January 2009/1

Bermudian Ironshore has continued its raid on beleaguered insurance giant American International Group (AIG) with the hiring of Joe Boren and John O'Brien to head up its newly formed Environmental Insurance unit.

Lloyd’s (re)insurer Hardy Underwriting Bermuda Ltd has increased capacity on its Syndicate 382 from £185mn to £250mn for 2009 in response to the weak UK pound.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) affirmed its junk ratings on three catastrophe bonds affected by the collapse of Lehman brothers after their total return swaps were terminated...

Troubled insurance giant American International Group (AIG) intends to merge two units of its major Asian life insurance entity American International Assurance Co Ltd (AIA) and list the restructured company in Hong Kong, according to reports.

As the lengthy list of victims in the Madoff scandal grows daily to include educational institutions, charities and foundations together with international banks, private hedge funds and insurers around the world (see table),so too does the...

Reinsurance rate increases at 1/1 renewals have been relatively modest, caused in no small part by a relatively small depreciation in industry capital, which has helped to contain price rises...

2008 was the third worst-year on record for economic losses from natural catastrophes (nat cat), according to Munich Re.

Harbor Point Re Ltd, the privately owned casualty focused Bermudian reinsurer formed out of Chubb Re in 2005, has had the outlook on its A- financial strength ratings revised to negative from stable by Standard & Poor's...

The US Congress will today (5 January) hold a hearing to investigate how US financial regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) failed to prevent the alleged $50bn fraud by Wall Street trader Bernard Madoff...

Former American International Group (AIG) CEO Hank Greenberg, described the firm as "Bleeding people and business" in a television interview last month.

Randall & Quilter (R&Q), the UK listed run-off acquisition and management firm, has continued its strategy of acquiring service companies with a deal to pay up to $6.9mn to acquire the Bermuda-based Quest Management Services Ltd.

XL Capital's competitive position has "diminished" because of the enervating effect of the earnings and capital charges that have overshadowed the Bermudian (re)insurer in the past few years, according to ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P).