August 2007/5

Newly-listed Tawa plc has raided outsourcing firm Axiom Consulting as it strengthens its asbestos, pollution and health hazard (APH) team.

London market back office service provider Xchanging plc has entered into a retail investment account management partnership with Allianz Global Investors.

Swiss reinsurer Converium Holdings posted a 58 percent half-year increase in its net income of $197mn in its final results after being acquired by SCOR Group earlier this year.

The Spitzer fallout continues for Marsh & McLennan Cos (MMC) with the filing of an anti-trust lawsuit by the state of Ohio against the world's largest broker, along with American International Group and three other insurers.

Zurich Financial Services (ZFS) has confirmed that it has made a $30mn settlement for a class action lawsuit in the US.

The Insurance Insider's Trading Risk event on the 6 September has now attracted over 350 registrants - meaning only subscribers to the publication can now register to attend.

Despite the fact it was the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane to make landfall since records began Hurricane Dean's "extraordinarily fortunate track" left (re)insurers facing only modest losses.

Marsh & McLennan (MMC) is holding to its commitment to return funds to shareholders when it announced on 24 August that it would buy $800mn of its shares from a "financial institution".

The $45mn loss of a plane in Japan last week has pushed the airline sector closer to a tipping point, according to aviation analysts Ascend.

The unravelling of the "Spitzer" agreements made by the former New York attorney general and the global brokers in 2005 continued last week with news that Willis Group could also start charging fees to insurers.

The current crisis in the money markets has led to insurers cancelling planned debt issues, Insider Week can reveal.

Independent Insurance's London Market division was accepting "rubbish business" where "no premium was too cheap" the company's former chief executive Michael Bright told a court last week.

"Class of 2005" insurer Lancashire Holdings Ltd has appointed Neil McConachie as its chief risk officer.

Bermudian reinsurer PartnerRe Ltd has relocated its global reinsurance business to Dublin in order to take advantage of the Europe Union's regulatory regime, said the company.

Lloyd's (re)insurer Kiln plc has improved its outlook on three of its four trading syndicates in 2005, the company confirmed last week.

French reinsurer SCOR Group revealed a 55 percent increase in its gross written premium during the first half of this year, primarily driven by its acquisition of the life reinsurer Revios.

Lloyd's insurer Novae Group plc has announced that Jonathan Butcher will become active underwriter of its Syndicate 2007 following the retirement of the incumbent Alan Hicks later this year.

US giant Travelers' Lloyd's operation is set to become the latest managing agency to establish a Singapore presence through the Lloyd's Asia platform.

Insurance services company Whittington has overseen the first successful scheme of arrangement for a Singapore-based insurance company, with the closure of Lion City Run-Off Private Ltd.

Last week saw the first trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) of a Re-Ex Index catastrophe derivative, and a joint venture to launch a specialist insurance derivatives broker.