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.

April's reinsurance renewals for life and personal accident (PA) reinsurance saw the average rate on line decline by 3.8 percent, and in some cases there were falls of as much as 10 percent.

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).

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...

Lloyd’s opens Brazil office; Mitsui Sumitomo branches out to Eastern Europe; Beazley completes acquisition of First State...

Bliss & Glennon, a Californian-based wholesale broker inherited by Willis Group as part of its $2.1bn acquisition of Hilb Rogal & Hobbs, was sold by the international broker last week.

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.

Ratings agency Moody's has revised its outlook for the US commercial lines insurance sector to negative from stable.

Last year's apparently freakish total of 1,700 US tornadoes - which cost the industry more than $10.5bn in insured losses - may not be so unusual after all.

Bermuda-headquartered insurer Hiscox has re-jigged its group reporting structure as it continues its US expansion.

American International Group (AIG) agreed last week to sell its 21st Century US personal auto business to Zurich Financial Services for $1.9bn, representing the biggest insurance disposal in its asset sale programme so far.

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...