February 2005/4

The first breakthrough in passing meaningful tort reform in the US came on Friday (18 February) as President George Bush signed the Class Action Fairness Act into law in the first bill signing ceremony of 2005.

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.

Broker Marsh looks set to announce more job redundancies as the result of an ongoing cost-cutting programme.

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

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

The first signs of protest over ACE Ltd’s proposed sale of its asbestos reinsurance exposures to run-off company Randall & Quilter Investments Holdings Ltd occurred last week when four of ACE’s rivals protested to the Pennsylvanian insurance regulator.

QBE revealed last week that it has appointed Andrew McBride to the newly created role of Claims Director to its European Commercial division.

The biggest fire in Madrid’s history caused estimated damage of $108mn, according to reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter. The fire gutted a 32-floor skyscraper in the Spanish capital’s finance district on 12 February. Madrid’s fourth tallest building, the Wi

Refocused Bermudian property catastrophe (re)insurer PXRe reported full year 2004 profits more than 75 percent down on 2003 as strong fourth quarter performance failed to reverse the devastation of a third quarter struck by hurricane and typhoon losses.

The final round of a legal marathon got underway last week, with the appearance in a Los Angeles court of French holding company Artemis in relation to its 1991 acquisition of the Executive Life insurance company.

Converium appears to have survived the worst of the 1/1 renewals, according to the reinsurer. In a conference call on 17 February, CEO Dirk Lohmann told analysts he was “very happy” with the results of the renewals, which saw the retention of 63 percent o

A strong 2004 for Texas-based HCC Insurance Holdings saw its profits from ongoing operations grow by 45 percent from $106.9mn, or $1.66 a share, to $159.0mn, or $2.41 a share, with overall net earnings increasing from $143.6mn, or $2.23 a share, to $163.0