April 2005/2

Contract certainty has finally become a "hot" industry subject. Indeed, while market practitioners have long-criticised the industry's inability to consistently issue policy wordings on time, more recently regulators on both sides of the Atlantic have bec

Despite the hurricanes and regulatory investigations of the past year, ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) said last week that it will maintain its stable outlook on the global reinsurance industry. It added, however, that there was a possibility of

Omega Underwriting Holdings Plc became the latest Lloyd’s insurer to become publicly listed when trading began in its shares on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market last week.

Lloyd's specialist insurer Kiln posted record pre-tax profits of £38.1mn for 2004, an increase of 5 percent on 2003’s result. Gross written premiums rocketed by 17 percent to reach £313.5mn, but the company’s combined ratio rose to 86 percent against 2

World’s oldest insurance market Lloyd’s announced annual profits for 2004 of £1.36bn, 28 percent down on the £1.89bn it booked in 2003. But in the light of net claims of £1.2bn from the devastating US hurricanes that hit the Caribbean and Florida last

Rating agency AM Best has cut its financial strength rating on Bermudian reinsurer Inter-Ocean Holdings Limited to B++ (Very Good) from A- (Excellent), following the company’s announcement that it has ceased writing new business and is now in run-off.

T Michael Miller became the latest St Paul Travelers’ executive to lead the organisation suddenly – despite only been promoted two months ago into a new role. St Paul Travelers announced today (11 April) that Miller will join White Mountain Insurance G

Under-fire insurance giant American International Group (AIG) endured another difficult week as further revelations broke about the nature of its involvement in transactions now under the intense scrutiny of regulators. The week had begun in relatively

The Lloyd’s Names’ stop loss mutual Integer has announced a second proposal for a scheme of arrangement, with the aim of distributing its £9mn assets to the Lloyd’s members who bought stop-loss reinsurance polices from the company in the late nineties.

Following in the footsteps of its larger rivals Marsh Inc and Aon Corp, Willis has settled investigations into its business practices by New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer, the State’s acting insurance superintendent Howard Mills and Minnesota’s atto

As with Eliot Spitzer’s investigations into MMC and Aon Corp, the Willis settlement has exposed shameful allegations of practices designed to maximise revenues at the expense of client interests. In its settlement document – agreed by the parties on th

Marsh UK has published details of its new “model” designed to show greater transparency of its revenue structures after it abolished the controversial Placement Service Agreements (PSAs) last year. The broker says it has the agreement in principle fro