June 2006/2

Aon Ltd is close to deciding on the company it will partner with to outsource its entire back-office function, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

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.

Post-Katrina Bermuda-based sidecars will soon have raised more than $2.5bn in capital with the emergence of Bay Point Re, a vehicle being launched alongside the "Class of 2005" reinsurer Harbor Point.

The proposed WFUM pool scheme of arrangement, involving 16 different insurance companies, was granted leave to convene creditors' meetings by the UK High Court on 9 June.

The High Court has sanctioned the first transfer of business out of a Lloyd's syndicate since the formation of Equitas ten years ago, opening the prospect of a new method to obtain finality for non-trading syndicates.

Aon and Willis followed world's largest broker Marsh in announcing first quarter results last month. Marsh had earlier released figures revealing an almost doubling of earnings from $129mn to $238mn - despite revenues falling...

Willis Group Ltd has seen a series of migrations from its Italian team to rival Aon Ltd following the recent resignation of the unit head, Alberto Carrara.

Independent (re)insurance broker BMS Group reported a 2 percent upturn in 2005 pre-tax profits to £4.5mn earlier this month.

Bruce Carnegie-Brown resigned unexpectedly as president and CEO of the Europe and Middle East region of Marsh Inc last month, after just three years at the firm.

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.

Rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) gave a preview of its updated risk-based capital model on 1 June, saying that it does not see it as an "opportunity to raise the industry's overall capital requirements substantially".