August 2008/4

Strong underwriting performance boosted overall profits at Australian insurer QBE Insurance Group during the first half of 2008.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc (MMC) has appointed Vanessa Wittman as the group's new CFO, ending its search to replace the outgoing Matthew Bartley.

Amlin plc became the latest (re)insurer to report a drop in profits as a result of the difficult investment climate.

One of the more intriguing elements to Aon's takeover of reinsurance rival Benfield Group is the respective firms' facultative reinsurance operations.

Swiss Re has hired Alabama insurance commissioner Walter Bell as chairman of its US operations, Swiss Re America Holding Corporation.

Receivers of Mainsail II LLC - the ailing structured investment vehicle (SIV) that a number of Lloyd's insurers are exposed to - have entered a restructuring and portfolio sale agreement with Goldman Sachs International (GSI).

Despite difficult conditions and the ongoing capital markets turmoil, underlying performance by European insurers in the first half of 2008 remained relatively strong, according to a report by Moody's Investors Service.

Soft market conditions may have contributed to a drop-off in new insurers registering in Bermuda, according to the island's regulator.

Premium growth in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe saw Vienna Insurance Group post a 34 percent increase to EUR288mn in its first half profits.

Troubled Australian insurer Insurance Australia Group Ltd (IAG) has slumped to a A$261mn loss after taking a A$350mn charge in relation to the impairment of its UK assets.

Shares in Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group Ltd (JLT) rose today following Aon's swoop for Benfield, in a move that fuelled market speculation over further broker M&A.