December 2006/4

Two executives have settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over their roles in the 2001 accounting scandal said to have inflated PNC Financial Corp’s earnings by concealing $762mn in potential liabilities.

Stone Point Capital managed fund Trident II is selling off 3 million shares it holds in Bermudian powerhouse Axis Capital Holdings in a block trade.

Bermudian reinsurer Harbor Point Re Ltd has opened a London market representative office in Lloyd’s.

Swiss reinsurer Converium closed the sale of its North American operations to National Indemnity Company last week, leaving the resolution of regulatory investigations the final hurdle to an upgrade from rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P).

Lloyd’s aims to have a structure in place to allow special purpose reinsurance syndicates to start mid-2007, along with a more streamlined timetable for Integrated Lloyd’s Vehicle (ILV) business plans and capital setting.

Equitas' senior executives will share a bonus pool of £10.4mn once the landmark agreement with Berkshire Hathaway is finalised.

A trial date of January 2008 has been set to hear Lloyd’s case against Benfield and Aon, the two brokers who placed the £500mn Central Fund insurance contract that failed to engage following an arbitration decision last year.

In a year characterised by the growing interaction between the capital markets and the reinsurance industry comes the launch of a new index to trade US hurricane risks as a derivatives contract.

The DE Shaw group is set to become the latest hedge fund to form a dedicated reinsurance unit.

UK outsourcing giant Capita Group has emerged as a front-runner to acquire the up-for-sale specialist consulting and outsourcing company Axiom Consulting, Insider Week can reveal.

Recent warnings over the rapidly softening UK professional indemnity (PI) market would appear to be valid, with total premium paid by solicitors down £32mn in the key 1 October renewals.

Bermudian (re)insurer Quanta Capital Holdings appointed run-off expert Mark Bridges to its board of directors on 11 December.