July 2006/5

OdysseyRe may be on the brink of losing its cherished A- financial strength rating after Standard & Poor’s (S&P) responded to the announcement by Canadian combine Fairfax Financial Holdings that it has discovered accounting errors which could reduce...

ICP Ltd, a proposed new investment vehicle specialising in the Lloyd's sector, has missed its deadline to list on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

Bermudian (re)insurer Endurance Specialty Holdings suffered a drop in net income for the second quarter after it was hit by an $84mn increase in its losses from last year’s big three hurricanes.

US insurer CNA Financial Corp has scaled back its London Market operations further as its Global Resource Managers operation has stopped offering third-party services with the departure of its audit & consultancy team.

As exclusively revealed by The Insurance Insider on 24 July, Aeolus Re will become the latest reinsurer to begin operations on Bermuda following the raising of $500mn of capital.

Bermudian giant XL Capital reported late yesterday (26 July) that it had almost trebled its second quarter net income to $377.1mn, up from $135.9mn in the prior-year period.

US retail broker Arthur J Gallagher announced yesterday that its total brokerage for the quarter had risen to $47.7mn from $43.5mn in the prior-year period.

In a busy day for (re)insurers’ interim results, Bermudian-headquartered ACE Ltd revealed a strong second quarter yesterday (25 July) with net income (excluding realised gains) climbing 31 percent to $579mn and a combined ratio of 88 percent for its prope

US insurer Chubb Corp has reported yesterday (25 July) an “outstanding” second quarter of 2006 with net income rising to $598mn, compared to $495mn for the prior-year period.

Everest Re Group Ltd opened the mid-year reporting season for the Bermudian (re)insurers on the 24 July and set an upbeat tone with a strong set of figures.

Michael Bright, the colourful founder of collapsed UK insurer Independent Insurance, returned to Southwark Crown Court yesterday (25 July) for a preliminary hearing in the conspiracy to defraud trial relating to the collapse of the company.

Despite flat revenues for the first half of the year, the Arab Insurance Group said it experienced a 34 percent climb in interim net profits to $8.6mn.