February 2010/4

Jean Azema, CEO of Groupama, revealed the French mutual giant is considering a listing on the Paris stock market so that it will be in a position to make a significant acquisition.

Euler Hermes, the world's biggest credit insurer, saw its net income nosedive by 77 percent in 2009, as business insolvencies drove its combined ratio well in excess of 100 percent.

AM Best has reported that downgrade action in the US P&C market has outpaced upgrades, with US subsidiaries of troubled Canadian auto insurer Kingsway Financial Services (KFSI) accounting for nearly 20 percent of negative actions.

Victims of the global fraud allegedly run by disgraced financier Allen Stanford have filed a class-action lawsuit against the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), five regional financial institutions and the government of Antigua and Barbuda.

Aon has accused over a dozen Lloyd's syndicates and London market insurers of breach of contract after being allegedly denied PI coverage in its reinsurance spat with UNIC.

The current pricing for portfolios of legacy business is still a "free-for-all" and the economic downturn has done little to flatten what many see as a trend of over-paying, according to a survey of senior practitioners.

In another eventful week, American International Group (AIG) has dropped plans to sell all of its controversial derivatives portfolio and walked straight into a...

Ratings agency Fitch is the latest commentator to note that rates are falling in most reinsurance classes because of abundant capacity.

Berkshire Hathaway's capital injection helped Swiss Re boost its shareholders equity by SFr5.7bn in 2009 to SFr26.2bn.

The growing international sanctions emerging in response to the Tehran government's nuclear ambitions have raised the alarm among P&I clubs, with ship-owner members operating to and from Iran.

Germany's heavyweight (re)insurance sector has lined up to suspend or clarify the extent of its business in Iran, amid mounting international concerns over the country's nuclear capability.

Finlay Smith, head of the UK property portfolio at QBE, has said that there is no evidence that the recession will increase UK property claims.