July 2006/5

Bermudian-headquartered (re)insurer Lancashire Holdings Ltd is planning to form a UK licensed insurer, Lancashire Insurance Company (UK) Ltd (LUK).

HCC Insurance Holdings' stake in Heritage Underwriting Agency plc will more than halve once the Lloyd's insurer completes its plans to list on London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market.

Aeolus Re looks set to become the latest reinsurance vehicle to land on Bermudian shores, Insider Week can reveal.

John Byrne, formally of Gen Re subsidiary Cologne Reinsurance (Dublin) Ltd, has been banned from operating as a reinsurance specialist in the UK and Australia for five years as a result of his involvement in a series of financial reinsurance transactions.

French reinsurer SCOR has heralded last Wednesday's (19 July) launch of its EUR350mn subordinated bond issue to part-fund its Revios acquisition a "great success".

London-based reinsurance broker Cooper Gay has renamed its US domestic treaty operation following the departure of the unit's co-founder Michael Cashman less than a year after joining the firm.

The relentless quest by (re)insurers to manage down their reinsurance exposures is thought to have inspired a new approach to crystallising the industry's recoverables, Insider Week can reveal.

Munich Re said last week that it has recruited Ludger Arnoldussen from rival Swiss Re to its management board with responsibility for its Asian, Australasian and Africa division.

US commercial insurance rates continued to fall in the second quarter of 2006 with some of the steepest declines being felt among the medium to large commercial accounts.

Lloyd's syndicates will have access to a pool of securitised reinsurance capacity next year with the creation of Thunderbird Re, a Cayman Islands domiciled special purpose reinsurer.

Aviva plc has received regulatory approval to open another office in China bringing its total of offices in the country to 13.

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.