January 2006/5

Shares in run-off (re)insurance group Alea Group Holdings slumped almost twenty percent in early trading this morning after the group predicted a full-year loss of $200mn-$240mn.

The UK insurance outsourcing company Rubicon Corporation has appointed Kroll Corporate Advisory & Restructuring Group as administrators after experiencing trading difficulties.

The UK Court of Appeal has this morning (26 January) overturned a ruling that insurers should pay out on claims filed by people suffering from pleural plaques, a condition it had been suggested could lead to serious asbestos-related diseases such as...

Musical chairs among the senior London market underwriting associations saw the chairman and chief executive of ACE’s European operations Andrew Kendrick replace Brit’s Dane Douetil as chairman of the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA).

The UK insurance outsourcing company Rubicon Corporation has appointed Kroll Corporate Advisory & Restructuring Group as administrators after experiencing trading difficulties. Established in late 2000 by the former chief executive of...

Lloyd’s “plumbing” system of outdated, paper-based processes is so unwieldy and inefficient and weighed down with the “sewage” of so many unsigned wording, delays and errors that its "customers can’t bear the stink", according to Alex Letts CEO of...

Lloyd’s has closed its controversial electronic platform Kinnect after spending an estimated £70mn+, and over four years of development time, on the ill-fated system.

Lloyd’s decision to terminate the Kinnect project came just over a week after the Corporation unveiled a new strategic plan which creates a vision of the Society being a low cost insurance platform.

Sovereign Risk Insurance Ltd – the political risk joint initiative between Bermudian giants ACE Ltd and XL Capital Ltd - will become wholly owned by ACE from the 1 February.

Hedge fund backed Glacier Re has received a boost from AM Best with news that the rating agency has affirmed it’s A- (excellent) financial strength rating. Glacier Re – which begun trading a year ago – was feared to be badly struck by...

London market broker Howden has promoted Andy Bragoli to the role of group broking director. Specialising in liability and crime insurance, Howden is the broking arm of fast expanding insurer Hyperion Insurance Group.

US insurance giant St Paul said it will update shareholders on its asbestos liabilities next week following Friday’s verdict in the US Court of Appeals which reinstated an old asbestos-related insurance suit against the company.