June 2010/4

UK-quoted Randall and Quilter Investment Holdings (R&Q) has issued an upbeat business prognosis as it looks to build on its recent acquisition trail, with Solvency II holding out more opportunities in Europe.

Jardine to become Council of Lloyd's deputy chairman; HCC hires Travelers miscellaneous liability head; UIB Chalks up appointments...

Willis forms North American distressed assets practice; Wildbore heads Willis' new Toronto office; XL Re gets green light in Florida...

AIM-listed accountancy firm Vantis, which acted as liquidator to Stanford International Bank (SIB), suspended shares last week as two senior directors resigned amid deepening financial difficulties.

The tide may be turning against Bermuda when it comes to commercial (re)insurers, but the low tax jurisdiction is still the domicile of choice for captives, new research from Marsh shows.

Insurance buyers can no longer rely on underwriter discretion to ensure that claims are paid out when century-old UK legislation offers the opportunity to avoid them, delegates heard in Manchester last week.

UK regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has issued a consultation paper on a proposal to make it easier to trace employers' liability (EL) insurers.

Rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) revised its outlook on Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) from stable to negative last week, citing concerns over a $500mn settlement.

US regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped its federal probe into Joseph Cassano, the former head of American International Group (AIG)'s blighted London-based Financial Products division (AIGFP), it emerged last week.

The Met Office has predicted 20 North Atlantic tropical storms between July and November this year and confirmed it expects an active hurricane season.

Non-US reinsurers had $23bn of letters of credit outstanding as collateral against potential claims in the US at year-end 2009, according to rating agency Moody's.

Former Lloyd's franchise performance director Rolf Tolle is to join the board of Lime Street managing agency Beazley Furlonge - his first appointment since retiring in December.

Bermudian Aspen Insurance Holdings is to deliver on plans to expand its UK arm after securing the services of Fusion founders Kevin Pallett and Geoff Crisp to build its presence in the country.

Troubled Canadian insurer Kingsway Financial Services (KFS) is to sell its specialist US motor insurer Mendota Insurance Company, as part of its asset disposal programme and a re-focusing on profitable lines of business.

The London market has a "huge opportunity" to make itself the market of choice for the liability programmes of major corporates and financial institutions, according to a senior Marsh executive.

The Caribbean, the west coast of North America, Chile, Indonesia and Japan are the areas most at risk from mega-earthquakes of magnitude 8+, according to research by Aon Benfield.

The US judge presiding over Allen Stanford's criminal case has ordered that sealed documents alleging that his lawyers engaged in insurance fraud be released to London underwriters embroiled in a separate coverage dispute.

Expansive broker AJ Gallagher has completed a hat-trick of June purchases with the acquisition of regional US retail insurance broker Bowen, Miclette, Britt & Merry (BMBM) of Arkansas.

The UK insurance industry will closely monitor tomorrow's emergency budget amid growing expectation that Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne will boost government coffers by hiking the rate of insurance premium tax.

Following its merger with US wholesaler Swett & Crawford, the new Cooper Gay must surmount a series of obstacles if it is to list - not least a debt-laden balance sheet, according to market sources.

The current soft market may not follow the same pattern of previous underwriting cycles, a panel of senior industry executives told the Association of Insurance and Risk Managers (Airmic) conference last week.

State-owned insurers in Florida have hurricane exposures upwards of $2.5tn, according to a recent report produced by the research arm of the US Congress.

Plans to reorganise the regulation and supervision of UK financial services announced last week have met with a defensive reaction from UK insurance trade bodies eager to avoid additional cost burdens.

UK (re)insurers are to come under the regulatory control of a new subsidiary of the Bank of England (BoE), provisionally entitled the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), it emerged last week.