August 2012/4

(Re)insured loss estimates from the severe drought in the US range from $5bn to $20bn, reflecting the huge uncertainty that surrounds the fiendishly complicated loss.

With the fragile Florida homeowners' insurance market spared the wrath of Isaac, attention has very quickly turned to Gulf states further west and the potential impact on the offshore and onshore energy sector.

Pending New Zealand earthquake claims continue to hang over the heads of reinsurers, with major cedant Suncorp stating that it expects to have "well over half" of its claims settled by the middle of next year.

Typhoon Tembin defied forecasts of a potentially challenging Category 4 landfall on Taiwan last week, weakening to Category 1 and turning south before striking the island nation.

Losses from last year's flash-flooding in the Danish capital Copenhagen have deteriorated considerably beyond the $1bn mark previously reported.

New entrants to the UK solicitors' professional Indemnity (PI) market are likely to be attracted to the sector when the Assigned Risk Pool (ARP) closes next year, according to broker Marsh.

Flagstone Re's chief underwriting officer (CUO) for North American business, Joe Hooks, has left the company and will join rival Bermudian Platinum Underwriters, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

IAG will not merge its own vast cat reinsurance treaty with that of recent New Zealand acquisition AMI until 2015, the Australian insurer has said.

The growth of the alternative market has been a mixed blessing for traditional reinsurers, according to Fitch Ratings.

Apollo, the Lloyd's insurer named in honour of man's first moon landing, has paid tribute to Neil Armstrong, the pioneering astronaut who died over the weekend

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) plans to increase its reinsurance cover for 2013, although it remains to be seen how much will be allocated to traditional reinsurers rather than the capital markets, according to meeting documents posted on the organisation's website.

IAG has written off all of the goodwill in its UK business Equity Redstar, which senior financial sources suggest could lay the ground for a sale at a significant discount to book.