February 2012/1

BB&T Insurance Services will become the largest US wholesaler and will surpass UK-listed JLT as the industry's sixth largest broking group following its acquisition of JC Flowers-owned Crump Group at the beginning of the month.

A quartet of January cat bonds raise $643mn while a restructured Zenkyoren bond sees a price rise

Founding Colemont Global CEO Surinder Beerh has won the case for wrongful dismissal that he brought against AmWINS on the grounds that the latter was guilty of a "wholesale failure to carry out any fair procedure"

San Francisco-based private equity house Parthenon has appointed Goldman Sachs to sell its 43 percent stake in AmWINS, The Insurance Insider can reveal

Industry loss warranty (ILW) trading will expand 10-25 percent this year to reach volumes of $6.5bn-$7.5bn, taking it back to levels last seen in the 2006-07 hard market following hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma

Marsh's decision to scale back its US wholesalers to a panel of just four is the most prominent example of a phenomenon that has swept the market over the last couple of years

Capital markets boosts Aon Benfield; Validus sidecar writes $76mn; Aquiline buys Juniperus

Indicative offers for up-for-sale Lloyd's carrier Hardy were due in on 8 February but there was still widespread scepticism in the financial community about Hardy's ability to get a deal done in the next two to three months

Introducing The Insurance Insider Asset Tracker - a tool to monitor the relative performance of a basket of asset classes that the sector is drawn to

In a sector where the bulk of assets are held in high quality fixed income investments that have continued to drop in yield, it is hardly surprising that CEOs and CIOs are looking to alternatives

Lloyd's is drawing towards the close of a feasibility study on the idea of a volume claims service that could centrally adjust low value, low complexity claims

UK-listed outsourcing firm Xchanging - which runs the back office for the London market - has responded to the Project Darwin initiative by staking a claim to remain at the heart of processing in London by producing a detailed overview of the options for technological reform