April 2013/4

Certain Lloyd's underwriters owe the lead smelter Doe Run $62.5mn in damages, a Missouri appeals court ruled last week (16 April) in a precedent-setting case.

Bank of America has reached a $500mn settlement with buyers of mortgage-back securities (MBS) issued by its Countrywide unit.

American International Group (AIG) can move its $10bn dispute with Bank of America to a state court, thanks to the existence of a comma.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK's new consumer-focused supervisor, has said it will not usually investigate regulatory failures that result in harm of £30mn or less to financial customers.

QBE has agreed to pay a $10mn penalty to the State of New York over its force-placed insurance business.

US state insurers of last resort are holding $150bn of property catastrophe risk, presenting a prime growth opportunity for the alternative reinsurance market, says Nephila Capital founding principal Greg Hagood.

Ace launched a $95mn special purpose vehicle Altair Re to take the number of 2013 sidecars to seven, which are bringing more than $1.1bn of new capital to the sector.

The sponsors of two cat bonds currently on the market have expanded their fundraising targets as indicative pricing on the deals declined.

Allstate is seeking to raise $250mn from its new Sanders Re cat bond issuance after lopping off the top layers of its traditional reinsurance programme, sister publication Trading Risk reported last week.

The crunch 2013-14 renewal of the major reinsurance programme purchased by the International Group of protection and indemnity insurers has resulted in a significant broadening of the security base, assisted by Everest Re, Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary National Indemnity and Lloyd's leader Beazley, The Insurance Insider has learned.

The upstream energy market suffered its smallest loss in more than a decade last year, despite 2011 being the worst recorded year for catastrophe losses, according to Willis.

Downstream energy insurers may be about to exit the market as rates have reached "rock-bottom", global broker Willis predicted in its annual energy review.