December 2008/4

A Financial Services Authority (FSA) decision not to mandate broker commission disclosure in the UK wholesale market has been met by a polarised reaction from trade associations representing UK brokers and large buyers of insurance.

Libero Ventures, the capital markets convergence firm formed in late 2007, has acquired the shareholding previously owned by Lehman Brothers from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the administrators of the failed investment bank's European operations.

Munich Re’s Lloyd’s operation Beaufort Underwriting Agency Ltd has received approval for its new, wholly-aligned syndicate to begin underwriting for the 2009 year of account, as predicted by The Insurance Insider in September.

Class action law firm Milberg LLP - long the scourge of D&O insurers - has wasted little time in marking out the ground for what looks set to be a morass of litigation following the alleged $50bn fraud by Wall Street trader Bernard Madoff.

Jamaica-headquartered insurer Sagicor Group's Lloyd's arm intends to re-start writing life business next year through Syndicate 44, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

European (re)insurance trade body CEA has outlined its opposition to proposals to changes in US tax law in a letter to the US Senate Finance Committee and the Committee on Ways and Means for the US House of Representatives.

French-headquartered reinsurer SCOR has been granted a Takaful reinsurance licence and a conventional reinsurance licence for its SCOR Global Life branch on the Malaysian offshore domicile of Labuan.

European insurance giant Allianz has called an early redemption of its pioneering $150mn Blue Wings cat bond, just eighteen months into its more than four year term.

Christen Schnor, HSBC's head of insurance in the UK, Turkey, the Middle East and Malta was found hanged in a hotel room on 21 December after apparently committing suicide.

The US property & casualty industry slumped to a $9.9bn third quarter net loss driven by underwriting losses and heavy investment write-downs.

American International Group (AIG) and Munich Re have agreed a deal that will see the German reinsurer buy Hartford Steam Boiler Group (HSB) for $742mn cash in the first significant insurance deal as part of the beleaguered US insurer's asset...

Lloyd's (re)insurer Chaucer Holdings is now seeking capital support in the form of a Qualifying Quota Share (QQS) reinsurance arrangement as it tries to ensure it will not be left behind in the race to take advantage of stronger underwriting conditions...