July 2008/2

The New York State Insurance Department is due to hold three public hearings starting today (Monday) on contingent commissions and compensation disclosure.

Already beleaguered by depressed rates which are likely to continue to fall, European insurers could see their bottom line further eroded as economic conditions worsen and margins are sapped by the rise of direct sales, according to rating agency Standard

Static premium rates for lead hull & liability during June disguised an underlying trend in following markets that will see many airline operators find their cost of insurance higher than last year, according to broker Aon.

Lloyd's has had its A (Excellent) financial strength rating affirmed by rating agency AM Best with a stable outlook, on the basis of its expectations of stable underwriting discipline through 2008 and into 2009.

PartnerRe Ltd has become the latest reinsurer to enter the newly-deregulated Brazilian reinsurance market after receiving approval from the market regulator, SUSEP.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the UK Government have agreed on a number of new initiatives to ensure that flood insurance remains widely available for years to come.

French reinsurer SCOR has announced plans to make 200 redundancies across the group as part of the reinsurer's integration of acquisitions Converium and Revios.

AIM-listed broker THB Group has appointed former Euclidian chairman James Truscott as managing director of its new underwriting agency Unicorn Underwriting Ltd.

A united response from broker trade bodies to a discussion paper from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) mooting mandatory commission disclosure is likely to be published in September, according to the Lloyd's Market Insurance Broker Committee (LMBC).

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has appointed Gavin Phillips as its new head of London Market and Lloyd's insurance group.

Property and casualty insurers continue to outperform other financial services companies but are more likely to be overlooked by investors who don’t understand the sector, according to Morgan Stanley.

A sub-committee of the US House of Representatives has approved a measure that could lead to the creation of a national insurance office to remove state laws that conflict with international agreements.