April 2006/3

Deteriorating losses from failing insurer filter through in 2005 The scale of the damage caused to the Lloyd’s Central Fund by the failure of GoshawK’s Syndicate 102 is becoming apparent with the Society paying £76mn last year to cover claims...

With last year’s record hurricane losses continuing to rise there was further bad news for hard-hit (re)insurers as two separate forecasts warned of another over-active year ahead in the Atlantic. Forecasters Tropical Storm Risk (TSR) updated this...

Profits nearly double at Allianz German insurer Allianz AG almost doubled profits last year, with 2005 net income up to EUR4.38bn, a 93 percent rise from the previous year’s EUR2.66bn. Total revenues rose by 4.2 percent from EUR96.9bn in 2004 to EUR100.

Hopes that PXRE harboured of engineering a move for its ongoing business to Lloyd’s are understood to be fading, as it revealed on 11 April that it has requested the withdrawal of its financial strength and issuer credit ratings by the major agencies.

SVB shares fall following restructuring announcement ; Lloyd’s to launch in Shanghai ; Aviva drops Pru bid ; GoshawK shares set for suspension ; Aon PLF: P&I renewal “successful” ; Bail bond syndicate increases loss estimates ; et al...

Lloyd’s Names transferring to Hampden Private Capital following its acquisition of the CBS members’ agency face the possibility of a hike in profit commissions from 2008. Hampden Private Capital is now one of only two remaining Lloyd’s members’...

Despite stagnating underwriting conditions, capacity continues to hunt for a home in the aviation (re)insurance sector, with the imminent $1bn initial public offering (IPO) of Augsburg Re and a new Limit syndicate at Lloyd’s due to start underwriting...

Lloyd’s has given distressed Bermudian insurer Quanta Capital Holdings a deadline to inject new capital into its Syndicate 4000 or face the business being closed by year-end. The Bermudian headquartered insurance group revealed in a...

Fast-expanding Omni Whittington is close to launching a Singapore-based $50mn live underwriting Lloyd's syndicate, The Insurance Insider can reveal. According to the company, the new syndicate will write “predominantly short-tail commercial...

German reinsurer R+V is awaiting judgement on the quantum of liabilities due from the controversial former Lloyd’s based underwriting agency Risk. Mr Justice Tomlinson finished hearing the case on 30 March after a two-week hearing at the...

Defunct Australian insurer HIH’s film finance action against its broker JLT Risk Solutions has ended with its claim being dismissed on 15 March. Despite Mr Justice Langley finding that JLT was in breach of duty its duty as a broker...

The fraud trial brought by Cable & Wireless (C&W) against five former employees of its collapsed captive insurer Pender Mutual continues as one of the defendants has gone missing without signing the final settlement. Of the 17 named defendants on...