June 2007/1

Lloyd's has finally ended the central fund litigation saga after agreeing a settlement with the contract’s two broking firms, Benfield Group and Aon Ltd, who placed the five-year £500mn contract.

Munich Re has led an innovative $110mn reinsurance programme for the World Bank-sponsored Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), which went on risk for 16 countries in the region on 1 June.

Swiss Re has again returned to the capital markets to trade earthquake exposure with the launch of MedQuake Ltd, a $100mn cat bond covering Turkey, Greece, Israel, Portugal and Cyprus.

AXA has launched a further EUR450mn securitisation of its motor portfolio today, following its innovative EUR200mn FCC Sparc transaction 18 months ago.

AXA has agreed to sell its Dutch insurance operations to SNS Reaal for EUR1.75bn, the French giant announced this morning (4 June).

Ironshore Inc has confirmed the appointment of Mike Mitrovic to head up claims at its new professional liability US-based subsidiary IronPro, a move first revealed in the May issue of The Insurance Insider.

RenaissanceRe confirmed the launch of its second Florida-dedicated sidecar today (4 June) after it emerged that the impact of the state’s hurricane catastrophe fund expansion earlier this year may be less severe than first feared.

Insurance outsourcing firm Axiom Consulting has parted company with its CEO Vince Wooding, Insider Week can reveal.

Rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) raised the outlook Bermudian reinsurer AXIS Capital Holdings to positive from stable last week.

A team specialising in insurance transactions has joined law firm Sidley Austin’s global Insurance Practice in the New York.

European insurance companies ignore the planned Solvency II regulations at their peril, according to a report by rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P).

The trial of the 'Independent Three' – the former directors of the collapsed UK insurer Independent Insurance – began last week at Southwark Crown Court, London.