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December 2006/4

  • 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).
  • UK regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has reviewed the market’s progress on contract certainty and says that “enough progress has been made to keep regulatory intervention on hold”, according to its own high-level assessment.
  • Trade body the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) has ended its search for a new chief executive with the appointment of David Gittings, the former group head of risk at Wellington Underwriting Plc.
  • Stephen Cane, the former chairman of the international underwriting association of London (IUA) and ex-head of run-off reinsurer Alea’s London operations, has joined the insurance services company Whittington Group.
  • Wellington plc, the Lloyd’s insurer that has agreed to the takeover overtures from rival Catlin Group, has parted company with more executives including the departure of its group head of risk to become CEO of the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA).
  • 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.
  • Oxygen, the independent London based intermediary, has parted company with a three-strong international property team, Insider Week can reveal.
  • This edition of Insider Week is the last publication from Insider Publishing Ltd in 2006. Insider Week will resume on the 2 January while the January edition of The Insurance Insider will be available to download from the 11 January.
  • 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.
  • Eliot Spitzer, New York’s governor-elect, has nominated Willis Group’s general counsel, Eric Dinallo, for the post of the state’s insurance superintendent in his administration.
  • Bermudian (re)insurer Quanta Capital Holdings appointed run-off expert Mark Bridges to its board of directors on 11 December.
  • Bermudian reinsurer Harbor Point Re Ltd has opened a London market representative office in Lloyd’s.
  • Bermudian (re)insurer Max Re Capital announced plans to launch a US-based excess and surplus lines platform last week (14 December).
  • Advent Capital Holdings has completed its £19.7mn capital raising for its Bermudian platform, Advent Re, which will write retrocessional business.
  • 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.
  • Guy Hengesbaugh, who quit as COO of beleaguered Bermudian PXRE in April, is close to making an early return to the market with a US property cat focussed start-up on the island, our sister title The Insurance Insider revealed last week.
  • Swiss Re, the world’s largest reinsurer, announced another change to its senior management team last week with the departure of its veteran chief financial officer Anne Godbehere.
  • 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.
  • Bermudian (re)insurer ACE Ltd has said that a recent review has confirmed the adequacy of its asbestos reserves.
  • Windsor plc, the UK quoted insurance broker in management buy-out talks, has announced a small dip in profits for the year ending 30 September 2006.
  • Talbot Underwriting Ltd is to enter two new classes of business as it becomes the latest Lloyd’s insurer to announce an increase in capacity for the 2007 year, with its Syndicate 1183 up 6 percent to £325mn.
  • Analysts have welcomed Hannover Re’s sale of its US subsidiary Praetorian Financial Group, describing it as a “good deal” that frees up capital to allow the reinsurer to lower its retro spend, underwrite more US catastrophe business and expand into new ma
  • Lloyd’s insurer Beazley Group plc has strengthened its political risk team with the appointments of Peter Jenkins and Marc Werblow.
  • 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.
  • Access Reinsurance Inc, the Industry Loss Warranty (ILW) specialist broker headed by Enda McDonnell, is setting up on Bermuda in a further demonstration of the island’s pre-eminence for US catastrophe capacity.
  • Equitas' senior executives will share a bonus pool of £10.4mn once the landmark agreement with Berkshire Hathaway is finalised.
  • Norton is a once great British Motorcycle manufacturer now attempting a comeback, so it is unclear exactly what message Brit Insurance is trying to send out with the name of its sidecar-style vehicle, Norton Re.
  • Lockton International, the fast-expanding arm of US broker Lockton Inc, has recruited the former JLT Re executive Paul Jack. Jack – who left Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc recently – will reacquaint himself with Mike Hammond, the former head of JLT Ris
  • The DE Shaw group is set to become the latest hedge fund to form a dedicated reinsurance unit.