August 2013/4

Weekly share price movements and key data on The Insurance Insider's universe of P&C (re)insurers and brokers

In a further crackdown on "misleading" add-on insurance products, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined 13 UK banks and credit card issuers £1.3bn for directing customers to credit card insurance that was of little benefit to them.

Despite the huge sums the European (re)insurance industry has spent on Solvency II, it looks increasingly unlikely that the regime will ever be fully implemented because there simply isn't the collective will from regulators and policymakers.

Axa is suing the art storage arm of auction house Christie's for $1.5mn on behalf of the Jacqueline Piatigorsky art trust, accusing it of "wanton neglect" in failing to prevent some of its artwork from being damaged by Superstorm Sandy.

A California district court has allowed a bad faith claim against an American International Group (AIG) unit to be reconsidered in a dispute over $69.5mn of damages from an Orange County (OC) blaze.

Underwriters that provided Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) with directors' and officers' (D&O) insurance in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis will be watching the UK Chancery Court closely next month for the latest developments in a lawsuit that could cost them dearly.

Meadowbrook Insurance Group has dismissed allegations in the first of a growing number of shareholder lawsuits filed against it and certain of its officers as "baseless and without merit".

French reinsurer Scor is looking to raise $125mn of cover against extreme mortality risk in the US by issuing a new cat bond under its Atlas series.

Independent broker BMS is looking to expand into the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market by broking catastrophe bonds and other capital market products.

Top-line expansion in the insurance markets of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will continue at a reduced rate as the region is impacted by depressed world financial markets that have dampened its economic growth.

Misfiring overseas and non-insurance subsidiaries took the shine off a robust performance from the core domestic underwriting arms of Australia's top three P&C insurers, the companies' earnings statements revealed last week.

Arch Capital, Lloyd's and Tokio Marine were notable movers up the ranks of AM Best's top 50 reinsurer league table as measured by premium volume.