July 2008/2

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).

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

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.

Insured losses from natural catastrophes so far this year have totalled $13bn in a period that will be remembered for years to come for its high natural catastrophe death toll, according to reinsurance giant Munich Re.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has revealed "significant weaknesses" in ratingspractices following a 10-month investigation into rating agencies Moody's, Fitch and Standard & Poor's (S&P).

Marsh has made an out of court settlement with United Insurance Brokers (UIB) over claims that the broker poached senior aviation staff, according to reports.

Insured losses from recent flooding in the US Midwest could be "as large or larger" than those recorded during the Great Flood of 1993, according to Standard & Poor's (S&P).

Investor pressure is thought to have been the key driver behind Zurich Financial Services (ZFS) sudden exit from the bidding process for the insurance business of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) announced last Thursday (11 July).

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

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

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.

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.