Issues

A cohort of hull underwriters led by Aspen have lost their appeal to sue the banker of Turkey-based Kairos Shipping in an English court to recoup a $22mn payment for a ship that was later judged to have been scuttled.

The news that Dale Underwriting Partners is sponsoring a special purpose arrangement (SPA) syndicate for a group of contingency and property underwriters led by Tom Phillipson offers fresh evidence that Lloyd's is using the vehicles to foster entrepreneurial talent.

Zurich has reached the second stage in the disposal of its EUR400mn ($470mn) German legacy medical malpractice book, having selected three run-off carriers to participate in the next round of bids, The Insurance Insider understands.

Markel views its proposed acquisition State National as a strong growth engine, with the fronting specialist well-positioned to take advantage of secular trends in the P&C sector driven by alternative capital and InsurTech.

Oak Hill's acquisition of Carlyle Group's majority stake in Epic Insurance Brokers is the latest deal in what seems to be a near-constant churn of ownership among private equity-backed intermediaries.

Epic Insurance Brokers president Pete Garvey is looking for acquisitions that would represent a strategic fit for the fast-growing business after principal financial backer Carlyle Group agreed to sell its majority stake to Oak Hill late last month in a deal valuing the firm at nearly $1bn.

The greatest paradox of today is that some of our best marketers are actually the worst communicators.

Low levels of catastrophe losses flattered second quarter results at risk carriers, as market conditions continued to apply upward pressure to core loss ratios amid softening reserve releases.

Two reinsurer sidecar vehicles have not been renewed in 2017 as Scor and PartnerRe each decided they no longer needed retrocession cover in this format, sister publication Trading Risk revealed last week.

Reaction to the UK government's insurance-linked securities (ILS) regulations released last week has been positive, with market participants saying their concerns about earlier draft proposals had been noted and the end result was a framework they could work with.

P&C (re)insurers experienced a relatively benign quarter in terms of natural catastrophe events, though recent company disclosures have dented more bullish assumptions about related losses.

US commercial P&C rates continued their upward trajectory in the second quarter, according to bellwether insurer Travelers.