July 2008/2

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

With the announcement by Swiss Re last week that Stefan Lippe is to become group deputy CEO and COO, replacing Andreas Beerli, the reinsurance giant appears to be refocusing its attentions on the underwriting side of the business.

Lloyd's broker SSL is to move into the reinsurance arena with a new division headed by former Glencairn executive Jeffrey Wright.

Tropical windstorm Bertha - named the first Atlantic hurricane of 2008 - will skirt past Bermuda, after an unprecedented early start to the hurricane season.

New Insurance Australia Group (IAG) CEO Michael Wilkins detailed a much anticipated restructure last week that will see the Australian insurer withdraw its investment from Lloyd's Syndicate Alba and sell some of its UK-based motor insurance operations.

Reinsurance software specialist Q.Know Technologies Inc is understood to have closed doors to new business as the firm undergoes “financial restructuring”, The Insurance Insider can reveal.