August 2008/1

Mangrove Bay has become the first major contingent capital facility issued by a non-life (re)insurer to be called upon after the Bermudian (re)insurer confirmed last month that it would be exercised.

An inevitable sign of the times is that insurers are seeing their revenues either flat or falling – a trend that featured heavily in AM Best’s table of top US property casualty writers.

Florida is made up of 67 separate counties while Texas - where everything has to be big - consists of 254 individual counties.

Despite both booking a 6 percent rise in total revenues for the second quarter, Aon was able to trump rival Willis on its reinsurance operations.

A second consecutive quarter of heavy catastrophe losses took its toll on early reporting US insurers as profits slipped at Allstate Corp, Travelers, Liberty Mutual, WR Berkley and Chubb.

US national carriers and Florida-only insurers created a surge in demand for Industry Loss Warranties (ILWs) last month, according to Jim Bryce, president and CEO of Bermudian cat specialist IPCRe.

Aspen Insurance Holdings warned of the danger to the (re)insurance industry from inflation – particularly in crop prices – as it booked Q2 net profits up 11 percent to $126.9mn, boosted by strong underwriting results and "solid returns" from investments.

Settlement talks between the New York attorney general's office and Maurice "Hank" Greenberg have postponed a deposition involving the former American International Group (AIG) CEO until after 1 September.

RK Carvill & Co Ltd has confirmed it is in "exploratory talks" to sell a stake to insurance focussed private equity firm, Stone Point Capital.

Lloyd's insurer Jubilee Managing Agency Ltd is continuing its expansion strategy with the appointment of property underwriter Martin Pope and a team from Travelers, The Insurance Insider understands.

A dispute between RSA plc and BAE Systems over a multi-million dollar reinsurance claim on a policy structured to cover revenue shortfalls on aircraft leased for regional routes is to be heard by the courts at the end of September.

Willis's London market broker Glencairn, acquired as part of the $2.1bn Hilb Rogal & Hobbs (HRH) takeover, will be re-branded and allowed to function as a stand-alone wholesaler, The Insurance Insider has learnt.