July 2013/3

Capital market interest is pouring into the facultative markets as it has into the property catastrophe markets, GC Fac's head of US facultative risk John Trace said at a recent roundtable hosted by sister publication Inside FAC.

Cat bond sponsor American Family Mutual Insurance and service companies PCS and AIR Worldwide are being sued by liquidators of the insurer's Mariah Re bond in a $100mn dispute that calls into question their handling of the industry loss-linked deal.

The $100mn+ loss of the Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 that crash-landed on 6 July will do little to relieve the downward rating pressure exerted by abundant capacity and subdued claims, according to two influential aviation market brokers.

Analysts at KBW have added further weight to the growing chorus of industry observers predicting that diminishing reserve redundancies will lead to increased pressure on earnings at commercial insurance carriers.

Torus' bottom line is expected to improve as the firm gains access to capital from its new owners Enstar and Stone Point and is freed from the start-up capital charges imposed by ratings agency AM Best.

Torus' struggling US operation is the obvious target in the global specialty insurer's imminent legacy and live carve up after its new owner confirmed last week that it will be putting parts of the business into run-off.

Following its sale to Enstar and Stone Point, Torus has lost its group CEO Clive Tobin, a former XL senior executive who transformed the firm from a start-up energy specialist insurer to a multi-platform global player.

The management of Enstar Group took the stage last week to explain the vision driving its rapid change of business strategy after securing a number of deals to bolt on live businesses to its leading run-off acquisition operation.

Losses attributed to the recent flooding across Central Europe have now exceeded $1.5bn following a series of loss estimates from major (re)insurers last week

The bulk of the insured loss from the devastating train disaster earlier this month in Lac-Mégantic, Canada looks set to fall on local carriers, with the impact on international markets limited to $25mn, industry sources told The Insurance Insider.

London market executives, the majority of whom are clamouring for one of their own to be named as Richard Ward's successor, will be scrutinising the appointment of headhunting firm Odgers Berndtson for signs of the likely outcome of the search.

Simon Hearn, one of the headhunters who led the search for the last CEO, believes that Lloyd's should look beyond the London market to figures in the insurance industry with global experience.