February 2006/4

US insurer WR Berkley Corp reported full-year net income of $545mn, or $4.08 per share, a 24 percent increase from $438mn, or $3.31 cents per share, for 2004. Results for the final quarter of 2005 were even more impressive, with a...

Chicago-based insurer CNA Financial posted a fourth quarter net loss of $217mn, or 92 cents per share, down from a net profit of $303mn, or $1.11 per share, in 2004. The company was hit by $223mn in commuted reinsurance contracts and...

Transatlantic Holdings, the parent of Transatlantic Re, has announced 2005 net profits of $37.9mn, down from $254.6mn in 2004 after booking a fourth quarter net profit of $13.5mn, compared to $98.9mn in the prior-year period. Like many of its peers...

Lloyd’s insurer Atrium Underwriting gave an upbeat trading statement on 16 February with a mix of good results, lower storm loss estimates and predictions of positive conditions for the year ahead. Results exceeded forecasts for 2003, with a...

Lloyd’s broker RFIB Group has opened a representative office in Dubai as it aims to expand in the Middle East. RFIB has over twenty years experience of marine and non-marine business in the region and says it regards a permanent local presence key...

Giant insurer American International Group (AIG) has terminated its relationship with CV Starr owned agencies Starr Technical Risks Agency and its subsidiaries (Starr Tech). The move comes amid a court battle over whether four insurance agencies...

Arab Insurance Group (ARIG) reported an 82 percent rise in net profits last year to a record of $48.2mn, up from $26.5mn in 2004. The record profit represents a 19.5 percent return on average shareholders’ equity, with the board of directors...

German giant Hannover Re has completed a EUR100mn securitisation with a transfer of life insurance risks into the international financial markets. The transaction, known as the L6 securitisation, covers individual unit-linked policies from Germany...

Post-9/11 (re)insurer Endurance reported a 2005 net loss of $220.5mn, or $3.60 a share, a reversal of the $355.6mn, or $5.28 per share net profit made in the previous year, as it shared the hurricane-hit woes of its compatriots.

Montpelier Re – one of the (re)insurers worst hit by last autumn’s storms – has reported a 2005 net loss of $752.9mn, or $10.49 a share, dramatically reversing the $240.3mn or $10.92 a share net profit made in the previous year.

A letter written by broker JLT Group’s then chief executive Steve McGill in March 2002 expressing concerns over the management of Cable & Wireless’s (C&W) captive insurer Pender Insurance is thought to have become a significant factor in the settlement...