March 2005/1

Embattled broking giant Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc is to shed a further 2,500 people in its global operations in a bid to save $375mn a year. The broker confirmed the job cuts in revealing its 2004 results that saw earnings decimated by the impact

Brad Cooper, the Australian entrepreneur and former associate of FAI managing director and HIH director Rodney Adler, pleaded not guilty to 13 charges relating to the A$5.3bn collapse of HIH in a New South Wales court, last week.

A drop in underwriting profits from $1.72bn to $1.55bn from its (re)insurance operations contributed to Warren Buffett-managed investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway posting net earnings of $7.31bn for 2004, down on the $8.15bn it recorded in 2003.

MMC Capital’s chief executive Charles Davis is to lead a management buy-out of the private equity firm from its parent, the broking giant Marsh & McLennan Companies. The former Goldman Sachs banker confirmed last week that the firm will be spun-out of

As predicted in the February edition of The Insurance Insider, Aon Corp has struck a nationwide agreement with US regulators to settle the bid-rigging, kickback and steering investigations into the broking giant.

Court case calls into question scope of Aon’s personal accident reinsurance Claim and counter-claim echoed across the oak-panelled walls of Court 11 at London’s Royal Courts of Justice today as a legal dispute between Aon’s insurance company and its re