August 2010/1

Buffy mulls the motor equivalent of buying BP shares

Benmosche asserts; Markel acquisition; Catlin recruits; Deepwater: $4-6bn; Winds whimper; Brazil boom?

Xchanging commits; London market urged to scrutinise professional fees; Two-jobs Levene; RBSI overhaul; Cool on Kiln; Export vanguard; Bono's back...

Investment giant Berkshire Hathaway provided a further display of its muscular balance sheet on 15 July with a reinsurance contract that provides CNA with up to $4bn of adverse development long-tail asbestos/environmental cover.

Berkshire Hathaway-owned Lloyd's run-off vehicle Equitas has begun striking deals with relevant reinsurers to collect outstanding LMX exposures, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

A UK High Court judge has ordered an additional round of witness statements to be collected ahead of a contempt of court hearing for Aon executive Euan Nicolson in the autumn.

Doubts were cast last month over American International Group (AIG)'s ability to fund the bulk of its recent $725mn Ohio pension funds settlement by selling new common shares.

Bermuda and Switzerland - favoured domiciles for many international (re)insurers - are first on European regulators' list for consideration to grant Solvency II equivalence to non-EU countries.

The US Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act signed into law by President Obama on 21 July will "rewrite the landscape of the financial markets", according to the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI).

The SEC wrote to Glenn Lammey, CFO of The Hartford's life insurer, demanding to know why the firm's worst holdings had not been marked down.

The flood of credit crisis-related litigation is turning into a trickle, with further evidence that class action lawsuits are declining, providing further good news for US errors and omissions (E&O) insurers.

In what is turning into a European summer of discontent over the controversial Neal Bill legislation in the US, the European Commission (EC) and European insurance and reinsurance federation (the CEA) joined the German ambassador in voicing their objections to the proposed tax measures.

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.

New York attorney general considers an appeal against the former "enforcers" for Marsh Global Broking, Bill Gilman and Ed McNenney

The Insurance Insider analyses the brokers' Q2 earnings, which shows they are at odds with each other in tackling the challenges of the soft market and economic pressures

The heavy first half of the year for catastrophe losses took its toll on Scor as the French reinsurer registered a combined ratio above 100 percent.

Chile's fac losses are already $2.3bn and will go higher...

Everest Re was one of a number of (re)insurers hiking their Chile loss exposures as fears continue that the ultimate loss could be close to $15bn

Everest Re's long-serving Joseph Taranto will step down after amassing an impressive track record at the reinsurer

Both insurers grow their excess and surplus lines market share, partly at the expense of Berkshire Hathaway and Allianz

The cat specialist confirmed last month that it had sidelined its $60mn Timicuan Florida wind sidecar - a move that contributed to a year-on-year drop in managed cat premium income

Bermudian operating profits have fallen by an average of 20 percent in Q2 because of heavier losses and weaker investment income

US insurer buys more cover after heavy 2010 cat losses

Industry titan rejects the disgraced former New York attorney general's opportunistic rapprochement

An intriguing twist to Apollo's £880mn approach for UK insurer Brit Insurance is that only months ago the two firms were in dispute over an unpaid claim...

The Insurance Insider gauges the response of London's independent wholesalers following Aon's decision not to use third-parties to access wholesale markets

Munich Re's Watkins steps aside on prestigious sports injury programme. The Insurance Insider has all the details...

T&Cs are getting progressively weaker but we haven't hit rock bottom because three-year multi-deals have yet to reappear. If this is one sign of a soft market trough, what's the other?

Onshore US cat losses mounted to $4.4bn in Q2, according to figures from Property Claim Services, with the figure now above the long-term average of $3.6bn for the fourth year out of the last five.

The "cheating" phase is in full steam as (re)insurers rely on reserve releases to mask accident year underwriting losses

Secretive arbitrage funds have bought significant tranches of Brit stock in the past few days, gambling that Apollo's £880mn indicative offer will succeed

Munich Re posted a strong set of bottom line results this morning (4 August) that trumped analysts' expectations and enabled the reinsurer to reiterate its "ambitious" full-year earnings target of EUR2bn.

Bermudian (re)insurer XL Group added a quarter to its H1 profits as reduced overheads and an improved investment performance outweighed an increase in claims.

Steady results from MMC that largely came in on line with analysts' forecasts

Flagstone Re's Mont Fort Re sidecar saved it from reporting a loss in Q2 on the back of Deepwater Horizon losses.

Argo Group International Holdings followed several of its Bermudian compatriots in booking a slide in Q2 operating profits late last night (2 August).

White Mountains Re has been forced to add an additional $20mn to its reserves for the Chilean earthquake, bringing the total expected losses to $130mn.