February 2006/1

SVB, the Lloyd’s based insurer wrestling with its legacy of US professional liability (re)insurance losses, revealed bold plans today (10 February) to form a new UK-based insurance company while finally dealing with its back-year losses.

American insurance giant AIG will today (9 February) announce a settlement of $1.6bn, resolving deception and accounting fraud charges with federal and state authorities.

Broker Willis has reported profits of $300mn for 2005, down 30 percent from $427mn the previous year on higher costs and the loss of so-called Placement Service Agreements or contingent commissions.

Only a month after Lloyd’s unveiled an ambitious three-year strategic plan, the Corporation has parted company with its head of business strategy. Since joining Lloyd’s in 2003, Stuart Degg led the development of Lloyd’s repositioning itself...

XL Capital has unveiled its largest ever full year trading loss at $1.29bn following 2005’s devastating hurricane losses and the adverse Winterthur arbitration decision which cost the Bermudian giant a further $808.9mn.

Analysts were divided in their reaction to the January renewal season advice that Hannover Re released yesterday (7 February) with a EUR11 difference in price targets set on its stock. The German reinsurer summed up this year’s renewal season...

Leading industry figure John Charman has cited his high profile divorce as the reason for his decision to step down from the company he founded, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd. Bermudian (re)insurer AXIS has confirmed that the former...

The UK Court of Appeal has sent a sigh of relief among London market insurers after over-turning last year’s controversial GoshawK vs Tyser decision which ruled brokers were not obliged to produce documents previously shown to underwriters.

As rumours grow of an imminent $1.5bn regulatory settlement, American International Group and its estranged relations, the Starr Entities, are back in Court today (6 February) following Judge Herman Cahn’s decision to place a temporary...

Hannover Re announced last week (3 February) the completion of a $370mn catastrophe bond deal which it says will provide the reinsurance giant with extra capacity for underwriting catastrophe risks.

London (re)insurance underwriters can expect to receive questionnaires from the European Commission this month as it launches its inquiry into the business insurance sector across the EU under its competition rules.

Brian Caudle’s Lloyd’s (re)insurer Advent Group gave an upbeat assessment of trading conditions last week following the heavy storm losses in 2004-2005. According to Advent, the group has experienced rate rises of up to 100 percent in its...

“Class of 2005” alumni Validus revealed last week that it had written $220mn of gross written premiums in its maiden 1 January renewal season. The announcement would seem to contradict recent widespread comments that the new companies...

US insurance giant St Paul reported last Thursday (2 February) that its fourth quarter results for last year had plummeted 41 percent as the insurer was hit by reserve charges for asbestos and increasing hurricane costs.

Everest Re became the first of the Bermudians to roll out fourth quarter results, revealing on 30 January a $185.8mn, or $3.01 a share after-tax operating loss – a dramatic reversal of the $94.7mn, or $1.66 a share operating profit recorded in...

UK insurer Brit saw its shares power ahead to around 96p on the London Stock Exchange last week after revealing that it now expects to make a pre-tax profit of £60mn for 2005.

Christian Milton, the former head of reinsurance buying at insurance giant American International Group (AIG), and three former senior General Re executives, were indicted by a federal grand jury last week.

LCL Group, the London based run-off group acquired by Charles Taylor Consulting plc last year, has been retained to advise Alea Group to run-off its European and US operations. The move follows Alea’s decision to cease underwriting...

Following approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, XL Capital Ltd has opened a representative office in Beijing, the company revealed on 30 January 2006. The company says the opening of the office demonstrates its commitment...

Research from Lloyd’s has identified four key areas for growth in the changing Asian insurance markets. The research “New Openings – quantifying opportunities in Asia” earmarks classes of business for growth, they are marine cargo...

Rod Fox has left reinsurance broker Benfield to head up Clarendon Group, the US specialty insurance arm of Hannover Re. In a 1 February announcement, the German reinsurer said Fox had been appointed CEO of Clarendon, with the division’s...

After five years of unprecedented catastrophe losses there are plenty of people ready to question the ability of the reinsurance industry to keep responding to the size and frequency of events it faces.

The defunct Australian insurer HIH Casualty & General is alleging fraud against its broker JLT Risk Solutions over controversial film finance losses written in 1997. The case is being heard by the Honourable Mr Justice Langley...

Last autumn’s industry record hurricane losses triggered sharp increases in property rates in the fourth quarter of 2005, according to the latest RIMS Benchmark Survey from analysts at US firm Advisen. The survey, which includes information...