July 2006/5

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".

Benfield's space subsidiary International Space Brokers (ISB) has re-signed Benoit Condroyer to spearhead the expansion of its Spanish operations.

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.

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.

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.

Willis Group head Joe Plumeri has welcomed the arrival of petroleum executive Anna Cheng Catalano to the broker's board as bringing a "global, multi-cultural perspective" to the firm.

Gallagher Global Risks, the London based international insurance arm of AJ Gallagher & Co, has recruited the former head of Lloyd's Spanish operations David Battman to the new post of Director of International Development & Strategy.

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.

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.

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

Mid-cap reinsurance companies geared to the prospect of bumper returns in the property catastrophe market are likely to outperform their large-cap peers, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley.

Lloyd's resilience to last year's record round of hurricane losses was highlighted in two reports last week, as reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter & Co and rating agency Moody's praised the market’s performance under the watchful eye of...