July 2012/4

A sharp improvement in the performance of Scor's P&C segment in the first half of 2012, helped the group to deliver operating profits of EUR320mn or more than four times its result in the prior year period.

Despite recording a pre-tax loss of £516mn last year, Lloyd's has had its A financial strength rating affirmed by rating agency AM Best with a stable outlook.

European (re)insurance stocks began this week with a heavy sell-off as the eye of the Eurozone storm returned to Greece and Spain

The landmark scheme of arrangement for Orion Insurance Company and The London and Overseas Insurance Company Ltd will be sent to the Financial Services Authority for consideration by 31 July, according to its administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

AM Best has downgraded ACS (New Zealand), formerly Ansvar Insurance Ltd, following the firm's separation from its parent company Ecclesiastical Group, the UK church and charity insurance mutual.

The top insurance regulatory authorities in the EU and the US have made details of their talks publicly available for the first time, while industry experts warn there is still a lot of ground to cover on convergence.

The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) has pushed back the date for a number of public hearings on proposed changes to a bill governing the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) amid continuing concerns over the state-run insurer's financing.

The fraud case against ex-American International Group (AIG) chairman and CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg and former AIG CFO Howard Smith could be heard by New York's highest court.

Allied World Assurance Company has sued Hannover Re for $19mn after claiming that it breached two facultative reinsurance agreements, a court filing has shown.

A New York judge has rejected bids to terminate a lawsuit between run-off and live services business Tawa and Argonaut Group subsidiary PXRE, which is accused of failing to fully disclose its 9/11 liabilities before being sold to Tawa in 2007.

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) has launched its latest $150mn Embarcadero Re cat bond in the second transaction to come to market during the 2012 North Atlantic hurricane season

Demand for industry loss warranties (ILW) has fallen because cedants were able to source ample indemnity capacity at the mid-year renewals.

Despite the likely near-term strength of London (re)insurers' stock prices due to probable strong H1 earnings, one analyst warned clients last week that now was the time to become bearish on the London market.

Beazley will consider returning some of its growing mountain of surplus capital to shareholders through a special dividend if it is unable to put it to work in underwriting, CEO Andrew Horton has said.

Given the context of chronic uncertainty in Europe, the quoted London market (re)insurers have a useful platform from which to woo investors as they unveil their first-half results over the coming month.

With the mid-year reinsurance renewals disappointing underwriters and investors alike, attention is now focused on primary insurers for signs that the much heralded turn in US commercial pricing is made of stronger stuff.

After an unusually benign first half of the year for catastrophic loss events, the leading US primary insurers posted higher loss burdens than most analysts were expecting.

Syndicate 2526 needed the backing of a corporate partner to grow to a viable scale and create its own managing agency, eponymous active underwriter Andy Doré told The Insurance Insider.  

As a record number of US farmers reportedly prepare to give up on their 2012 crop, fears are growing that insurers and reinsurers that write multi-peril crop insurance (MPCI) are set for a surge in claims that could match those seen in the worst-ever loss years for the business.

Law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) has warned Chinese companies looking to de-list from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to avoid being dragged into litigation that they may be exposed to other "bump-up claims" if they do not pursue the process correctly.

The number of US securities lawsuits filed in the second quarter of 2012 has continued to decrease from the peaks reached during the post-financial crisis period, although the figure remains high compared to historic norms, a new Advisen report shows

The frequent exclusion of industry-wide investigations from the coverage offered by directors' and officers' (D&O) insurance contracts may lead to disputes as the Libor-fixing saga continues, according to Lockton's director of financial lines business Neo Combarro.

The Libor-fixing scandal will be a material loss event for executive liability insurers but not a catastrophic one, according to Kevin LaCroix, a well-known commentator on the sector.

Two months after Australian general insurer IAG announced that it was selling its UK business, it is understood that its adviser Evercore has still not released the full sales prospectus.