June 2010/5

New CFO parachuted in at Willis; Carnegie-Brown goes to Catlin; RMS hires Aon Benfield's Rao...

Geithner still expects loss on AIG;Towers Watson sells VIPitech to Algorithmics; Montpelier Re wins reinsurance arbitration; Xchanging to partner with European financial payments specialists...

General insurers rediscovered their optimism in the second quarter of 2010 despite declining profitability, according to the latest survey of the UK financial services sector from business lobby group the CBI and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Singapore-headquartered insurance investor and services provider Whittington Group is launching a new direct online insurance company for the local market.

The London market looks to have escaped significant pay-outs from a plane crash that killed the board of Perth-based mining company Sundance Resources.

Dutch insurance giant Aegon is looking to sell its Transamerica life reinsurance arm, as it moves to focus on core activities and improve its risk profile.

Average premium rates for US terrorism insurance declined by 12 percent in 2009 despite an increase in take-up rates, according to Marsh.

Liberty International Underwriters (LIU) has established a trade credit operation in Paris with the hire of specialist underwriter Alexandre Egnell from Atradius.

German (re)insurance giant Hannover Re has reiterated its earnings projections for 2010 and pointed to areas of future growth, including the German motor insurance market.

The lack of legislation covering the quasi-banking investment activities that took American International Group (AIG) to near-collapse should make (re)insurers pause before telling regulators that they are not the same as banks.

The UK's coalition government has pledged to reform two aspects of the tax regime highlighted in a policy paper prepared by The Insurance Insider's London 100 group, which was submitted to all three main political parties earlier this year.

Hector Sants, CEO of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), has warned that the rapidly evolving regulation of financial services in the European Union requires full engagement from the UK.

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) has voiced "deep concern" over potential conflicts between state regulators and the proposed Federal Insurance Office (FIO) - which edged a step nearer to coming into existence last week on Capitol Hill.

Trading of 2010 catastrophe derivatives on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Chicago Climate Futures Exchange (CCFE) has reached $66mn, as the first named storm in the US wind season threatens to make landfall.

The fatal flash floods that struck southern France on 15 June, killing 25 people, are set to cost insurers nearly EUR700mn, according to estimates from national industry body Fédération Française des Sociétés d'Assurance (FFSA).

Alex, the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, is expected to cause little concern for insurers, but forecasters anticipate a destructive - and expensive - season ahead.

The future of the US National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) continues to hang in the balance after a bill to extend the lapsed government insurance scheme failed to make it to a vote in the Senate last week.

The investment return slump in the last five years has shifted the onus onto underwriters to generate (re)insurance profits, according to the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI).

The aggregate industry reserve base in the US actually strengthened in 2009, despite growing concerns over the reserve adequacy of property casualty insurers, according to Conning Research & Consulting.

US property and casualty (P&C) insurer financial impairments have more than tripled since 2007, rising to 18 in 2009 from 16 in 2008, according to a study by AM Best.

Tom Bolt, director of performance management at Lloyd's, is bearish on sector prospects and is especially concerned about "unsustainable" reserve releases in the casualty market, according to analysts at stockbroker Collins Stewart.

London market wholesaler Price Forbes & Partners said last week that it was opening a reinsurance arm after hiring a senior HSBC executive.

Independent London market (re)insurance broker Thomson Heath and Bond Group (THB) saw fees and commissions rise 5 percent in the first half of 2010 to £24.6mn, fuelled by organic growth and a stronger US dollar.

New regulator is a missed opportunity to streamline byzantine US regulation

UK-quoted Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings (R&Q) has issued an upbeat business prognosis following its recent acquisition trail, with Solvency II holding out opportunities in Europe.

Sometimes the best way of getting the most rounded view of a knotty subject is to cast logic aside and simply observe what the markets think.

Disgraced Texas financier Allen Stanford, who is accused of orchestrating a $7bn Ponzi scheme, will stand trial alone after his co-defendants and former Stanford Financial Group (SFG) executives were granted separate trials.

American International Group (AIG) has revamped its compensation structure in an attempt to hold on to top talent, as it continues efforts to repay its government loan.

Aon Ltd is poised to end a prolonged period of shared leadership in its London-based Financial Services Group by drafting in a Bermuda-based executive to head up the division.

BP is set to escalate its legal action against Swiss drilling contractor Transocean, with a potential $700mn lawsuit currently being prepared in the US, according to reports.

The 120-plus staff that walked from CRC Insurance Services to join Ryan Specialty Group (RSG) can work for the Pat Ryan start-up while the legal battle between the two firms rages.

The international insurance market is awaiting the formal result of a creditors' meeting held last week to assess the future of failed Italian insurance broker Taverna Spa.

The price of Brit Insurance debt fell sharply last week amid increased investor fears at the likelihood of a takeover by private equity house Apollo Capital Management.