January 2006/6

US insurer The Hartford announced record 2005 net income of $2.3bn, or $7.46 a share, despite the year’s record industry hurricane losses. The figures were up by 8 percent and 5 percent respectively on 2004 results of...

US insurer The Hartford is appealing a summary judgment in favour of London market reinsurers, including Lloyd’s syndicates, in an attempt to recover $117mn relating to claims it settled with bankrupt asbestos distributor MacArthur in a...

Shares in run-off (re)insurance group Alea Group Holdings slumped almost twenty-five percent today (30 January) after the group predicted a full-year loss of $200mn-$240mn.

Freezing weather conditions in Europe have killed dozens from exposure, caused a building to collapse in Poland and wreaked havoc on roads over the last week. The extreme weather conditions hit the (re)insurance sector at its most nervous...

Bermudian reinsurer Montpelier Re has appointed two former ACE staff to senior management positions, it announced on 26 January. William Pollett will become treasurer and senior vice president at Montpelier at the beginning of February.

The decision last week by Lloyd’s to close its electronic trading platform Kinnect after spending £70mn+, and almost five years of development time, was not entirely unexpected, but has left a vacuum in terms of driving process...

Reinsurer Platinum Underwriters Holdings announced last Thursday (27 January) the appointment of Robert Porter as CEO of its Bermudian subsidiary Platinum Underwriters Ltd. Porter moves over from Platinum’s UK reinsurance operation...

Hurricane-scarred US insurer Allstate plans to slash up to 700 jobs at its Northbrook headquarters as part of a cost-cutting exercise. The move comes in the aftermath of a record third quarter loss taken by the company as a result of...

Despite increased interest in D&O cover and the inclusion of executives’ personal assets in last year’s high profile Enron and WorldCom settlements, premium rates in the sector fell for the second consecutive year in 2005, according to...

On 26 January the UK Court of Appeal 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...

Another round of lawsuits have been launched between insurance giant AIG and CV Starr, which is headed by AIG’s former chief executive Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).