February 2006/1

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.

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...

Lloyd’s confirmed last week that it will pursue legal action against Benfield and Aon, the two brokers who placed the £500mn Central Fund insurance contract which failed to engage following an arbitration decision last year.

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...

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.

The former head of the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) has emerged as a frontrunner to become the next chief executive of Lloyd’s, Insider Week can reveal.

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.

American International Group (AIG) has won a decisive battle to keep its London-based aviation insurance team as the dispute with its former chief executive Hank Greenberg’s Starr entities becomes increasingly bitter, Insider Week understands.

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...

Run-off services group Compre Holdings has grown its Nordic interests with the agreement to buy two reinsurance subsidiaries from Finland’s Pohjola Group plc. Compre’s acquisition vehicle Finnex Holdings ltd has agreed to buy...

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.