April 2007/3

Xchanging, the outsourcing firm that runs the London market’s back office, has announced a tie-up with Web Connectivity for its Insurers’ Market Repository (IMR) Gateway service.

This year's North Atlantic hurricane season will provide a "litmus test" for the (re)insurance industry's ability to adapt, according to Fitch Ratings.

Reports published in the last week have again warned the insurance industry to expect increased financial losses as weather-related catastrophes worsen as a result of climate change.

AXA, the French insurance giant, is set to confirm another UK broker acquisition with its swoop for the private equity backed Smart & Cook, according to reports.

SCOR officially launched its hostile takeover bid for rival Converium last week (4 April) as it provided further details of the rationale behind the proposed deal which it hopes will create a top 5 global reinsurer and yield an A+ rating by 2010.

Lexington Insurance Company, part of American International Group (AIG), has launched a new Casualty Mid Excess unit in London with capacity of $50mn.

The US property and casualty industry has made significant progress in funding its asbestos liabilities, according to rating agency AM Best.

Takaful insurance is the key to increasing insurance awareness in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), capitalising on the positive economic dynamics of the region, according to a report published by Standard & Poor's (S&P).

Undervalued reinsurance stocks should be a target for investors, despite the common belief that shares in the sector trade down as the hurricane season approaches, according to analysts at investment bank Bear Stearns.

Bermudian reinsurer Bridge Re, which is wholly owned by investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort, is set to provide a further $182.5mn of securitised capacity to the property catastrophe retrocession market.

German giant Allianz has become the first insurer to transfer flood risk to the capital markets with a $150mn cat bond issued by Cayman Island’s special purpose vehicle Blue Wings Ltd.

Bermudian (re)insurer Max Re Capital Ltd is raising $100mn to repay short-term debt at its subsidiary Max USA Holdings Ltd.