April 2006/2

Troubled Bermudian PXRE announced yesterday (11 April) that it has requested the withdrawal of its financial strength and issuer credit ratings by the major agencies. The move is part of the reinsurer’s strategic evaluation process that has...

Net premiums fell 13 percent in 2005 for the US reinsurers included in reinsurance broker Benfield's US Quarterly report (BUSQ). The report stated: "While appetite for retentions increased at primary companies, leading to reduced cessions, the BUSQ...

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) announced on 5 April that it has revised its outlook on the reinsurance sector from negative to stable. S&P placed the reinsurance industry on negative outlook on 28 September last year in the aftermath of...

Shares in run-off (re)insurance group Alea Group Holdings rose last week after the company announced better than expected full-year results. The group posted a post-tax loss of $178.9mn for the year, however this was significantly better than the...

The Insurance Insider and Reynolds Porter Chamberlain invite you to attend a Post-Katrina Technical Briefing, taking place at Balls Brothers, Minster Court, London on Thursday 4 May 2006.

Analysts from Morgan Stanley predict Swiss reinsurer Converium will match rival SCOR’s revival, regaining its A rating from Standard & Poor's (S&P) later this year. David Collins, analyst at Morgan Stanley, upgraded Converium from underweight to...

The G6 group of Lloyd's insurers has recently announced that it has agreed new electronic processes with four major brokers using the internationally recognised ACORD data standards. Initial feedback from The Insurance Insider's 2006 London Market...

Regulation doesn't benefit clients and only threatens profitability, according to a survey of insurance brokers conducted by accountancy and advisory firm Mazars. The findings, published last Thursday (6 April), reveal that the majority of brokers...

Bermudian giant XL Capital is to float its financial guaranty business in an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange, the (re)insurer revealed in a statement on 7 April. Funds raised will be used to boost capital and to...

As the hurricane season raged last year, Lloyd's proudly revealed that it had made a £1.38bn profit in the first half of 2005. The impact of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma (KRW) was unlikely to see the performance sustained, but the Society's...

Underwriting has become key to insurers profitability in the current low-yield financial environment, according to Swiss Re’s latest Sigma report. The report found that the non-life insurance industry posted sound underwriting profits in 2004. Over...

Omega Specialty Insurance Company Ltd (OSIL) has become the latest of the "Class of 2005" to be endorsed by AM Best, after the agency assigned it A- financial strength and credit ratings last Monday (3 April). OSIL was launched late last year by...