June 2006/2

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

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.

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)...

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".

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is set to implement rules that will enable sidecar-style securitisation transactions to be formed in the UK.

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.

Underwriters on Limit's Syndicate 386 have become some of QBE's highest paid employees following their multi-million pound bonus scheme.

Equitas boosts asbestos reserves; Creechurch parts company with chief executive; Monument in disarray as chief executive quits; Novae enters energy as start-up gets A- rating; Lloyd's warns insurers on climate change; et al...

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.

RMS learns Katrina lessons with new model; Buffett points to son as non-executive chairman; WTC insurers in fees victory; Imagine appoints ex-Platinum executive as CEO; Sompo Japan suspended by regulator; et al...

Benfield Group's chief executive Grahame Chilton has always made it clear that he believes one of the prime duties of the reinsurance broker is to ensure there are markets available for its clients; and, if they are not, they should be created.

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.