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...

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.

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.

Lloyd’s insurer Kiln has increase its 3Q storm losses, adding £10mn to Katrina exposures and reporting an initial range for Hurricane Wilma of £7.5mn to £12.5mn. In total Kiln now estimates that the pre-tax cost of these three hurricanes for its...

Losses to the Lloyd’s market from the trio of devastating hurricanes this year will top $5bn, according to latest estimates revealed last Wednesday (30 November). The Society also admitted that the likelihood of turning a 2005 profit was now...

Validus Reinsurance Ltd, the Bermudian reinsurance start-up backed by the former MMC chairman and chief executive Jeffrey Greenberg, is set to go live later this week after raising $1bn in equity financing, Insider Week understands.

Rating agency AM Best is set to seal its stamp of authority on Bermuda’s “class of 2005” (re)insurers when it publishes inaugural financial strength ratings for a number of the start-ups in the forthcoming days. According to sources, AM Best is to...

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.

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...

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has reduced its stance on Wellington Underwriting Agency’s Syndicate 2020 following the sudden increase in its estimates to Hurricane Katrina. “The downgrade follows the Nov. 24, 2005 announcement of a 69 percent increase to...