December 2005/1

A panel of High Court judges has thrown out an appeal by reinsurers against Justice Morison’s 21 December 2004 judgement in favour of claimant reinsureds and defendant brokers on all points in the notorious Aon 77 dispute.

SCOR will acquire one of the last trading arms of the defunct Alea Group after announcing this morning that it has agreed terms for the renewal rights of Alea Europe AG. Under the agreement, the French reinsurer will pay Alea Europe a commission...

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has downgraded the rating on Alea Group to BBB from BBB+ today (6 December), and changed its outlook on the company from negative to stable.

Bermudian reinsurer Aspen today (6 December) increased its hurricane losses to a range of $470mn to $535mn (previous upper end of $400mn) and announced plans to raise $400mn in new capital.

Bermudian (re)insurer XL Capital has announced the establishment of a new Excess & Surplus (E&S) unit within its XL Insurance division. The new unit will be headed by newly appointed E&S president John M DiBiasi, and will underwrite through Indian...

UK listed broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc (JLT) has ended its year-long search for a new group chief executive with the internal appointment of chief operating officer Dominic Burke to the position. Burke trumped colleague Mike Hammond, the...

Michael Segal, the founder of Chicago-headquartered independent insurance broker Near North, was sentenced to ten years in prison for purloining money from his firm. Segal, who was convicted in June 2004 of 26 counts of racketeering, fraud, and...

Atrium Underwriting today (5 December) reported its latest forecasts for 2003 and 2004 years of account on syndicates 570 and 609 and updated its hurricane losses for this year. The account year forecasts for managed syndicates are materially...

Pressure is growing on senior management at Bermudian (re)insurer XL Capital after recent comments by equity analysts and rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) – which last Monday (28 November) downgraded the company by a notch from AA- to A+.

French (re)insurer SCOR will take up membership of the pools Réunion Aérienne and the Réunion Spatiale on 1 January 2006. SCOR, whose application to join the pools was accepted in November, will take a 5 percent share of each pool.

Loss adjusters Crawford & Company announced that it has purchased a 26 percent interest in loss adjusting and claims settlement firm Indian Puri Anuj & Associates. The move is expected to provide additional service delivery capabilities to support...

Aon is to close six of its UK offices over the next year as part of the broker’s previously announced major restructuring drive that is set cost 750 jobs in the UK. The offices in Canterbury, Cardiff, Liverpool, Norwich, Plymouth and Shrewsbury are...