July 2003/2

General insurers are less pessimistic than they were in the first three months of 2003, according to today’s latest quarterly financial services survey by the CBI and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).

Insurance information service provider Axco has offered an upbeat assessment in its inaugural report on the London Market.

Markel International, the London based arm of US insurer Markel Corporation, received a boost last week from rating agency AM Best when its financial strength rating was upgraded to A-.

Bermudian post 9/11 start-up Montpelier Re has tied up a $450mn funding arrangement to support its letter of credit needs.

Victims of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) lost a landmark appeal last Thursday as a December 2002 High Court ruling was upheld, preventing claimants from suing airlines for compensation.

With the Senate Judiciary Committee in recess over the 4 July break, hopes for successful passage of Senator Orrin Hatch’s Fairness in Asbestos Resolution Act were dealt a blow last Thursday as insurers threatened to withdraw from the initiative to set up

Alphastar – the firm formerly known as Stirling Cooke Brown (SCB) – has until the end of this week to file overdue financials or face delisting from Nasdaq.

A Marsh takeover of UK broker HLF Group has taken a step closer to reality as Insider Week can reveal that the world’s largest insurance broker has begun due diligence proceedings.

SCOR has responded with dismay after ratings agency S&P downgraded its financial strength rating below the critical A- level last week.

Despite the relatively benign report by Royal Commissioner Justice Neville Owen into the A$5.3bn collapse of HIH, Australia’s prosecutors are lining up some of the key protagonists for criminal prosecutions over the debacle.

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 40 percent

Axis Speciality Ltd, the Bermudian insurer formed by John Charman in the aftermath of the 11 September terrorist attacks, announced today (7 July) that it will provide directors & officers liability insurance and other financial lines coverage.