January 2013/4

Weekly share price movements and key data on The Insurance Insider's universe of P&C (re)insurers and brokers

UK-listed Tawa has announced a boardroom reshuffle, with two directors swapping roles, including the company's internal audit chief.

Randall & Quilter (R&Q) confirmed it has reached a final settlement with P&C giant Ace over a coverage dispute dating back to the $1bn Brandywine APH legacy transaction in 2006.

Bermudian (re)insurer Argo has written to its capital providers to confirm that it has agreed to cede the 2009 and prior-year reserves of the Heritage Syndicate, which it acquired in 2008.

Professionals operating in the run-off acquisition market are less optimistic that Continental Europe will be the promised land of future growth than they were a year ago, according to a new survey by PwC.

American International Group (AIG) has taken the unusual step of publishing 172 pages of documentation considered by the board before it decided not to join Hank Greenberg's lawsuit against the US Treasury Department.

The number of securities class action lawsuits filed in the US declined "sharply" during 2012, according to a study by Cornerstone Research and Stanford Law School.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)'s newly elected CEO Ben Nelson has called for the preservation of the US state-based regulatory system.

Lloyd's chairman John Nelson has thrown his support behind the UK holding a referendum on its membership of the European Union and said the UK should opt to stay in.

The Lloyd's (re)insurance market must remain constantly vigilant to avoid repeating past mistakes, said the market's former CEO Nick Prettejohn.

The uncertainty in future regulation on both prudential and market conduct is adversely affecting insurers' cost of capital and strategic choices and will impact future ratings, according to Standard & Poor's (S&P).

A swathe of European governments have increased insurance premium tax rates in reaction to gaping financial deficits and a bleak economic outlook, according to research from London's International Underwriting Association (IUA).

Europe is preparing for a controversial financial transaction tax (FTT) that could affect (re)insurers' investment strategies, although tax experts predict that political challenges will water down the final levy.

Fitch Ratings does not expect Bermuda to experience another sizeable wave of start-up (re)insurers after a major disaster event, the agency said in a new report on the island's reinsurance market.

The new Wexcess UK weather product is targeted at risks that an insurer would otherwise retain as an alternative to aggregate catastrophe reinsurance, said the product's broker Aon Benfield.

US regional carrier The Cincinnati Insurance Companies completed its first reinsurance deal with capital market providers with the $61.2mn Skyline Re private cat bond, sister publication Trading Risk reported last week.

Travelers has revealed better-than-expected reserve releases of $222mn and $940mn before tax for the fourth quarter and full-year 2012 respectively, compared to $126mn and $715mn in the comparable periods of 2011.

Global specialty (re)insurers have a significant opportunity to make inroads into their cost bases, particularly once they have reached $1bn in net premiums and employ between 400-500 staff, according to research by consultants at Ernst and Young (E&Y).

AM Best has ceased to rate the Asian reinsurer Best Re's parent company Islamic Arab Insurance Company (Salama), after the ratings agency downgraded the firm's financial strength rating from A- to B++.

Lloyd's will take the biggest gross loss from a $125mn property claim lodged by warehouse owner Fedway after damage and disruption caused by Hurricane Sandy, it is understood.

Aon Benfield has estimated private insured losses from Superstorm Sandy at $22bn, three months after the 1,000-mile wide weather system struck the US east coast.

The final senior member of the Benfield Advisory team that was merged into Aon Capital Markets in 2008 has left the reinsurance broker with the departure of Scott Maries to JP Morgan.

The long-running facultative reinsurance dispute between Allianz subsidiary Rosno and specialist (re)insurer Infrassure looks likely to transfer to the Swiss courts as the German insurance giant contemplates enforcing a Russian judgment against Infrassure.

Atrium's private equity sellers are hoping to gain as much as $200mn from the auction of the much-admired Lloyd's underwriter, The Insurance Insider can reveal

AM Best has affirmed the ratings of (re)insurance giants Swiss Re and AIG.

Queensland floods top A$43mn; Eiopa to test long term guarantees; Tempo moves to reinsurance beat; Third Point affirmed; Bermuda brushes off Sandy; AmTrust fells Sequoia...

Standard & Poor's (S&P) has removed Generali from negative credit watch and backed new CEO Mario Greco's plans to strengthen the Trieste-headquartered insurer's balance sheet.

Fund manager Nephila Capital had been seeking a valuation of around 10 times its earnings in a formal sales process that concluded last week after it struck a deal with the legendary buy-out firm KKR.

Solvency should be a relatively simple matter.

With a slew of Q4 financials due this week the prognosis from the first US P&C sector reporters is of an industry in rude health that will continue to show strong performance in 2013 as positive momentum for US commercial P&C pricing continues.