January 2008/3

Recently merged New York law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP has opened an office in Dubai, with a primary focus on corporate finance.

Lloyd's (re)insurer RJ Kiln & Co has strengthened its international network of marine and cargo business with the acquisition of The International Marine (Underwriting Agency) Limited (IMUA).

The US did not "dodge a bullet" in the 2007 hurricane season, by escaping with minor damage from the landfall of Hurricanes Dean and Felix, according to risk modelling firm AIR Worldwide Corporation (AIR).

UK regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has appointed Sally Dewar as new managing director of wholesale.

Ex-Heath Lambert executive Hugh Champion has taken up his new post as director of rival broker RFIB Group Ltd, after leaving the up-for-sale broker last year.

Derivatives platform Insurance Futures Exchange Services (IFEX) which began trading in US hurricanes as futures contracts last September, now has cumulative trading volumes totalling more than $31mn of (re)insurance limit, equivalent to 3,100 lots, it rev

Bermudian reinsurer White Mountains Re has cancelled its quota share arrangement with Helicon Re and Olympus Re for the 2008 year as a result of the softening property cat market.

The airline market is "likely to have made a loss" last year with claims outweighing premiums, according to the latest data from Aon Aviation.

Countrywide Financial, one of the US's largest mortgage lenders heavily affected by the sub-prime lending debacle, has been purchased by Bank of America in a $4bn all-share deal.

Aquiline Capital Partners could lose as much as 95 percent of its investment in its Dublin-based Structured Credit Company (SCC), as the credit default underwriting firm became another victim of the meltdown in the debt markets.

BMS, the independent London market broker, has confirmed the resignation of its CEO, John Spencer.

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter is to set up an office to capitalise on the growing central and eastern European market.