August 2010/1

Accounting rules for (re)insurers writing long-tail risks and using one of the two recognised international standards are likely to get more complicated.

So what does QIS5 really mean for the industry? The Insurance Insider explains all in layman's terms

Contingents reignite; Aon in $4.9bn swoop; Willis London reshuffle

Cat bonds in second half of 2010 to equal first; Miller builds cat team; S&P gives and takes

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) hopes to reduce significant reinsurance expenses by breaking out from under the wing of risk warehouser Swiss Re to sponsor its first cat bond in 2011.

The relentless decline in secondary cat bond pricing caused by investors nervous about the prospect of a heavy US wind season finally came to a halt last month.

The industry loss warranty (ILW) sector was a rare pocket of hard market conditions in the second quarter, bucking the general soft market trend of falling premium prices and an over-supply of insurance capacity.

Lack of objective loss indices is causing difficulties

Flagstone's Q2 loss is example of why sellers have hiked prices and withdrawn capacity

Gallagher International, the acquisitive international arm of US broker AJ Gallagher, acquired the remainder of Western Australian natural resources broker and risk manager Specialised Broking Associates (SBA) at the end of last month.

Two years after Willis acquired rival broker Hilb Rogal Hobbs (HRH), senior former HRH executives have emerged at the head of a new US broker consolidator The Hilb Group.

Guy Carpenter has filed a lawsuit against rival Lockton Re after a lucrative account moved across following the defection of one of its senior brokers.