July 2003/1

Industry give cautious welcome to US Court decisions which reign in excesses of the Wall Street litigation; $1bn settlement removes 309 IPO companies from “laddering” litigation Insurers exposed to the myriad of US shareholder class action suits were

Some of AIG’s “independent” directors have had unusual financial relationships with AIG or its affiliates, and may not be as independent as they appear to be. AIG’s failure to disclose these relationships to its shareholders raises questions about the com

A Marsh takeover of UK broker HLF Group has taken a step closer to reality with the revelations that the world's largest insurance broker has begun due diligence proceedings.

Advisors appointed to discuss "strategic options" which include a possible sale; concerns over reserve adequacies; space shuttle loss and The Accident Group; future of Syndicate 102 in doubt; share price falls by 30 percent Following reassurances from

Despite Lloyd’s chairman Lord Levene’s recent assertion that “capital is capital. I don’t understand why people should be fixated by a particular type of capital”, the Franchise Board of Lloyd’s has established a Working Group to advise on the Society’s f

Marsh reinsurance broking arm Guy Carpenter has become entangled in a competition dispute in the US with an IT outfit it partly owns. Ohioan software firm ReClaim Technologies and Services has filed a $10mn lawsuit against the broker for breach of cont

Lloyd's (re)insurer Chaucer has written to Names increasing the offer for unaligned 2004 capacity on its proposed merged Syndicate 1084 from 7.5p to 11p per £1. Chaucer upped the offer after its initial 21 June proposal met with little enthusiasm from

Giant German Munich Re has become the first international reinsurer to receive a nationwide composite operating license in China as penetration into the tightly controlled domestic market gathers pace.

Troubled UK liability insurer The Underwriter has announced that it has gone into "solvent run-off" and, as of last Friday (11 July), will no longer write new business. The decision comes as a result of an FSA review into the company's parlous capital sit

Trenwick Managing Agency announced at the beginning of the month that it had stopped writing aviation business "with immediate effect". The firm, which hopes to announce a management buyout from its distressed parent Trenwick International later this mont

CXRe, the operation in run-off formerly known as CNA Re UK, is facing a £2.5mn lawsuit from St Paul Syndicate 314 for non-payment of claims. In its 18 June High Court filing, the Syndicate "claims damages in respect of the defendant's failure, in breac

After an epic dispute that began in early 1999 with the Unicover fall-out, Odyssey Re predecessor Sphere Drake was victorious in the UK High Court earlier this month against the disgraced carve-out brokers SCB. It was one of the most eagerly awaited indus