August 2004/3

UK risk managers association AIRMIC has hit back at the Treasury after it declined to automatically exempt UK risk managers from being regulated by the European Insurance Mediation Directive.

Canadian financial services holding company Fairfax Holdings has reported a 74 percent fall in second quarter profits against the same period in 2003 when the company recorded big investment gains.

World’s second largest broker Aon has reported net income per share of $0.52 with net income from continuing operations increasing to $180mn in its 2004 second quarter results announcement.

In its debut reporting as a combined entity, merged US insurer The St Paul Travelers Companies announced a second quarter loss last Wednesday (4 August), after concluding its recently revealed $1.587bn pre-tax reserve adjustment would have to be charged a

The UK Treasury has published its proposals for implementing the Insurance Undertakings – Annual and Consolidated Accounts Directive, which will make changes to Lloyd’s accounting regime.

Lloyd’s specialty property and casualty insurer Markel International has become the first insurer of 2004 to sign up to the Kinnect Platform.

Dutch banking and insurance group ING said last week that its operating profits for the second quarter of 2004 rose 35.2 percent to €2,796mn, helped by strong results at its banking arm.

Carve-out losses continue to haunt CNA Reinsurance Company took a further $18mn reserve charge in its 2nd quarter results for ongoing workers compensation exposures written on the IGI programme between 1997-1999.

On 29 July it was the turn of insurer CNA to post its results for the second quarter of 2004.

Specialty insurer Houston Casualty Company (HCC) said its profits had risen steeply in the second quarter of 2004 on the back of higher premiums and commission income.

Bermudian-based start-up Quanta Capital Holdings reported its maiden net profit last week (2 August), booking $1.8mn, or $0.03 net income a share for the second quarter of 2004, compared to a $4.5mn net loss in the first quarter of the year. Excluding net

On 4 August Platinum Underwriters said net profits for the second quarter of 2004 had reached $49.8mn, or $1.01 per share, against $26.6mn, or 57 cents per share for the second quarter of 2003.

Bermudian (re)insurer Aspen Insurance Holdings has announced net income of $80.9mn, or $1.13 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2004.

US insurer The Hartford reported strong second quarter results, as a $118mn after-tax casualty reinsurance recoverables charge was more than outweighed by performance in its property casualty division and the continued strength of its life operation.

Bermudian PXRE continued its drive to become a Cat and Risk Excess only reinsurer as it reported second quarter net income up 51 percent, but revenues and net premiums down 20 and 17 percent respectively, with the withdrawal from the last of its Finite ri

Warren Buffett’s investment giant Berkshire Hathaway posted second quarter income down 42 percent to $1.82bn, or $834 a share on last year, largely as a result of lower investment gains, but the group’s insurance operations continue to thrive, contributin

Fast growing Bermudian AXIS Capital announced another set of solid quarterly figures last Wednesday, as it booked $140.9mn, or $0.84 a share net income, a 20 percent increase on the $117.8mn recorded in the second quarter of 2003.

World’s largest reinsurer Munich Re impressed the markets with analysts’ beating second quarter figures on Friday (6 August). The German-based company reported second quarter earnings of €628mn, up on analysts’ consensus of €528mn, and with earnings fo

In the same week that its parent company Fairfax Holdings released its results, (re)insurer Odyssey Re posted a 39.7 percent increase in post-tax operating income for the second quarter of 2004.

Senior Willis executives continued to sell their stock in the New York Stock Exchange listed broker, last week.

Talbot Underwriting, the private equity backed Lloyd’s insurer, has continued to bolster its management team by announcing last week that XL’s London Market managing director Gilles Bonvarlet will join the group later this year as chief operating officer.