January 2009/1

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.

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.

Bermudian run-off acquisitions firm Enstar Group completed its $341.3mn acquisition of Travelers’ UK-based unit Unionamerica Holdings Ltd at the end of December.

Expansive insurer WR Berkley Insurance (Europe), Limited (WRB Europe) has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Irish Professional Risks Ltd, to form WR Berkley Insurance Ireland.

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...

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...

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.

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...

The liquidated estate of US workers' compensation insurers Mission Insurance Companies yielded a further $121mn for policyholders, bringing the total amount distributed to approximately $1.5bn.

Bermudian reinsurer Starr Insurance & Reinsurance Ltd (SIRL), a subsidiary of Starr International Company, Inc has been assigned a stable financial strength rating of A by AM Best.

Singapore-based reinsurer Asia Capital Reinsurance Group received approval last month to open a branch office in Hong Kong as a spearhead to its expansion into the northeast Asia markets.

US property & casualty (P&C) (re)insurers saw net income for the first three quarters of 2008 fall by 85 percent to $7.3bn, with an underwriting loss of $10.9bn, according to a report by rating agency AM Best.