarb will be responsible for revealing Maurice “Hank” Greenberg’s testament when the insurance giant’s legendary patriarch decides to leave the company.

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.

Controversial insurer CIC has become embroiled in a fresh scandal relating to an alleged US multimillion dollar employee health care fraud involving participants from both sides of the Atlantic.

Consultants Towers Perrin has announced the appointment of Amar Shah as leader of European Finite Reinsurance.

Swiss insurer Zurich Financial Services (ZFS) has embarked on a new cost-cutting programme that aims to save $200mn over the next two years.