February 2004/4

Specialty insurance holding company WR Berkley announced an increase in its fourth-quarter profits on the back of higher premiums.

The world’s most valuable insurer AIG has posted fourth quarter profits of $2.71bn, or $1.03 per share, with higher general insurance premiums and revenues contributing to the bottom line.

Shares in French reinsurer SCOR fell last week after the company revealed that its sales had fallen by a quarter last year, leading to fears that key customers have deserted the embattled firm despite attempts to turn the company around.

Bermudian (re)insurer PXRe said on Wednesday (Feb 11, 2004) that its fourth-quarter net income had risen 71 percent from a year earlier, on the back of growth in its core catastrophe and risk excess lines of business.

In its first full year after being carved from US insurance giant St Paul, Platinum Underwriters unveiled net earnings of $144.8mn after a strong fourth quarter contributed $49.8mn.

A fourth quarter deficit was inevitable for the Bermudian giant XL Capital after a previously announced pre-tax charge of $694mn, and the operating loss of $2.54 per share was roughly in line with analysts’ expectations (First Call consensus $2.51).

Further rate increases and winning new businesses enabled reinsurance giant Swiss Re to grow premiums by 7 percent at the recent 1 January renewals.

The opaque but growing trend of brokers charging payments from insurers to place business with them has been attacked by an influential US think tank as “potentially damaging”.

Bermudian newcomer Axis announced a 100 percent increase in net income for the year ending December 31, 2003, to $532.3mn, or $3.42 per diluted share. This compared to net income of $265.1mn, or $1.91 per diluted share, for the year ended December 31, 200

Bermuda based Montpelier Re reported net income of $99.9mn for the final quarter, which helped the reinsurer unveil full year net earnings of $407.1mn for 2003.

The Navigators Group has announced that it expects it will record a net $31.6mn pre-tax charge on the back of higher than expected asbestos related losses.

Marsh reinsurance broking arm Guy Carpenter has launched the industry's first model for predicting the frequency and severity of class action law suits related to securities, which account for the majority of Directors and Officers (D&O) claims for insure