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.

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...

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...

World’s third largest broker Willis announced Friday (2 December) that it had agreed to buy Swedish regional property casualty broker Nicon Försäkringsmäklarna AB. The acquisition is expected to yield annual revenue of $1.5mn.

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...

Two former Benfield brokers have given undertakings to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) that they will not carry out any regulated activity for two years. The two brokers, Robert Phillips and Isabel Rawlence, helped design and place a Loss...

Brokers Marsh & McLennan has “restructured, refinanced and refocused its sales force” and is ready to grow again after suffering a rough year post-Spitzer, according to an analyst. Morgan Stanley analyst William Wilt said he sees the company as a...

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...