December 2013/4

The reinsurance market is becoming increasingly bifurcated, with a group of preferred carriers in pole position for signings at 1 January and a second tier scrapping over what's left, according to JMP Securities analyst Matt Carletti.

Californian programme manager Align General has formed a new entity, Catalytic Holdings, LLC and acquired earthquake insurance specialist Western Re in a deal that will merge the property cat businesses of the two US Lloyd's coverholders, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Mark Byrne's Haverford vehicle has stepped in to fill a £10mn gap in Funds at Lloyd's for Sportscover Syndicate 3334 for the 2014 year, The Insurance Insider understands.

US property cat specialist ICAT has secured capacity from Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) that will sit alongside its Lloyd's Syndicate 4242, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

As RSA braces itself for the findings of PwC's investigation into its Irish operations early in the New Year, the prospect of an approach to buy the ailing UK-headquartered insurer outright appears to be rapidly diminishing.

UK insurer Aviva has set aside £92mn ($150mn) to cover potential compensation payments to clients after two former employees at its fund management division breached its trading policy, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Zurich CFO; Duperreault's Hamilton closes SAC Re deal; AmTrust completes Sagicor acquisition; Tower Group downgraded again by AM Best; Bluefin expands

Data and analytics group Corelogic has agreed to acquire catastrophe modelling company Eqecat from its parent ABS, in a move first revealed by The Insurance Insider earlier today (23 December)

Private equity firm Apollo Global Management has completed the acquisition of bailed-out UK bank RBS's stake in Catalina Holdings, as well as participating in a $200mn capital-raising for the run-off specialist.

Investors punished AmTrust Financial Services for a second week after a hastily arranged conference call defending the company's accounting methodology failed to stop the recent decline in its share price.

Heavily-shorted New York-listed carrier AmTrust pulled out of takeover talks it was holding with beleaguered peer Tower Group after the former's share price crashed following the release of a critical report from Geo Investing, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

As many prepare to celebrate the start of the New Testament, please forgive a nod to its older predecessor in the last weekly editorial comment of the year.