December 2005/4

Lloyd’s insurer Beazley today (23 December) announced it has scrapped plans to form a new short-tail property reinsurance syndicate after failing to get the required support from investors for the initiative.

Ratings agency AM Best has affirmed the crucial A- financial strength ratings of Bermudian (re)insurers Quanta and PXRE ahead of the coming renewal season. Ratings for both companies remain on negative outlook.

More than four years after the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) began investigating one of the UK’s largest recent insurance failures, charges of conspiracy to defraud have been laid against three former directors of Independent Insurance.

Swiss reinsurer Converium finally ended the search for a new CEO last Wednesday (14 December) as it announced the appointment of Inga Beale to the post. Beale will join the company early next year from GE Insurance Solutions (GEIS)...

Bermudian reinsurer AXIS Capital Holdings Limited will be losing its chief financial officer due to “personal reasons”. Andrew Cook, who has been a part of AXIS Capital since its inception, will remain with the company until 1 April 2006 to ensure...

Ascot CEO Martin Reith last week confirmed that the Lloyd’s insurer suffered a $208mn net loss from this year’s third-quarter hurricanes. And Reith had some harsh words for the direct market, describing the failure to restore pricing discipline...

Shares in Bermudian start-up (re)insurer Lancashire Holdings made an immediate impact on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), rising over 12 percent on the first day of conditional trading last Tuesday (13 December).

“Class of 2005” start-up Ariel Re announced Saturday (17 December) that it has begun underwriting following the completion of $1bn fundraising by parent company Ariel Holdings and receipt of an A- financial strength rating from AM Best.

Troubled Bermudian (re)insurer Quanta announced last Thursday (15 December) the pricing of its public offering to raise $129mn in at attempt to hold on to its A- AM Best rating. The company is offering 11,423,340 common shares at $4.75 a share...

Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, the former American International Group chief executive, has hit back at Eliot Spitzer after the New York attorney general’s latest allegations that Greenberg cheated CV Starr’s charitable foundation in the 1970’s.

Lloyd’s listed insurer Amlin announced last Thursday (15 December) the appointment of Richard Davey as an independent non-executive director, with a role on the company’s Audit Committee. Before his retirement in 1999, Davey spent most of his...

Cayman Island-based start-up Greenlight Re has hired Platinum Underwriters’ president and chief operating officer, Barton Hedges. Hedges will become president and chief underwriting officer at Greenlight, after two years with the Bermudian firm.