MGAs/MGUs [DEMO]

Lloyd's Backed Film Financier Raided

Further embarrassment for film impresario Kent Walwin as Canadian company Blackwatch is raided by Mounties and files for bankruptcy The extraordinary saga of insurance backed film financing took a further twist with the news that Canadian film financi

01 July 2001

Liability Rates Soar After Mass Withdrawels

Market optimistic over recovery as capacity shrinks London Market liability rates have soared in the light of the capacity crunch caused by the withdrawal of a host of carriers. The collapse of specialist casualty insurers such as Independent and HIH,

01 July 2001

Will AIG's Aggression Backfire?

$600mn Goldman Sachs deal postponed AIG’s denial of liability on $183mn of Flashpoint bonds - which has ignited a war of words between investors, investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston and the world’s largest insurance company - could backfire.

01 July 2001

Inside Letters

Flashpoint $1 million fraud victim

01 June 2001

PA: Lloyd's loses $1bn a year

Gross results demonstrate sectors dependence on cheap reinsurance, and highlight concerns over expected recovery in the light of continuing stiff competition. Personal Accident: "An insurance policy which, in return for regular premiums, pays a specif

01 June 2001

Inside News

R&SA and Heath’s sued over $160mn film finance dispute US entertainment company Artisan Entertainment is suing R&SA and insurance broker Heath Insurance Broking Ltd for fraud and deceit over a complicated $160 mn insurance backed financing deal.

01 June 2001

Inside Film Finance

AIG throws blame onto financiers in the wake of Flashpoint Court of Appeal decision. We re-publish the release in full.

01 June 2001

User-Pays revisted

User-pays was heavily criticised. Lloyd’s insists that the process has been reformed but Laptop argues there is still much to be done In December 1997 Lloyd's announced the introduction of “User Pays”. One of the aims was to remove “the subsidisation

01 June 2001

The Insurance Company Stock Option Bazaar

CEOs get cheap options Stock options may be a good form of compensation for start-up companies, but they aren’t appropriate for CEO's at most insurance companies. From a shareholder’s perspective, they have several drawbacks. They don’t align the C

01 June 2001

AIG Attacks Credit Suisse Over Film Finances Losses

Insurer’s refusal leads to default on up to $183mn of CSFB Flashpoint bonds, but will the tactic backfire? According to the industry quip, AIG's unofficial motto is “make a claim, and we'll sue you”; a cheap shot at the world's largest insurance compa

01 June 2001

Benfield Blanches out

Benfield’s $179mn acquisition of E W Blanch (EWB) catapults the privately owned broker into the world’s third largest broker reinsurance slot, behind Aon and Guy Carpenter (Marsh) Benfield had made no secret of its desire to expand its US operations. E W

01 May 2001

Inside Letters - Risk & Reward at Lloyd’s

Dear Sir, Re: Laptop: Diversification of Risk I was pleased to see another reference in your January 2001 column to my 1988 MBA dissertation on risk and reward at Lloyd’s. A few minor points might interest you.

01 May 2001