April 2009/3

Catlin Group is launching a new Lloyd’s Syndicate and has opened a Guernsey branch office to write term life (re)insurance business.

German insurance giant Allianz's Blue Fin II cat bond – which increased in size to $180mn earlier in the month – was over-subscribed at its close last week (14 April).

AIM-listed broker THB Group plc is poised to appoint the former Marsh UK executive Stephen Matanle as the head of its largest division – Lloyd’s broker Thompson Heath & Bond (THB), as first revealed by The Insurance Insider.

Lloyd's insurers may be poised to benefit from a change in the UK government's tax treatment of their equalisation reserves, as the UK budget fast approaches (22 April).

Ironshore continues AIG harvest with new property executive; QBE finally appoints US CEO; Chubb promotes London; EQECAT appoints new senior VP manager; Willis appoints Sweden CEO; Colemont hires new aviation CEO...

The value of fraudulent UK insurance claims rose 30 percent to £730mn in 2008, while the number of fraudulent claims rose 17 percent against 2007 to 107,000, according to figures released by the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

German regulator BaFin is set to give its verdict on German hedge fund Augur Capital's EUR20mn acquisition of Deutsche Versicherungs- und Rückversicherungs-AG (DARAG) later this week, The Insurance Insider understands.

Rates on US catastrophe-exposed lines are set to rise by a further 10-20 percent at the key mid-year renewals as a result of capacity scarcity, according to analysts at London-based stockbrokers Execution Ltd. The report adds that...

Willis Group estimates that directors’ and officers’ (D&O) losses as a result of claims relating to the credit crunch and sub-prime will total $5.9bn, with $5.3bn of that attributable to settlement and defence costs.

Global broker Aon Risk Services (ARS) has unveiled a powerful real-time global trading platform under the banner of Global Risk Insight Platform (GRIP).

As the US property and casualty (P&C) industry converges on Orlando, Florida, for the annual RIMS conference, one of the key themes is the impact the economic crisis is having on the market.

Capital is willing to pour into the catastrophe reinsurance sector, but only when 30 percent+ returns become a realistic prospect once again.