January 2004/6

R&SA has announced the sale of its 37.1 percent shareholding in South Africa’s Mutual & Federal Insurance Company Ltd.

Just two months after news of the proposed St Paul Travelers supermerger broke, St Paul admitted last week it would take a $350mn pretax fourth quarter reserve charge to bolster its healthcare business in run-off.

In a new report, ratings agency Moody’s has suggested that core reserves (i.e. reserves excluding asbestos and environmental liabilities) for the insurance industry may be short by as much as $30bn.

Consultants Watson Wyatt has announced that it will establish an insurance and financial services consulting team based in Munich.

The imminent expansion of the European Union – creating the largest trading bloc in the world – will benefit the insurance industry, according to actuaries Tillinghast.

Bermudian (re)insurer Endurance announced last Thursday (22 January) that its 2003 net income has rocketed 158 percent to $263.4mn, or $4.00 per diluted share.

Ratings agency Fitch has affirmed insurer Brit’s “A” financial strength rating, with a positive outlook, after the firm announced a capital reorganisation.

There were further signs of the opening of China’s (re)insurance market last week, as Benfield announced it had placed a $5bn reinsurance programme for the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation and Liberty Mutual became the first foreign property ca

New research from analysts at Morgan Stanley suggests that world’s largest insurer AIG may benefit from a combination of stronger equity markets, a weakening dollar and renewed enthusiasm for growth prospects in China in 2004.

Bermudian reinsurer Partner Re has said claims relating to its exposure to last week’s explosion at Algeria’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant were expected to be between $27-30mn.

Rates for directors & officers cover in the US climbed to an all time high last year as insurers continued to increase rates, according to Tillinghast’s 2003 Director’s and Officers Liability survey.

Recently aired views on declining property rates were backed up last week by a survey from the Risk Insurance Management Society (RIMS) in the US, which found that the cost of premiums fell 8.8 percent in the final quarter of 2003.