January 2007/6

The specialty insurance group Markel Corporation unveiled its 2006 results last week which saw the group’s combined ratio fall to a mere 87 percent while investment earnings leapt to an impressive $160mn.

Morgan Keegan insurance analyst and long-term bear of Canadian combine Fairfax Financial Holdings, John Gwynn, has announced that he is dropping the company from his coverage due to a stock manipulation lawsuit.

Benign catastrophe conditions contributed to US insurer The Hartford Financial Services Group reporting record fourth quarter net income of $783mn, or $2.42 a share, and full year 2006 net income of $2.7bn – a 21 percent increase on 2005.

Benfield Group has appointed Jeremy Goodman to a senior position in its facultative operations, as it attempts to fill the void left by the high-profile defection of Elliot Richardson and a number of his team to rival Aon last September.

German reinsurer R+V has been awarded £14mn, plus interest, in its long-running dispute with the former Lloyd’s-based managing agency Risk, Insider Week can reveal.

Aon Corp unveiled a significant restructuring of its senior international management last week which saw the veteran London head Dennis Mahoney relocate to Bermuda.

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The European windstorm Kyrill may trigger Munich Re’s EUR110mn cat bond, Aiolos, as the reinsurer announced last week that its losses from the storm may be in the region of EUR600mn.

Bodies representing the reinsurance industry have responded to criticism over their lobbying of Florida lawmakers that last week passed legislation significantly disintermediating the role of property reinsurers in the state.

The reinsurance market was hit last week with news that legislation has been passed in Florida that will disintermediate significant reinsurance capacity in the state, the most profitable in the property catastrophe sector.

Hannover Re expects its losses from Windstorm Kyrill to be between EUR120-180mn before tax with an overall industry loss estimated at EUR4-7bn.

After a year-and-a-half long investigation, the European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes published her preliminary findings into the business insurance sector last week which raised concerns...