June 2006/3

UK general insurer Royal & Sun Alliance has unveiled plans to cut over 1500 jobs in an efficiency drive that will save the group £130mn in annual costs.

French giant AXA announced today (14 June) that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Credit Suisse Group to buy the Zurich-based company’s insurance operation Winterthur for SFr12.3bn, or EUR7.9bn in cash.

Rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) last night (12 June) confirmed that Swiss Re’s acquisition of GE Insurance Solutions (GEIS) has cost the reinsurer its AA rating, which has been downgraded a notch to AA-.

Fast-growing Integro last week announced a series of further appointments of former Marsh employees to its stable, bolstering its healthcare practice in Boston and Chicago, and establishing a south eastern marine practice.

The International Underwriting Association (IUA) has begun a pilot project to test a new electronic claims system for the London Market.

Giant reinsurer Swiss Re announced on last Wednesday (7 June) that it has issued Successor, the latest in its series of cat bond programmes, as it continues to utilise the capital markets to offset risk.

The first quarter of the year has seen premium income drop for Bermudian reinsurers despite sharp rate rises, reported Benfield in its Bermuda Quarterly review.

Tropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of this year's hurricane season, has struck Cuba and was heading towards Florida at the time of going to press.

Quanta Capital Holdings has signed heads of agreement with Chaucer Holdings and the senior underwriting team of its Syndicate 4000 to form a new Lloyd's managing agent, Pembroke Managing Agency Limited.

New Lloyd's chief executive Richard Ward has begun to impose his authority on the Corporation with his first management reshuffle, consolidating business process reform (BPR) responsibilities under the leadership of Steven Haasz.

Reinsurance broker Benfield Group has developed a $315mn, fully collateralised, Florida windstorm sidecar, Starbound Re, in conjunction with Bermudian reinsurer RenaissanceRe.

Most of the World Trade Center insurers do not have to pay lessee Larry Silverstein's legal fees from the series of lawsuits that emerged after the 2001 terrorist attacks.