July 2010/3

Specialty insurer Markel Corporation acquired privately owned US workers' compensation insurer Aspen for $135mn in cash, it was announced last week.

Catastrophe risk modelling firm Eqecat is releasing the first Asian typhoon model to cover the full western Pacific basin and a US quake model that incorporates earthquake data from the 2008 US Geological Survey.

Independent London broker Miller is to beef up its reinsurance capabilities by hiring two senior executives from Guy Carpenter and a derivatives specialist from Evolution Markets.

The industry loss warranty (ILW) sector was a pocket of hard market conditions in the second quarter, bucking the general soft market trend of falling premium prices and an over-supply of insurance cover.

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) is looking to break out from under the wing of risk warehouser Swiss Re and sponsor its first cat bond in 2011, The Insurance Insider's sister publication Trading Risk has revealed.

Boardroom changes have continued at American International Group (AIG), with the US insurer appointing former Prudential plc CEO Mark Tucker as head of its Asian unit AIA.

Ironshore and QBE have shot up the rankings of excess and surplus lines (E&S) carriers in the US, with Berkshire Hathaway and Allianz falling sharply as they curb premium.

Expansive London-based agency Dual Corporate Risks (DCR) has signed up Newline Syndicate 1218 to provide £10mn of excess capacity for directors' and officers' (D&O) business, while simultaneously raiding Axis Capital to bolster its team.

Senior London market claims handlers have called for a far clearer understanding of what is spent on professional services such as loss adjusting and legal expenses...

Xchanging has unveiled a deal with the International Underwriting Association of London (IUA) and the Lloyd's Market Association (LMA) to build an enhanced electronic accounting capability into the market's existing infrastructure.

US insurance giant Chubb set up its own Lloyd's managing agency this year because of the lack of so-called "turnkey" capacity available at Lloyd's, according to its senior underwriter Rob Cage.

Moody's has downgraded its continuity opinion of Kiln's catastrophe Syndicate 557 to reflect the depressed rate of return that Lloyd's Names can expect due to its high capital requirements.