July 2013/4

The Insurance Insider tracks all the notable P&C sector share prices of the last week and compares year-to-date performances as of the week ending 22 July 2013

Mediation between London-headquartered law firm Freshfields and London Underground has broken down over one of the largest professional negligence claims on record, according to sources.

A South Korean woman has sued Asiana Airlines for $5mn, claiming that she and her son suffered extreme bodily and mental injuries after one of the firm's planes crash-landed in San Francisco on 6 July.

World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein will not be able to recover billions of dollars from airlines in relation to the 9/11 attacks because he has already received compensation from insurers, a US federal judge ruled last week.

The European Insurance and Operational Pensions Authority (Eiopa) has warned national regulators to stick to a "consistent interpretation" of rules on internal capital models in advance of the much-delayed implementation of Solvency II.

Non-US (re)insurers were relieved by the recent news that the US Treasury has delayed the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca).

American Insurance Association (AIA) CEO Leigh Ann Pusey is "not optimistic" that the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) will be extended before 1 January 2014, adding some uncertainty to the 1 January reinsurance renewal period.

There are some clubs where there is little obvious benefit to being a member, and the insurance industry's recently unveiled "too big to fail" club is possibly one of them.

Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM) has launched a new alternatives-focused mutual fund and has selected leading insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund manager Nephila to act as one of the investment houses that will manage capital for the strategy.

Axis Capital has become the latest Bermudian reinsurer to debut on the cat bond market with its new $150mn Northshore Re offering, sister publication Trading Risk has reported.

Choppy investment markets, pressure on rates and attritional cat losses are expected to feature as London's reporting season begins this week...

Fierce competition, surplus capacity and the recent profitability of the market mean that aviation insurance rates will remain unchanged despite the $100mn+ loss of the Asiana Airlines passenger plane earlier this month.