January 2008/4

Falling rates in US directors' and officers' (D&O) liability lines dropped 11 percent in the final quarter of last year - far outstripping decreases in other lines of business tracked by Advisen for the RIMS Benchmark Survey.

The founder of failed Australian company HIH Insurance, Ray Williams, was released from jail last week but is still facing an inquiry into his finances.

US catastrophe claims reached $6.5bn in 2007, one of the lowest figures during the past decade, according to preliminary analysis by ISO's Property Claim Services Unit (PCS).

Legacy managers must adapt to the demands of new-style run-off portfolios if the sector is to be "genuinely perennial", according to Philip Grant, chairman of the Association of Run-Off Companies (ARC).

Private equity-backed Lloyd's insurer Canopius Group Ltd is continuing its expansion strategy with a Dublin-based operation that will initially specialise in structured reinsurance.

The rapid rise in commodity prices is fuelling an increase in insured assets on energy risks, which is expected to spill over into higher losses in the sector, according to Phillip Ellis, chairman of broker Willis Energy.

The global credit crunch has made its mark on Aon's 2008 Political and Economic Risk Map, resulting in the US and UK flagged as countries vulnerable to slow economic growth.

UK general insurer Royal & Sun Alliance plans to open offices in key provinces across China starting this year.

Specialist UK broker THB Group plc has become the latest intermediary to launch an underwriting operation as it looks to develop its revenue streams at a time of softening rates.

Lucida plc, a new insurance company headed by ex-Prudential plc CEO John Bloomer and backed by US hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management, has concluded its first reinsurance deal with Bank of Ireland Life (BOI Life).

French reinsurer SCOR has no "material" exposure to the US financial guarantee market and the monoline insurers that have been hit by the global credit crunch, the group revealed.

Concord Re, the $730mn sidecar established by American International Group's (AIG) subsidiary Lexington Insurance Company in 2006, has been non-renewed for 2008, as predicted by The Insurance Insider.