July 2010/3

ABI loses director general after 6 months...

Bermuda and Switzerland - favoured domiciles for many international (re)insurers - are first on European regulators' list for granting Solvency II equivalence to non-EU countries.

US crop insurers have agreed a deal with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) that will see federal subsidies cut by $6bn over the next decade.

Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $550mn to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle fraud charges that it defrauded investors over the sale of subprime mortgage products that cost its customers more than $1bn.

American International Group (AIG) has agreed to pay $725mn to settle a class action suit brought by state pension funds that alleged the group engaged in accounting frauds and misled its investors between 1999 and 2004.

Congressional committee hearings held in Washington last week gave a fresh airing of the debate around the Neal Bill (HR 3424) proposals to curtail tax relief on affiliated reinsurance transactions between US insurers and foreign-domiciled reinsurers.

The US House of Representatives has voted through a bill that would raise the limits of cover provided by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), as well as extending its warrant until 2015.

Non-US (re)insurers that operate in the US market will have their collateral requirements reduced, after a financial reform bill passed the Senate.

Investment giant Berkshire Hathaway provided a further display of its muscular balance sheet last week (15 July) with a mammoth reinsurance contract that provides CNA with up to $4bn of retroactive long-tail asbestos/environmental cover.

Argo Group revealed $20-$25mn of Q2 net cat losses last week.

U2's recently cancelled North American tour is likely to cost the London market close to $17mn due to contingency cover purchased by the band and its promoters, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

NYMagic's move to go private in a $230mn buyout by ProSight Specialty Insurance Holdings Inc has been challenged by class action lawyers over suggestions the US property casualty insurer may have undersold itself.