June 2007/3

Lloyd's has taken a significant hit on its Central Fund dispute after settling with Benfield Group and Aon Ltd, but will be relieved the long-running dispute is over.

Dominic Fodera, a former director of failed Australian insurance company HIH, has been jailed for two years for authorising a prospectus with a material omission.

US (re)insurer Liberty Mutual has continued its series of hurricane linked cat bonds with the launch of the $150mn Mystic Re II.

Airline rates witnessed double-digit falls for the eight consecutive month, with lead hull and liability premiums down an average of 18 percent during May, according to a report by Aon.

DUAL International, the fast-expanding financial and professional lines underwriting agency, is to part company with its chief executive James Gerry following his resignation, The Insurance Insider understands.

UK broker COBRA Holdings has announced its intention to seek admission to the AIM stock exchange with a planned £10mn float.

Catlin Underwriting Agencies CEO, Paul Jardine has been elected as the new chairman of the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) to replace ACE Europe’s CEO and chairman Andrew Kendrick.

Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group plc (R&SA) has entered into an agreement to acquire 50 percent of a company giving it access the fast growing Eastern European and Russian insurance markets.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners said that it will step up its efforts to overhaul reinsurance regulation in the US before addressing the collateral charges faced by alien reinsurers.

Alliant Insurance Services Inc became the latest US insurance broker to succumb to overtures from private equity investors when it confirmed last week that it had agreed to a takeover from The Blackstone Group.

Two subsidiaries of Paris Re, the former reinsurance arm of AXA Re, have been assigned an initial rating of A- by Standard & Poor's (S&P).

The long-running commissions dispute which saw RK Carvill sue its former client XL Capital and a number of reinsurers was settled at the end of last month when a US court ruled in favour of the reinsurance broker.