April 2008/3

At current pricing levels, it would take a $30-50bn ground-up property loss to reverse the slide in property cat reinsurance rates, according to Aon Re Global.

Bermudian (re)insurer Ironshore Insurance Ltd's fledgling subsidiaries Ironshore Indemnity Inc (III) and Ironshore Specialty Insurance Company (ISIC) have been assigned A- financial strength ratings and issuer credit ratings of a- by AM Best.

Profits for the US property & casualty industry fell by almost $5bn to $66.5bn last year compared to the prior year period, according to rating agency AM Best.

Former Wells Fargo executive LoriAnn Lowery has been appointed by Lloyd's as its new president of North America.

Lloyd's insurer Omega Insurance Holdings Ltd announced last week that it had terminated talks with potential suitors interested in acquiring the company.

Specialist corporate finance firm Benfield Advisory has developed a new parametric reinsurance product, aimed at transferring workers' compensation catastrophe (WCC) coverage to reinsurers and the capital markets.

(Re)insurance broker Cooper Gay & Co Ltd is in advanced talks to acquire the wholesale operations of Heath Lambert Group, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

UK financial services group Prudential Plc has delivered a 13 percent increase in new business, at £729mn for the first quarter of 2008, despite a "challenging" economic environment.

The US economy woes are set to continue and worsen as it faces a one-in-100-year crash similar to the 1929 stock market meltdown that preceded the Great Depression, according to Prem Watsa, head of Fairfax Financial Holdings.

Former Catlin senior vice president Francis "Bud" Lockwood has been named as president of Montpelier Re's US unit, Montpelier Underwriting Inc (MUI).

Integro Insurance Brokers is due to make two new appointments to boost its London platform.

On the 18 April anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco "big one", a magnitude 5.4 earthquake shook southern Illinois last week issuing a warning to (re)insurers, some of whom are already reducing quake coverage.