February 2011/2

Australian insurer Suncorp has once again reaped the benefits of comprehensive sideways reinsurance protection, as it revealed its net claims costs from last week's Category 5 Cyclone Yasi will be capped at just $10mn.

Rates for treaties covering offshore energy risks rose by 20 percent at the 1 January renewals, according to reinsurer Hannover Re.

Marine insurers have secured further clarity from the UK High Court over one of the crucial issues posed by piracy off the coast of Somalia - the legality of ransom payments.

The marine insurance market continues to expand in 2011, despite fears of overcapacity in the core hull and machinery (H&M) sector that has not delivered underwriting profit for more than a decade.

A return to hard market conditions will require $74bn of excess capacity to be taken out of the US property and casualty market, according to global insurance data and analytics provider Advisen.

The first two major global reinsurers to report, Munich Re and Hannover Re, have expressed satisfaction with their relative market showing in the 1 January renewals

The new rules on the capital charges held against investment risk under the QIS5 version of Solvency II will have a radical impact on (re)insurers' investment portfolios, according to studies

London-based wholesale (re)insurance broker Cooper Gay's plans to convert its European trading team into a single entity will see the firm's bonuses and incentives pooled as if they operated a single profit and loss account, according to sister title Inside FAC.

Ryan Specialty Group has launched a managing general underwriter (MGU) for US excess casualty business - its second MGU launch in the last fortnight, and has announced another acquisition in the excess and surplus lines broking space.

AJ Gallagher achieved a 9.5 percent increase in its 2010 earnings to $135.5mn despite its brokerage segment suffering a 1.7 percent decline in organic revenues over the year.

With Aon already reporting solid numbers for Q4 2010, the attention will now turn to rivals MMC and Willis - with the latter due to report this Wednesday (9 February).

Aon Corp threw down a gauntlet to its rivals MMC and Willis with a solid fourth quarter in broking revenues and margins enabling it to pip the analysts' consensus on forecast earnings.