January 2007/4

ACE European Group announced a series of changes to its management personnel and structure on 10 January.

US insurer State Farm Fire & Casualty Co has been ordered to pay $2.5mn in punitive damages to a couple in Mississippi by a jury.

After nine years at the Corporation, Lloyd’s director of Worldwide Markets, Julian James, is returning to the broking industry after announcing he is to join Lockton International.

ACE Tempest Re Group, part of ACE Limited, announced the establishment of ACE Tempest Re Canada on 8 January.

Lloyd's broker RFIB Group announced the appointment of Bob Naudi as a consultant on 12 January as it continues to bolster its Middle East operations.

Casino mogul Steve Wynn has described an offer from Lloyd's insurers to settle his $54mn claim for a damaged Picasso masterpiece as "ridiculous" and taken underwriters to court.

Lloyd's based (re)insurer Amlin plc) that its Bermudian reinsurance operation has written $87mn of business this year, a 58 percent increase on the same point last year.

German giant Munich Re is on track for 2006 after-tax profits of EUR3.2bn to EUR3.4bn, according to its chairman Nikolaus von Bomhard in an investor conference last week (9 January).

CastlePoint Holdings Ltd, the Bermuda based (re)insurer formed last year by the US investment bank Friedman Billings Ramsey, plans to list on Nasdaq through an initial public offering (IPO).