July 2014/4

Weekly share price data on The Insurance Insider's universe of P&C (re)insurers

With the Q2 reporting season well underway, some of the largest P&C stock movements last week were naturally performance driven.

26Broking giant Aon Ltd has revealed that it is being sued for $340mn for alleged intentional misrepresentation and concealment when placing a policy for defence manufacturer Northrop Grumman.

(Re)insurers headquartered in the Netherlands could be impacted by a cap on bonuses and severance pay from as early as 1 January 2015.

A former Marsh claims manager has filed a suit accusing the global broker of breaching the District of Columbia Human Rights Act after she was allegedly subjected to bullying.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is appealing against the Columbia District Court's decision to order a full refund of tax paid by Validus Re on retrocession cover.23

Travelers must pay over $500mn to victims of asbestos-related diseases after losing a US federal appeals court hearing to consider a settlement first approved by a judge in 2004.

If further evidence was required of it being a buyers' reinsurance market, US insurance heavyweight Travelers last week disclosed that it had achieved lower rates-on-line for both its general catastrophe treaty and Northeast-only programme at the 1 July renewals.

The reaction of the stock market to some of the first batch of reporting companies in the US and Bermuda P&C industry has led one industry analyst to lower his expectations for the sector.

Higher than expected US weather losses from cat and non-cat events have been a key factor behind some of the larger P&C carriers missing Wall Street earnings forecasts.

With further evidence of a slowdown in US commercial insurance rate rises in Q2, management of early reporting carriers have sought to show rate movements in a broader context following multiple quarters of compounding price increases.

Lancashire expects to have an additional $160mn of limit to deploy through its Kinesis sidecar in the 1 January 2015 renewals compared to the amount it had in January 2014, the firm said after its Q2 results were released last week.

Nephila Capital has signed a partnership with State National Companies that will provide the fund manager with $400mn of premium capacity for 2015 and 2016, sister publication Trading Risk reported last week.

Lancashire's founding CEO Richard Brindle has sold out of the company completely and will be free to return to the market as soon as 2 January 2015, Lancashire confirmed to The Insurance Insider last week.

After 18 months of heavy rate reductions, property cat pricing cannot fall much further, according to Validus CEO Ed Noonan.

The London Market Group (LMG) today (28 July) unveiled a new initiative to allow brokers to access the Lloyd's market more easily by ensuring that the Acord standardised messages used outside the market will now be acceptable in London.

The aviation market has suffered another two losses in the space of a week since the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine on 17 July.

Allianz leads the Malaysia Airlines all-risk programme that will pick up the liability loss from flight MH17, but the biggest lines belong to La Réunion Aérienne (LAR) and AIG, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

The aviation war market is no longer on risk at Tripoli Airport after Catlin moved to exclude Libya from the policy of Libyan African Holding Company, The Insurance Insider has learned.

Lloyd's insurer Atrium and the other war underwriters for Malaysia Airlines have decided not to exercise their right to immediately raise the premiums for its insurance coverage, The Insurance Insider has learned.

Hiscox Ltd will continue to scale back its reinsurance top line as long as competitive market conditions persist, group CEO Bronek Masojada told The Insurance Insider.

Marsh and McLennan (MMC) UK employees enrolled in the firm's defined benefits pension fund will be transferred into a new defined contribution arrangement at the end of this week (1 August) following a long consultation period.

RFIB appoints;  FX hits Hiscox; Swails resigns; Growth stalls; Lloyd's affirmed; Weather blue; Chubb's miss; Higher profits; Mapfre solid H1; Gallagher unveils

Willis has won three significant directors' and officers' (D&O) accounts from rival broker Marsh over the past 18 months, The Insurance Insider understands.