June 2014/4

Potential investors in Ironshore's upcoming IPO are waiting for a price range to be set on its 400 million share offer after the insurer filed its S-1 document with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week (17 June).

The latest attempt by an active shareholder to ring the changes at US insurer Donegal Group (DGI) and its affiliated mutual insurer is unlikely to prove successful, according to analysts following the Nasdaq-listed company.

By 2024 the reinsurance industry will have undergone unimaginable change and 15-20 reinsurers could be enough to service the market as consolidation becomes inevitable, said Willis Capital Markets & Advisory (WCMA) CEO Tony Ursano.

The global insurance industry could undergo consolidation driven by the Asian markets over the next few decades, according to speakers at the Airmic conference held in Birmingham, UK, last week.

The Lloyd's Market Association (LMA) wishes to develop more competition in the provision of catastrophe modelling to rationalise some of its members' approximate $100mn annual collective spend with existing vendors.

Lloyd's CEO Inga Beale last week pledged to ensure Lloyd's makes headway on modernising market operations and implementing electronic processing.

Willis intends to establish its own Lloyd's managing agency on the back of its stake in start-up insurer Acappella, Willis Re CEO John Cavanagh told attendees at the Association of Lloyd's Members' national conference on 19 June.

Lloyd's (re)insurer Hiscox plans to keep its Special Purpose Syndicate (SPS) 6104 open in 2015 despite deteriorating underwriting conditions, according to CUO Paul Lawrence.

Lloyd's is planning to employ a dual approach that balances the pursuit of new business opportunities with the preservation of underwriting discipline, the market's CEO Inga Beale told delegates during the Association of Lloyd's Members' national conference last week.

AA IPO; Ergo acquires; Hamilton hires; Allstate cat loss; Quindell overhaul; R&Q update; XL recruits; RSA interest; ING IPO; Peak Re profit; RSG launches; Heritage approved; Hiscox Dublin; DWF election; Argo appoints; White Oak grows; Travelers wants Tria; XL cyber; Aspen expands

Geoff Bromley, president of Aon Benfield's International business since 2008, passed away last week after a battle with illness.

UK risk manager trade body Airmic has launched an efficacy guide for risk managers aimed at ensuring buyers have understood and agreed wordings and contractual terms properly before policies come into force.