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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.
  • Despite concerns over pricing pressures and the dwindling pot of redundant reserves available for release, the rating outlook on the global reinsurance segment remains stable, according to AM Best.
  • P&C reinsurers are being both "defensive and offensive" as they scramble to build a track record in third-party management in response to the wave of capital markets capacity entering the sector, according to AM Best.
  • Argo's former excess and surplus lines (E&S) president Lou Levinson is set to re-emerge in the market at International Financial Group (IFG) as president of its wholesale insurance business.
  • Beleaguered US insurer Meadowbrook has been given a temporary reprieve by lenders to its bank credit facility after defaulting on its debt covenants.
  • Shareholders of American Safety Insurance (ASI) have approved the sale of the Bermuda-based company to the recommended bidder Fairfax Financial Holdings, ending a protracted and at times bitter takeover battle.
  • Pioneer Underwriting, the managing general agent (MGA) owned by London-headquartered independent broker BMS, has appointed former Lloyd's chair Max Taylor as chairman of its board.
  • Senior XL London market international casualty underwriting executives Denis Burniston and Colin Ivory are set to join Allied World Europe, The Insurance Insider can reveal.
  • A wildfire in California's Yosemite National Park, which has so far engulfed 225 square miles of territory, destroying 23 buildings and threatening 4,500 more, looks set to spread northwards, risk modelling firm AIR Worldwide said on 25 August.
  • Irish personal lines insurer FBD reported a bigger-than-expected 12 percent drop in its half-year profit, as weaker investment returns offset continued premium growth amid tough economic conditions.
  • Zurich CFO dies; National General listing; Plumeri returns
  • Former RSA chief executive Andy Haste has joined forces with private equity firm Advent International to mount a potential bid for the general insurance arm of the Co-operative Group, according to a source familiar with the matter.
  • Venezuelan state-owned hydrocarbon company PDVSA has refused to keep QBE's O'Farrell syndicate on as the lead of its $1bn programme and at least one major Lloyd's writer has since refused to take on the leadership.
  • The news that Transatlantic Re is to capitalise a $500mn legal entity in London is more good news for the UK's standing as a respected domicile from which to base EU operations.
  • Transatlantic Reinsurance Company (TransRe) is to form a new $500mn capitalised UK-licenced (re)insurance company which will be both the underwriting and capital hub for the New York-headquartered firm's European operations, The Insurance Insider can reveal.