January 2004/1

Marsh’s cost reduction drive Fortunate recipients of bonuses greater than $50,000 could be forgiven for feeling somewhat bitter sweet at broking giant Marsh. According to one Marsh confidante, some of the higher US annual bonuses were accompanied wi

It’s not just analysts who made their predictions for 2004 – brokers also took a view on business conditions over the next 12 months. For Aon, the New Year was about resolutions – and to back up the message it published a "to-do" list for the insurance

Insurance analysts are taking mixed positions on the industry’s fortunes with Europeans seemingly less confident on prospects, The Insurance Insider discovers 2004 is likely to be marked by premium growth in the high single digits, with a continuing bu

US giant property casualty insurer The Hartford announced on 19 December that it had agreed a $1.15bn global claims settlement for asbestos exposures to MacArthur Company and its Western MacArthur subsidiary. In a statement, the insurer said the agreem

Bermudian casualty insurer XL Capital Ltd revealed a higher than expected $647mn post-tax charge for Q3 2003. In a press release the company said the charge, which followed a claims audit and year-end reserve review, was "primarily related to adverse deve

Disagreements between Lloyd's underwriting supremo Rolf Tolle and Berkshire Hathaway led to the latter slashing the size of its Lloyd's subsidiary Marlborough, The Insider can reveal.

Italian firm goes into meltdown; limited D&O cover available The ongoing investigation into the Parmalat accounting scandal has raised questions about insurers' exposures to the collapsed Italian long-life milk, juices and biscuits conglomerate. In

Cavell Management services Ltd, the Norwich based run-off company recently acquired by former Eastgate duo Ken Randall and Alan Quilter, is set to win the contract to run-off GoshawK’s Syndicate 102. According to sources, after final presentations from a

Swiss Re's decision to stop writing a significant amount of Lloyd's reinsurance business is unrelated to the Central Fund coverage dispute, the Zurich headquartered reinsurer said last month. As revealed in the December edition of Insider Week's siste

Peter Matson, the veteran Lloyd's underwriter, has joined SVB Holdings Plc after completing his notice period with former employer Brit. Matson formally joined SVB on the 19 January and will reunite with some of his former PRI Ltd colleagues, including fi

The parent of disgraced broker Stirling Cooke Brown has applied for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while revealing that its largest creditor is London law firm Richards Butler. Richards Butler advised Stirling Cooke Brown in the marathon legal battle

New Bermudian based (re) insurance group Quanta Capital is set to raise over $600mn in an initial public offering, despite being in existence for only matter of months. On the 24 December 2003, Quanta filed a Form S-1 registration with the US Securiti