April 2008/1

A slump in underwriting results in the US property/casualty insurance industry dented its profitability last year, according to Insurance Services Office (ISO).

The head of Lloyd’s China, Ian Faragher is to step down after two years in the role, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

American International Group (AIG) has renamed its Domestic Brokerage Group and appointed Kristian Moor as head, the insurance giant has announced.

Japanese renewals unpredictable following losses; ACE to make Swiss move; Junipurus start-up builds underwriting team; Mapfre appliesfor Brazilian licence; S&P warns on Swiss Re’s missing business...

Sagicor Financial Corporation (SFC) – which acquired Lloyd’s insurer Gerling at Lloyd’s and its Syndicate 1206 last September – has announced an increase in net income to over $100mn in 2007.

Creditors of OIC Run-Off Ltd (OIC) and The London and Overseas Insurance Company Ltd (L&O) will receive an increased payout of 48 percent, the joint scheme administrator has announced.

Latest sat loss adds upward rate pressure;

Alea Group CFO and COO, Kirk Lusk, has resigned from the Bermudian-headquartered run-off company.

GLOBAL Reinsurance Co - the former reinsurance arm of Germany's Gerling Group which went into run-off in 2002 - is applying to the UK courts for approval for a scheme of arrangement in the UK.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc has taken on two of White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd’s run-off units as part of the $836mn that divests it of its stake in the insurer.

The recent surge in reinsurance-to-close (RITC) transactions is reflected in Lloyd's figures that reveal a dramatic fall in the number of run-off years of account at the end of 2007.

Tawa plc closed its acquisition of PXRE Reinsurance Company in a deal which saw a surprise $14.4mn investment from a trust owned by billionaire steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal family members.