February 2011/3

Bird flies from Groupama; Everest Re plots Canada expansion; Russell launches ALPS Aerospace; GCube appoints John McLane as president; Jubilee hires new life underwriter; Argo International strengthens casualty team; Whittington appoints new director; Piracy claims outpacing premiums; Ace appoints Chessman as claims exec

German legacy buyer Darag has kept up its initial M&A pace into early 2011 by taking over the non-life portfolio of Belgium-based Quantum Insurance.

Novae Group's share price closed last week up almost 7 percent after the Lloyd's insurer confirmed plans to finally exorcise its past US casualty reinsurance liabilities and revealed that 2010 profits will be more than 10 percent above analysts' consensus forecast.

Mid-tier transatlantic law firm Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge's corporate insurance team has walked to City rival Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) with an eye on building its international and M&A capability.

Former Omega Insurance CEO Richard Tolliday has filed a suit with the UK High Court to have his compensation case against his former employer heard in Bermuda, The Insurance Insider understands.

The UK insurance industry must increase its lobbying efforts in the European Union as domestic influence becomes less relevant, according to the head of the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) Hector Sants.

The US insurance industry last week called on US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner to postpone new rules on regulating non-bank financial institutions.

Lloyd's reinsurer Catlin last week said that it had replaced its expiring Newton Re cat bond cover with both traditional and collateralised reinsurance.

French reinsurer Scor hopes that longevity risk business will make up about 3 percent of its global life premiums within three years, according to reports.

Swiss Re has opened the 2011 ILS scoreboard in spectacular style with its biggest Successor offering to date, while repeat cat bond sponsor The Hartford is revisiting the cat bond market with the first pure US wind bond of 2011.

Ratings agency S&P says it does not expect catastrophe bond issuance to rise significantly in 2011, despite increased investor demand, as the soft reinsurance market and low catastrophe toll will hold back growth.

Ryan Specialty Group (RSG) has acquired transactional risk managing general agency (MGA) Concord Specialty Risk - its third deal since the beginning of February.

Aon founder Patrick Ryan has vowed that his start-up Ryan Specialty Group will avoid retail, reinsurance and London-market wholesale broking.

Independent London market (re)insurance broker THB group saw healthy 2010 broking profits undermined by losses in its UK retail business and significant impairment costs.

US retailer Brown & Brown registered a 3.3 percent decline in organic revenues for the final three months of 2010.

Willis posted sound group-wide fourth-quarter earnings including a strong London market performance, but its numbers were overshadowed by the announcement of a new cost review as its deferred compensation scheme begins to eat away at margins.

Claims from the flooding in Queensland after Christmas and in the New Year have now breached the A$2bn threshold, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) said last week.

Beazley Group has returned $62mn to its shareholders since it walked away from takeover negotiations with Lloyd's rival Hardy in mid-December.

American International Group's (AIG) P&C (re)insurer Chartis confirmed fears of under-reserving when it said last week that it will add $4.1bn to its loss reserves to protect it against adverse development in long-tail casualty classes.

Global insurance giant Zurich Financial Services reported a 13 percent year-on-year drop in net income to $3.4bn for 2010, led by falling returns from its general insurance division.

Insurance Australia Group (IAG) has issued a profits warning covering the six months to 31 December 2010 after it suffered a further A$121mn loss from Lloyd's motor insurer Equity Redstar.

Scor increased its gross written premium for its 1 January renewals by 13 percent to EUR2bn as the French reinsurer continues to outgrow its rivals.

The Obama administration has laid out proposals for winding down mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae that could increase demand for earthquake (re)insurance and reshape the wider US cat market.

Underwriting returns deteriorated by 46 percent to $242mn for Validus in 2010, as it felt the impact of above average catastrophe losses.

Lloyd's insurer Beazley reported a 59 percent year-on-year rise in pre-tax profit to $250.8mn for 2010, boosted by a large contribution from reserve releases and a $33.7mn one-off foreign exchange gain.

Catlin's pre-tax profit for 2010 dropped by a third from the previous year to $406mn as investment returns halved.

Significant reserve releases from prior-year loss events contributed to RenaissanceRe's market-beating fourth-quarter combined ratio figures.

Bermudian reinsurer Platinum Underwriters has reported a $17.7mn fourth-quarter net loss on cat losses of $78.1mn, led by the New Zealand earthquake and a $9.9mn charge from Australian floods.

PartnerRe booked a slump in fourth-quarter net profits as investment writedowns combined with catastrophe losses to hit its bottom line.

Endurance Specialty Holdings reported that net profits for the fourth quarter and 2010 fell by almost a third largely due to the impact of catastrophe loss activity on its reinsurance book.

In contrast to a number of its Bermudian compatriots, Everest Re has booked fourth-quarter net and operating profits that are significantly higher than in the comparable prior-year periods.

Bermudian short-tail specialist Montpelier Re drew more than 97 percent of its 2010 underwriting income from reserve releases as claims came close to doubling.

Bermudian powerhouse Axis Capital has held up robust fourth-quarter net profits as its full-year net income almost doubled on strong realised gains in its investment portfolio.

Bermudian (re)insurer Alterra reported a 23 percent rise in full-year net income to $302.3mn as its merger last May helped to boost premium income.

XL Group's financials received a muted response from analysts despite reporting consensus beating fourth-quarter operating earnings per share (EPS).

Fourth-quarter net and operating profits slipped at Aspen Insurance Holdings as deteriorating losses from the New Zealand earthquake hit its bottom line.