January 2008/2

Asbestos liability (re)insurer St George Re in Bermuda launch; Great American accused of bid rigging; Citizens in Bermuda; Ironshore buys Fairfax shell; Tobin steps down from XL...

Global law firm Mayer Brown LLP is to merge with the Asian law firm, Johnson Stokes & Master (JSM).

A suit against Credit Suisse filed by Florida insurer Bankers Life Insurance over losses on investment-grade bonds backed by sub-prime mortgages sold by the bank is expected to become a "bellwether" for legal action relating to the credit turmoil.

The sub-prime related professional liability (PL) litigation faced by US financial services firm State Street Corp has set alarm bells ringing among errors and omissions (E&O) insurers.

As well as cutting 2008 capacity on Lloyd's syndicates, a number of the market's listed insurers have already begun to hand capital back to shareholders - a pattern likely to continue this year...