February 2005/1

A further three employees have pleaded guilty to criminal charges in connection with bid-rigging investigations by New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer.

Broking giant Aon Corporation is in advanced settlement talks with US regulators including New York attorney-general Eliot Spitzer, The Insurance Insider understands. According to sources, Aon Corporation is looking to agree a deal that will sweep up

Lohmann cites ‘long-standing client relationships’ on better than expected showing Converium appears to have survived the the worst of the 1/1 renewals, according to the reinsurer. In a conference call on 17 February, CEO Dirk Lohmann told analysts he

$1.6bn strengthening at North American corporate business... Rating agency Standard & Poor’s announced on 17 February that it was placing the ratings of Swiss financial services giant Zurich Financial Services on CreditWatch with negative implications,

AIG: premiums grow but finite probe casts pall on good news World's largest insurer AIG said last week that its fourth quarter results included a net post-tax charge of $126.9mn, or $0.05 per share, in connection with late reported losses from hurrican

Fitch spoils XL's party with mooted downgrade Bermudian giant XL Capital had its positive fourth quarter and year-end earnings release marred this month by an announcement from rating agency Fitch that it may slash the company's debt ratings. Fitch'

Names' capacity continues to shrink while UK listed corporates begin to dominate: just two of the findings of The Insurance Insider's analysis of Lloyd's 2005 capital base The proportion of capacity supplied by Lloyd's Names to the market continued to

New Year optimism from reinsurers was probably diminished by news of the Suncor Energy loss - which introduced a fresh energy catastrophic loss only months after Hurricane Ivan tore through the Gulf of Mexico devastating oil platforms.

The sudden departure of Marie-Louise Rossi from the International Association of Underwriting (IUA) led to suggestions her parting was less than amicable - a view the IUA refused to contradict.

A UK court has ruled that insurers will have to pay compensation to thousands of people with pleural plaques, the scarring on the lung lining that indicates exposure to asbestos.

Lloyd's lost out in round one of the Central Fund reinsurance contract dispute after the panel in the first stage of the arbitration tribunal found the lead reinsurer Swiss Re "prima facie entitled to avoid the policy", based on the way the risk was prese

In our regular News Digest, we round up key stories from the last month, presenting them to you in easily digestable snippets.