January 2004/5

A new online quoting engine specialising in D&O liability insurance for small to medium size enterprises has been launched.

Despite being the world’s fourth largest reinsurer, it wasn’t too long ago that General Electric’s Employers Re was up for sale. But a year after the reinsurer took a pre-tax $2.5bn fourth quarter charge which boosted asbestos and WTC reserves but dragged

Newly floated Bermudian reinsurer Aspen is expanding its US property reinsurance underwriting with a new team based in Connecticut.

Ashok Gupta, the architect of the £50mn+ Lloyd’s sponsored Kinnect project,has been replaced, Lloyd’s revealed today (19 January).

Bermudian giant XL Capital followed its surprise third quarter $184mn pre-tax reserve charge with a higher than expected $694mn pre-tax charge in the fourth quarter prompting ratings downgrades from Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s (S&P).

A total of seven different Lloyd’s syndicates have made cash calls, including Syndicate 271, Syndicate 506, Syndicate 744, Syndicate 957 and Syndicate 1101. The due date of the cash calls is 13 February.

US property casualty giant The Hartford preannounced a higher than expected set of fourth quarter results last Wednesday (14 January) with an 8-K SEC filing.

After months of speculation, Xchanging and IT provider Rebus iS look set to finalise merger plans, Insider Week can reveal.

The recent round of renewals saw little change in market conditions as the reinsurance market generally upheld underwriting discipline, according to a report released today (19 January) by broker Benfield.

The P&I market is performing below its full potential despite two years of hard markets, according to a new report release by HSBC Insurance Brokers.

Recently floated Bermudian (re)insurer Alea released a buoyant trading statement today (19 January 2004), highlighting strong renewals and good prospects for the year ahead.

Another new appointment at SVB last week as the Lloyd’s insurer unveiled Tony Hambro as a non-executive director.