December 2002/1

GE’s Employers Re – unloved and up for sale “ERC does not fit GE’s business model” said General Electric chairman and chief executive Jeff Immelt on 21 November as he revealed its reinsurer would cost the company another $2bn.

In the nineteenth century, American railroad companies sold land to Europeans using a timeless method: fraud. Cold, inhospitable prairie was advertised as warm and fertile farmland with a year-round growing season. Badlands were billed as tropical paradis

New Lloyd’s chairman demands council members put aside egos and differences Lord Levene of Portsoken, the first chairman of Lloyd's to come from outside the industry, has criticised the self interest and partisan nature of the Council, the Lloyd's mar

The lead story in last month's Insider focused on Aon 77, the disastrous energy lineslip placed by Aon to devastating effect in the London market. The lineslip participants - which include the Cotesworth Syndicates 535 and 228, together with 62, 187 and 1

US Government terrorism insurance backstop causes concern for non-US carriers Insurance and reinsurance companies face a period of uncertainty as they try to understand the implications of the US Terrorism Risk Insurance Act 2002, announced on 26 Nove

ESG Re, the Bermuda based Life, Accident and Health reinsurer, has seen its problems multiply after a disastrous fortnight that included another downgrade, the resignation of its auditors and a threatened de-listing from Nasdaq.

A potentially devastating black hole for satellite insurers over Boeing 702 losses Space insurers are facing a potential $1.6bn loss - the largest loss in the history of satellite cover - after six Boeing-built satellites were found to have a much sho

Reserve increase likely as Equitas' parsimony threatened after arbitration ruling Equitas, the Lloyd's run-off reinsurer, may have suffered a serious blow in its strategy of fighting off asbestos claims which it believes are unwarranted, leading to fe

Insurers have claimed JP Morgan Chase “tricked, deceived and defrauded” them into underwriting approximately $2bn of finance deals with Enron, as the much-anticipated New York federal court trial finally got underway on 2 December.

Speculation over location of IPO ends with the surprise choice of London Benfield, one of the London market's leading brokers, surprised observers at the end of last month by revealing it was to choose London over New York for the location of its long

Catlin Underwriting Agencies Ltd has stunned Names on its flagship Lloyd’s Syndicate 1003 by revealing that the 2000 year will be a loss of between 7.5 and 12.5 percent after consistently forecasting a profit all year.

Ballantyne McKean & Sullivan has put up a tough fight to successfully rebut Lloyd's charges of discreditable conduct in relation to the administration of a South African account.