December 2009/2

Reinsurance broker BMS has said it is not in talks with TigerRisk about a potential acquisition of its business, reasserting a strategy for maintaining its independence.

Argo International appointed Paul Kneafsey as active underwriter of the liability division of its Lloyd's Syndicate 1200 last week, laying to rest speculation that he was poised to follow his erstwhile boss Mark Lawrence through the exit.

Bermudian (re)insurers Axis Capital and Arch have made substantial progress in their share buyback plans, with a new authorisation from the former to repurchase $500mn and news of $252mn of shares bought back in Q4 from the latter

The protection and indemnity (P&I) clubs are restraining 2010 premium increases to a 5 percent average, as their investment portfolios recover and shipowner members grapple with depressed freight markets.

Standard & Poor's (S&P) has upgraded the insurer financial strength and long-term counterparty credit ratings of Catlin Group's core subsidiaries by one notch to A, citing an "improved financial profile".

Property catastrophe reinsurance pricing for California earthquake perils is heading down 20 percent at the 1/1 renewals, The Insurance Insider has learned.

XL Capital and Max Capital have seen their stocks outperform almost all of their major competitors in 2009, reflecting the bounce back in investor sentiment for the two Bermudians.

Talks are thought to be continuing between Invesco, one of the largest investors in the Lloyd's insurance market, and Omega Insurance Holdings, despite a hiatus in the war of words.

Third-party capital will participate in each of the four syndicates approved to start writing business at Lloyd's in the new year.

Shares in the major broking groups failed to react to last week's news that the state of New York was paving the way for a return to contingent commissions, as negative sentiment weighed down their stocks.

The New York State Insurance Department has begun formally implementing changes to insurance regulation that could reintroduce the contingent commissions lost in the Spitzer era by as early as mid-January 2010.

Randall & Quilter (R&Q)'s confidential LMX commutation with Equitas may be welcomed by the firm's investors, but will do little to cheer other (re)insurers that were also delaying settlement with the Berkshire Hathaway-owned Lloyd's run-off vehicle.