January 2009/2

Reinsurers wishing to utilise solvent schemes of arrangement involving US cedants have been dealt a blow by a provision in the proposed framework setting collateral requirements for non-US entities.

Reinsurance rate increases at 1/1 renewals were relatively modest, and confined largely to peak risk in the US, as a relatively small overall depreciation in industry capital, capacity and risk appetite helped to contain price rises.

IBM has won the race for Lloyd's messaging hub contract, fighting off information technology rival ATOS in the final selection process.

Texas-based Southwest Insurance Partners Inc (SWIP) - the insurance investment vehicle led by HCC Insurance founder Stephen Way - has plans for a private offering to raise up to an additional $100mn in capital, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

At the time of going to press, London market insurers had received the first Madoff-related notifications on errors and omissions (E&O) and directors' and officers' (D&O) policies.

Insurance-linked investment fund Clariden Leu is launching a specialist industry loss warranty (ILW) fund for 2009, seeking to capitalise on a retro capacity crunch.

Three cat bonds are expected to be brought to market in late January/February raising hopes of dealflow through the insurance linked securities (ILS) pipeline that has been blocked since September last year.

The Lockton family and private equity firm Stone Point Capital have injected fresh capital into Lockton International, the London-headquartered broker acquired in 2006, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

US private equity firm Apollo, in partnership with BC Partners, is poised to lodge a formal bid later this month to acquire a majority stake in Royal Bank of Scotland's up-for-sale insurance units, after a month of exclusive talks.

Expansive US insurer AMTrust Financial Services is planning a Lloyd's syndicate launch later this year, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

On top of the estimated $10-12bn of directors' and officers' (D&O) and errors and omissions (E&O) credit crunch-related losses, the embattled professional and management liability insurance sector is bracing itself...

As stock market indices around the globe recorded the worst calendar year declines in their histories, spreads widened to epic proportions and corporate bond values took a nosedive, major players in the US life (re)insurance market...