June 2012/5

Amendments to the UK legislation seeking a requirement that regulators behave in a reasonable and fair manner, as well as acting proportionately, have been tabled in the UK upper chamber, the House of Lords.

In a move that will impact syndicate business planning for 2013, Lloyd's has reset the thresholds on exposure to a major catastrophic event.

The Lloyd's market is lacking a unified approach to international expansion, as the top players in the market adopt hugely different strategies to grow their worldwide business, according to a panel of senior (re)insurance executives at the 2012 London Market Roundtable, hosted last week by The Insurance Insider in association with the Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA).

The London contingency market could face a claim from promoters of Radiohead's North American tour as a result of the stage collapse in Toronto last weekend, sister publication Inside FAC has learned.

The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) has estimated insured losses from the recent hailstorms in Dallas at just under $1bn - significantly less than the $2bn put forward by another local trade body last week.

Mining underwriters are expected to escape the bulk of losses following severe flooding at the Yallourn mine in Australia earlier this month, our sister publication Inside FAC revealed.

Veteran property cat underwriter Brian Caudle has retired as chairman at Lloyd's managing agent Advent after 60 years in the market.

Malcolm Bean, chief operating officer at Brit Insurance since before it was sold to the Achilles private equity consortium, has left the company, The Insurance Insider has learned.

Omega's founder and former underwriting chief John Robinson is taking the company to court in Bermuda ahead of its proposed sale to fellow Lloyd's insurer Canopius.

Shares in Axis Capital closed down 2.5 percent on 25 June to $31.57 (previous closing price $32.38 on the NYSE) following news that the (re)insurer had ousted chairman and founder John Charman at the cost of $22mn

Berkshire Hathaway's reinsurance chief Ajit Jain has agreed to write lines totalling $800mn on Suncorp's main open market cat treaty while on a recent trip to Australia, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Barbican Group's main backer Carlson Capital is holding talks to buy out its minority owner Steel Capital, The Insurance Insider has learned.