April 2007/2

Steven Haasz – a key figure in driving market reform at Lloyd’s – has resigned, just days after the Society was upgraded to A+ by Standard & Poor’s citing “unstoppable momentum behind improving London market business processes”.

Bermudian giants ACE Ltd and XL Capital reported analyst-beating first quarter profits, but the companies’ performance has met with a mixed response from analysts.

Early reporting Bermudians delivered strong first quarter earnings but weaker top line figures as signs of premium growth slowdown in a softening market began to show.

US insurers Chubb Corporation and WR Berkley reported profits up and premiums down for the first quarter of 2007.

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has upgraded Lloyd’s financial strength rating to A+ following the Equitas deal with Berkshire Hathaway which sees the three-hundred-year-old market put its legacy fears behind it.

Bermudian IPC Holdings Ltd appears to have paid the price for a property catastrophe focus with its operating subsidiaries downgraded to A- by Standard & Poor’s (S&P).

Converium has pointed to its first quarter results this morning as evidence that the increasingly hostile takeover bid from rival SCOR undervalues the firm.

Xchanging has priced its proposed initial public offering (IPO) at 210 to 240 pence a share, effectively valuing the company at £500mn at the mid-point price.

Converium has raised the heat in its defence against an increasingly hostile takeover bid by rival SCOR as it filed a lawsuit in the US against the French reinsurer and former investor Patinex alleging violation of securities laws.

PRO Insurance Solutions Ltd, the proposed Scheme Manager of the WFUM Pools Scheme, has confirmed that the 14 WFUM pools scheme companies are applying to the UK High Court for sanction of the proposed schemes.

Maurice "Hank" Greenberg sold another chunk of his American International Group (AIG) shares netting around $28mn last month. Greenberg sold 400,000 shares at an average price of $69.86 each, adding to the sales he made last year.

The spectre of asbestos returned to haunt reinsurance giant Munich Re as it revealed in its full annual report a $600mn strengthening of loss reserves for related claims at its US operation.