February 2009/3

Xchanging - the company that runs the London market bureau on behalf of the market - is set to close its wholly-owned consulting operation, Xchanging Insurance Professional Services Ltd (XIPS) The Insurance Insider can reveal.

US, Bermudian and Lloyd's (re)insurers reporting fully-year results in the last seven days have posted sparkling underwriting results - but almost all have seen profits battered by poor or negative investment returns for the full-year as the financial crisis took its toll.

After weeks of speculation, Jacques Aigrain resigned as CEO of Swiss Re just days after the troubled reinsurance giant confirmed a hefty full-year 2008 loss and a series of measures to shore up its balance sheet.

It was a busy week for fundraising on Lime Street as M&A target Chaucer Holdings saw its proposed £75mn net equity placing approved by shareholders (see article 16), while larger rivals Beazley...

Argo Group's full year 2008 net profit fell 56 percent to $62.9mn as underwriting losses at its international specialty segment, combined with modest investment write-downs and the loss of a flattering extraordinary item relating to the 2007 acquisition of PXRE Group, made their presence felt.

Shareholders of Chaucer Holdings plc - the Lloyd's insurer that is exciting M&A interest - approved the £75mn equity net fundraising designed to plug a hole in its 2009 capital requirements.

AXIS Capital posted a 66.8 percent drop in full-year net income for 2008 to $351mn compared with $1.1bn for 2007, a result which founding CEO and president John Charman said reflected the negative impact of “the extreme volatility of the global financial markets” on the Bermudian’s alternative investment portfolio.

SP AusNet - the Australian energy firm owned by Singapore Power - has been filed with a class-action lawsuit relating to the deadly bushfires that swept across Victoria state earlier this month.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) launched a preliminary inquiry into the UK operations of American International Group's Financial Products Corp (AIGFP) last week

After 2008's string of natural and man-made catastrophe losses triggered one of the costliest years on record, a succession of disasters including the Australian wildfires, European winter storm Klaus and two plane crashes have started...

All three major global broking groups' annual results were well received by investors as the results of tight cost control plans offset negative or patchy growth in the soft market-affected top lines at Aon, MMC and Willis.

Lloyd’s insurer Beazley Group plc is to raise £150mn in its rights issue as it said it is boosting its US presence with the acquisition of an underwriting manager and restructuring its operations with a Jersey holding company...