April 2008/4

Insurance Australia Group (IAG) said it will not accept a merger with QBE Insurance, despite downgrading its full-year profit outlook.

The hard-pressed airline market showed signs of recovery at the 1 April renewals with rates rising by as much as 10 percent on some major airline accounts, according to underwriting sources.

Trading platform Insurance Futures Exchange Services (IFEX) has seen increased interest from Lloyd's managing agents in trading insurance linked derivatives.

Controlling a third of any market place gets regulators uneasy, especially in a sector as unpopular among consumers as insurance.

The sale of its London-headquartered reinsurance operations pushed US broker Arthur J Gallagher to a loss of $6mn for the first quarter despite a 10 percent rise in its revenues.

Hilb Rogal & Hobbs (HRH) said it has seen a "significant improvement" in the performance of its London market broker Glencairn.

Bermudian-headquartered insurer Lancashire Holdings Ltd will have faced its biggest test to date so far this year and its forthcoming first quarter results will give the best indication yet of the firm's strength, according to analyst Nick Johnson of Numi

Listed Lloyd's insurer Beazley Group plc reported falls in both rates and premiums in its first quarter trading update this week.

Reserve redundancies in the property and casualty (P&C) industry have passed their peak and have fallen by $1bn over the past year, according to research by analysts at Morgan Stanley.

New York State insurance superintendent Eric Dinallo is in talks with XL Capital’s troubled affiliate Security Capital Assurance Ltd (SCA) over its capital raising plans.

Bermudian (re)insurer XL Capital Ltd reported a 49 percent drop in net income for the first quarter 2008 on the prior-year period, to $276.9mn or $1.57 per ordinary share.

US insurer Chubb Corp has been criticised for its "low quality earnings" and unsustainable reserve releases by analyst David Small of Bear Stearns.

US insurer Safeco Corporation, which last week agreed to a takeover by rival Liberty Mutual, reported a drop in quarterly profits for the fifth consecutive quarter as higher cat losses and lower premium income took a toll.

Bermuda's Arch Capital Group Ltd has reported a fall in first quarter net profits from $198.6mn to $189.4mn as the combined ratio in its insurance business rose as a result of large risk losses.

Bermudian cat specialist IPCRe reported a rise in first quarter net operating profits from $68.5mn to $92.8mn, despite an active period for natural catastrophe and large risk losses.

Lloyd's (re)insurer Advent Capital Holdings plc fell to a first quarter pre-tax loss of £5.5mn as it was hit by the succession of heavy industrial catastrophe losses this year, together with deterioration on the 2005-07 underwriting years.

Peter Harmer, CEO of Aon UK, is to become chairman of the London Market Reform Group (MRG).

German insurance giant Allianz SE has acquired a majority stake in two Turkish insurers from Koc Holding in a deal worth over EUR370mn.

US reinsurer Transatlantic Re reported first quarter profit of $115.7mn, an 8 percent rise from the same period last year.

First quarter profits at Platinum Underwriters have soared by more than 40 percent on the comparable prior-year period.

Everest Re Group saw profits plummet over $200mn in the first quarter of 2008 to $77.9mn compared to the same period last year.

The Travelers Companies Inc is that latest insurer to reveal it has been affected by an increase in catastrophe losses in 2008's first quarter results.

Allstate Corporation saw profits fall by over 75 percent in the first quarter of 2008 after suffering from a large rise in catastrophe losses.

The British Property Foundation (BPF) has called on the UK Government to invest in measures to prevent a repeat of 2007's summer floods.