July 2007/1

Dutch financial services company ING Group announced last week that it has reached an agreement with P&V Verzekeringen to sell its Belgian Broker and Employee Benefits insurance business for EUR750mn.

A proliferation of extreme natural disasters is expected in the next 25 years, resulting in record insured losses and massive loss of life, according to predictions by Professor Bill McGuire...

Swiss Re is involved as counterparty in the first insurance linked securities transaction to reference an existing cat bond as a trigger with the launch of $140mn Fusion 2007 Ltd.

Private equity investors The Blackstone Group and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners will sell their stakes in Bermudian (re)insurer Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd in an underwritten public offering.

Amlin plc remains an attractive investment, despite its shares underperforming the UK non-life sector by 9 percent in the first half of the year, according to Shore Capital's Eamonn Flanagan.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has said the cost of the recent UK floods is expected to reach £1bn, double the £500mn estimated by modeller Risk Management Services (RMS) last week.

Illium Managing Agency Ltd has parted company with active underwriter Denis Burniston, who founded the Lloyd’s liability specialist in 2003 with current chief executive Russell Benzies.

German bank HVB Group said it has completely divested its remaining stake in Munich Re, which was equal to about 2.2 percent of the voting rights.

Lloyd's has taken another stride towards an automated market by providing underwriters and brokers the opportunity to use technology to provide support for checking insurance slips.

SCOR took a further step toward closing its deal for Converium last week after being given the nod by Switzerland's Federal Office of Private Insurance (FOPI) to buy more than 50 percent of the reinsurer's share capital and voting rights.

Lloyd's insurer Chaucer is likely to be a target for Bermudian (re)insurers and private equity firms, according to Eamonn Flanagan at Shore Capital.

It was only recently that a US judge was bemoaning the lack of case law on reinsurance broking commissions and then along comes Benfield Group suing rival Aon Re for $2.4m in damages...

Net income after taxes for the US property and casualty insurance industry fell by 5.5 percent to $15.8bn in the first quarter 2007, compared to the same period in 2006...

Karel Van Hulle, head of insurance and pensions unit at the European Commission and responsible for the preparation of the Solvency II directive, has said the deadline for implementation of the directive will be pushed back by two years to 2012.

AIM-listed Lloyd's insurer Heritage Underwriting Agency plc has bolstered its ranks with the hire of international general liability underwriter Mark Aaron from ACE.

Guy Carpenter has swooped for Chris Klein, the chairman of rival Benfield Group's counterparty risk unit.

Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings has further bolstered its underwriting operations with a $100mn issue of debt.

The British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA) has criticised the Financial Services Authority's (FSA) long awaited consultation paper proposing amendments to its Insurance Conduct of Business (ICOB) rules.

Proceeds from Paris Re's forthcoming IPO will be used to reduce its retro spend and strengthen share capital at its Swiss operating subsidiary.

Former American International Group (AIG) supremo Maurice "Hank" Greenberg has countersued his former employer for the second time in as many weeks in an attempt to recover profits...

Andrew Goodsell, the former Merrett underwriter, will receive £104mn from the merger of the AA and Saga to create a £6bn motoring and insurance giant.

Jacques Aigrain, CEO of reinsurance giant Swiss Re described insurance linked securitisations (ILS) as a “major revolution in how we perform in the market”...