April 2007/2

Following Fitch Ratings' move to upgrade its insurance financial rating on Lloyd's to A+ as the first phase of the Equitas deal closed, industry-watchers will be waiting to see if rival Standard & Poor’s (S&P) follows suit.

If, as expected, its proposed reverse merger deal with Argonaut Group successfully concludes this summer, Bermudian reinsurer PXRE will have completed a remarkable turnaround.

Sciemus Ltd, which last year entered the satellite insurance market with the $250mn LibSat consortium, is looking to replicate the model on a larger scale in power, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Ark starts trading; Leinster misses 1/4 deadline on capital shortfall

The prospect of another controversial defection among leading faculatative reinsurance brokers emerged this month with news – first revealed by The Insurance Insider – that Integro Ltd has poached a trio of senior Guy Carpenter executives...

Capita, the giant UK outsourcing firm, has completed the acquisition of run-off consultants Claims Management Group Ltd (CMGL) for consideration of £32mn from UK private equity firm Sovereign Capital Partners LLP.

A principles-based rather than a rules-based approach not just to regulation but to running the entire industry should be embraced by the industry, according to Joe Plumeri, chairman and CEO of Willis.

Benfield Group’s dedicated approach to rebuilding its facultative operations following the defection of Elliot Richardson saw the reinsurance specialist swoop for Paragon International Insurance Brokers Ltd’s Julian Hall

Last year, the UK authorities unveiled the prospect of UK ISPVs as a sign they were listening to complaints about London’s relative lack of global competitiveness. So what has gone wrong?

Last month's SelectCat launch by Guy Carpenter was the latest in a line of index-based offerings to hit the market as brokers look to create alternative capacity for property catastrophe reinsurance risk.

By John Helmer in Washington

In a year where it would be nearly impossible to make an underwriting loss, Lloyd's revealed that insurers on its platform posted a "record" profit in 2006 of almost £3.7bn.