February 2006/5

The legacy of the infamous workers’ compensation carve-out saga of the late nineties came back to haunt US healthcare insurer Cigna Corp last week after an adverse ruling from a London arbitration panel rule.

Underwriters at Lloyd’s believe that the most critical challenge the insurance industry faces is managing the business cycle, according to the Corporation’s second annual underwriter survey. The survey approached underwriters directly at their...

Employment Practices Liability (EPL) will soon become essential for employers as the rising tide of discrimination laws and compensation awards make employment law the next big area for legal claims. That was the message from Cath Thorpe...

Specialist insurance lawyer Nigel Montgomery is leaving DLA Piper Rudnick to head up a new team at US law firm Sidley Austin’s London office. Montgomery has a background in insurance restructuring, focusing on schemes of arrangement and business...

Bermudian-headquartered (re)insurer Quanta has appointed Roland Baker and Robert Shapiro to its board of directors. Both men were also appointed to the board’s audit committee, Baker will join the compensation committee while Shapiro will join the...

US insurer HCC Insurance Holdings is set to acquire a 23.6 percent holding in Lloyd’s managing agent Heritage Underwriting. HCC – which acquired the Lloyd’s insurer Illium Insurance last year - has reached agreement to buy the stake for an undisclosed.

Integer, the mutual set up to sell stop-loss policies to Lloyd’s Names, has lost a High Court hearing over settlement money paid to almost 500 members of the Stop Loss Recover Group (SLRG). The action marked the latest in a series as the board of...

The film finance trial between defunct insurer HIH and its broker JLT Risk Solutions came to an early conclusion last week. As predicted in this month’s The Insurance Insider the trial ended early after the withdrawal by of fraud allegations by HIH.

Fast expanding Hyperion Insurance Group reported a double boost today with the announcement of an almost doubling of profits followed by news of a £5.1mn capital placement in the insurance group. Hyperion reported full-year profits of £4.03mn for...

Insurance giant American International Group (AIG) is facing a lawsuit from Minnesota attorney general Mike Hatch, raising the spectre of further action from states dissatisfied with AIG’s recent $1.6bn payout. Hatch is seeking up to $10mn...

Australian-based (re)insurer QBE declared an increase in final dividend from 30 cents to 38 cents a share after announcing record results, with pre-tax net profit up 37 percent to A$1.5bn. After-tax operating profits were up 27 percent from...

Bermudian Platinum Underwriters Holdings became the latest reinsurer to announce hurricane-affected losses in its fourth quarter and full-year results for 2005. Platinum reported net losses of $103.3mn, or $1.94 per basic common share, and a net loss..