December 2008/4

Troubled insurer AIG intends to merge two units of its major Asian life insurance entity American International Assurance Co Ltd (AIA) and list the restructured company in Hong Kong, according to reports.

Bermuda-domiciled While Mountains' reinsurance arm, White Mountains Re, has announced the retirement of CFO Chuck Chokel and a subsequent management reshuffle.

Brazilian authorities have granted three more licenses to foreign reinsurers looking to tap into the country's recently opened reinsurance market.

Shares in troubled Bermudian (re)insurer XL Capital Ltd rallied almost 30 percent last week on the back of rumours that Warren Buffett-owned Berkshire Hathaway was considering a bid for the company.

Amlin plc has successfully raised the £50mn in third party capital from Names it targeted for its new quota share syndicate.

Bermudian Everest Re faces the prospect of a ratings downgrade in the first quarter of 2009 after Standard & Poor's (S&P) moved on Friday (19 December) to place the reinsurer's counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on CreditWatch with negativ

Last week's acquisition by Torus Insurance Holdings (Bermuda) Ltd of rights to renew "substantially all" New Castle Re contracts will also see the start-up take over the Citadel-backed Class of 2005 reinsurer’s office with the eventual transfer of...

The UK's Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has abandoned plans for a merger with the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIF) after previously undisclosed revenue losses of A$1.5mn came to light.

AXA Group's US subsidiary, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co, has cut around 200 jobs, the equivalent of four percent of its US workforce, as it feels the strain of troubled global equity markets on its securities-based retirement products.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has warned of soaring European corporate defaults in 2009 as the financial services sector heads for a sombre year.

UK quoted Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) has announced the launch of a new treaty reinsurance operation in Bermuda through JLT Re, its trading division.

Former CEO of General Re Ronald Ferguson was sentenced to a two year custodial sentence for his role in the $500mn finite reinsurance fraud involving the Berkshire Hathaway owned reinsurer and American International Group (AIG).