January 2007/1

UK motor insurer Admiral has extended its long-term reinsurance agreement with Munich Re subsidiary Great Lakes Reinsurance.

After last year’s record catastrophe insured losses of more than $100bn, the benign conditions of 2005 look like costing the (re)insurance industry just $15bn in losses from natural and man-made catastrophes, according to preliminary figures from Swiss Re

US commercial insurers are on course for their best financial performance in nearly 20 years, according to figures from the ISO and Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) covering the first nine months of 2006.

“Two large claims” incurred in January 2005 led to AM Best double downgrading Primary Group’s Irish insurance subsidiary Primary Insurance Company Ltd (PICL) before the Christmas break.

Munich Re regained its targeted AA- rating from Standard & Poor’s (S&P) last month with the rating agency upgrading the German giant from A+ and assigning a stable outlook on 22 December.

In a record year for securitisation in the sector, French reinsurer SCOR became the latest (re)insurer to issue a catastrophe bond, with its EUR120mn Atlas III transaction to cover against European windstorm and Japanese earthquake losses in late December

Analysts have broadly welcomed reports that Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) has agreed to sell subsidiary Putnam Investments to Power Corp of Canada for $3.9bn.

A buyers’ market has seen plummeting airline rates with German airline Lufthansa leading the way, Insider Week can reveal.

Apparent tensions between Catlin Group and AM Best re-surfaced last month with the rating agency confirming on 20 December that it would maintain its review with negative implications of the insurer’s rating despite the unconditional declaration of its ta

Beazley Group plc has increased its share of the capacity on its Lloyd’s syndicates to 81 percent with the acquisition of the corporate capital vehicle Santam Corporate Ltd.

Ratings agency AM Best downgraded the financial strength rating of General Insurance Corp of India to A- from A on 18 December.

US insurance broker AJ Gallagher said last week that it will take a $5mn-$10mn fourth quarter charge following a $36.9mn deal to settle a class-action lawsuit over contingent commissions.