August 2008/3

Interbroker-dealer Evolution Markets has launched a new division for trading and structuring catastrophe derivatives following its successful entry into the weather derivatives market.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's revised its outlook for the US commercial lines and property & casualty (P&C) sector to negative last week on the back of continued price softening and declining investment returns.

German reinsurer Cologne Re, part of Warren Buffett's General Re group, posted first-half profits of EUR166.6mn, up from EUR129.2mn in the prior-year period, despite being hit by catastrophes in Europe and Australia.

Zurich Financial Services announced net profits of $2.7bn and a combined ratio of 96.2 percent for the first half of the year, but only after making higher than expected reserve releases of $609mn.

Bermudian headquartered Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings Ltd is to centralise its operating platform in Switzerland in a bid to maximise capital efficiency and take advantage of forthcoming passport rights.

Willis's recently acquired London market broking subsidiary Glencairn, part of the $2.1bn Hilb Rogal & Hobbs takeover, is set to be the core of a new, predominantly wholesale broker Faber Dumas, The Insurance Insider understands.

RSA Insurance Group plc's strong results last week have once again fuelled speculation that it could be the subject of a takeover bid.

When Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) put its insurance division up for sale in April, few could have predicted that four months on there would be only one genuine suitor with a circa £5bn offer on the table.

Chinese insurer Ping An Insurance reported a 2 percent drop in its half-year profits with a rise in premium offset by a decline in its investment income as the company warned of possible further credit crunch-related losses.

US insurer Navigators Group has become the latest company to gain regulatory approval to operate in Brazil.

"Class of 2005" Bermudian Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings says it is planning to move into the primary market in India.

QBE Insurance Group's appetite for growth by M&A continued last week when it snapped up the Australasian business of struggling US mortgage insurer PMI Mortgage Insurance Ltd's for A$1bn.