December 2004/4

In the December edition of The Insurance Insider, we referred to the "Citibank backed Independence Re" in the article "Hedge Funds gamble on reinsurance".

The chief executive of Aspen Insurance Holdings’ US specialty insurer Aspen Specialty Insurance Company has resigned after admitting he supplied false information about his “educational credentials” in regulatory submissions.

Fast-growing Bermudian post-9/11 start-up Endurance Specialty saw it’s A- Standard & Poor’s ratings outlook updated from stable to positive last week (13 December) on the back of its “strong competitive position, which is supported by a diversified busine

The Florida House of Representatives and the state Senate have changed the law on multiple deductibles on homeowners’ insurance policies – replacing them instead with a single seasonal deductible. In future, this means that if more than one hurricane caus

Willis Group Holdings revealed today (20 December 2004) that it has bought the business of the Mexico insurance broker Maisterrena Asesores.

Canadian holding company Fairfax Financial Holdings has announced the closure of its issuance of $300mn of subordinate voting shares (2,406,741 shares) to a number of institutional investors, including Markel Corporation ($100mn) and Southeastern Asset Ma

A recent decision by the US Supreme Court on environmental liabilities could have profound consequences for the insurance industry, analysts at Morgan Stanley have warned.

The Bermudian reinsurer Rosemont Re warned last week that its 2004 result is likely to be break even at best after upgrading the loss estimates from this year’s storms.

2004 would have been the best year for the US P&C industry “in decades” were it not the for the third quarter storms, but next year is set to become the first year to witness an underwriting profit since 1978.

Japanese insurers Sompo Japan Insurance Inc and Aioi Insurance Co Ltd have each taken a 3 percent stake in a company formed by People’s Insurance Company of China Property and Casualty Co (PICC), the largest non-life company in China. Each insurer has in

Fears over deteriorating conditions in the market for US Directors’ and Officers’ insurance (D&O) have been confirmed by actuarial consulting firm Tillinghast in its annual survey on the sector.

Nine months into its merged existence, US insurer The St Paul Travelers revealed last week (16 December) that it plans to slash the size of its board from 23 to a proposed 13 members.