July 2006/5

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

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.

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.

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.