June 2006/2

South African broking group Alexander Forbes announced 7 June that its CEO is to step down, it is in discussions with potential private equity buyers of the company, and that it is looking at options for its International Risk Services (IRS)...

Alexander Forbes International Risk Services (IRS) division followed its parent company's announcement by confirming talks with new investors that would see its South African parent reduce its ownership.

Key parties in the London market, including the London Market Association (LMA), and the G6 have welcomed Lloyd's CEO Richard Ward's contract documentation initiative, which was announced on 22 May.

The former head of Lloyd's strategy Stuart Degg, together with reinsurance consultancy the Donald Macdonald Partnership, is set to launch a new operation targeting the industry's growing enthusiasm for (re)insurance-linked securitisations...

Bermudian reinsurer Max Re filed its first quarter results late May in a move that should avert its delisting from the Nasdaq trading exchange.

UK general insurer Royal & Sun Alliance (R&SA) announced first quarter pre-tax profits of £122mn, unchanged from the corresponding period of 2005.

Shares in American International Group (AIG) fell last month as investors sold stakes following a 16 percent drop in first quarter net income to $3.2bn.

Former Brit space underwriter Simon Clapham has been signed up by Sciemus Limited as director of insurance, to work with the LibSat satellite consortium backed by Liberty Syndicate Management and a number of other Lloyd’s insurers.

Insurance giant Allianz unveiled the restructuring of its large corporate risks units late last month while also confirming it was exiting marine reinsurance business after last year’s destructive storm losses.

Lloyd's insurer Argenta Syndicate Management Ltd has parted company with its lead underwriter John Hyland after six years at the helm of its reinsurance focussed Syndicate 2121.

Lloyd's has added Steve McCann, its head of open years, to a special working party to manage its application for a permanent Chinese licence as the deadline for regulatory approval fast approaches.

Europe is set to welcome its first publicly quoted start-up (re)insurance company for almost a decade when Augsburg Re is floated on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) within the next month.