June 2007/4

Insurance claims are continuing to rise following severe storms on its East Coast over 9-10 June. The Insurance Council of Australia said the estimated cost of claims from the storm is now A$270mn.

The US Congress is due to discuss an extension to the federal Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) that is scheduled to expire at the end of the year.

Lloyd’s set the terms for the public issue of £500mn of tier 1 subordinated debt last week. Following a three-day investment road show, the Corporation saw its debt issue several times oversubscribed by institutional investors.

UK run-off management company Tawa announced a round of redundancies within its 90 staff in London last week, fuelling sentiment that the discontinued business sector is heading towards greater consolidation and streamlining of its resources.

Swiss reinsurer Glacier Re joined the list of carriers accessing the capital markets with a $75mn offering under a shelf programme providing it with retrocession cover from windstorm and earthquakes.

US insurer State Farm is set to place a giant $4bn cat programme, consisting of both bonds and loans, to provide retrocessional protection for one of its subsidiaries. The company has formed a special purpose vehicle, called Merna Re, which will provide

A flurry of (re)insurance activity in the capital markets last week ended with US giant Allstate Insurance launching a $2bn shelf catastrophe programme through a Cayman Island-based special purpose reinsurer Willow Re.

Aspen Re has become the first reinsurer to follow in the footsteps of the G6 with the launch of a live peer-to-peer electronic trading platform.

Expanding Australian sports underwriter Sportscover has announced the extension of its network into Ireland after teaming up with broker and sports specialist O’Driscoll O’Neil.

Lloyd’s has appointed Jose Ribeiro as its new director of International Markets and Business Development following the departure of Julian James earlier this year.

French reinsurer SCOR has resolved the US legal issues on its takeover of Converium Holdings and the deal’s formal offer period opened last week.

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has upgraded the insurer financial strength rating of AXA’s core subsidiaries to AA from AA- citing the company’s successful integration of Winterthur.

Giant US insurer American International Group (AIG) filed a $1bn lawsuit against its former CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg and ex-CFO Howard Smith last week.

“Class of 2005” insurer Lancashire Holdings Ltd is likely to be the first of a number of insurers structuring contingent capital deals after it co-operated with investment bank JP Morgan to launch a financing deal last week that would allow it to tap the

Brit Insurance chief executive Dane Douetil joined a select club at the weekend – he became one of a limited number of insurance figures ever to be honoured following the publication of the Queen’s birthday honours list.

Broker Gallagher Re has announced the appointment of Mark Flower as chief actuary for its UK operations.

Giant Bermuda-based investment hedge fund DE Shaw Group agreed a $575mn deal for US property/casualty insurer James River Group last week.

UK regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), has said that the biggest threats posed by the current boom in private equity are market abuse and conflicts of interest.

Swiss (re)insurer, Zurich Financial Services Group announced today that with immediate effect, Mike Kerner will become global chief underwriting officer for general insurance.

Private equity giant The Carlyle Group has formed a financial services division to concentrate on the insurance and banking sectors, again highlighting investors’ appetite for the industry.

Nephila Capital the Bermuda-based investment manager specialising in catastrophe reinsurance and weather risk, has announced the launch of Gamut Re, a reinsurance vehicle funded using collateralised debt obligations (CDOs).

The reserving practices of Independent Insurance came under scrutiny as several of the company’s former claims staff testified in court last week.

New York based hedge fund Fortress Investment Group said last week its offer to buy defunct run-off insurer Alea Group Holdings Ltd had gone unconditional after receiving irrevocable undertakings from 61 percent of shareholders.

Specialist actuarial consultants EMB has lured Duncan Anderson away from rival firm Watson Wyatt.