March 2006/1

Reinsurance broker Benfield Group announced an “encouraging set of results” for 2005 today (9 March), according to analysts. Group revenue rose 6.8 percent from £303.5mn in 2004 to £324.1mn last year, but the group’s trading result was...

UK insurer Royal & Sun Alliance (R&SA) today (9 March) reported a £685mn leap in its full year after tax profits. After tax profits were £605mn last year, a marked improvement on 2004’s £80mn loss. Profits before tax rose to £865mn in 2005 from...

Bermuda headquartered Catlin Group saw its 2005 net income plummet by 87 percent to $19.7mn after incurring a net loss of $333.5mn from the hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma (KRW), it reported today (9 March). The group also announced today that it...

Shares in UK listed Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc (JLT) have again fallen sharply today following the broker’s 2005 results which show a fall in profits and tough trading conditions. At midday, JLT’s shares had fallen almost 12 percent...

As first revealed by The Insurance Insider on 6 February, Lloyd’s has chosen the former head of the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) Dr Richard Ward to become the next chief executive of Lloyd’s following the departure of Nick Prettejohn at the...

Giant reinsurer Swiss Re reported a 41 percent drop in its 2005 net income to SFr1.451bn from SFr2.475bn in the prior year, a result that reflected a tough year for reinsurers. Swiss Re absorbed SFr3bn in large natural catastrophe claims following...

Warren Buffett said the cost of Hurricane Katrina and “her ugly sisters, Rita and Wilma” cost Berkshire Hathaway a total of $3.4bn last year. The investment titan revealed the extent of Berkshire’s bill in his annual letter to the company’s...

Former Gen Re executives Geoffrey Barnum and Christopher Byatt have dropped their appeals to the Australian regulator The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) over their disqualifications. The two were disqualified by the APRA...

Lloyd’s has chosen the former head of the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) Dr Richard Ward to become the next chief executive of Lloyd’s, Insider Week can reveal. But the Society is still waiting on the Bank of England to ratify the decision...

“Class of 2005” start-up Validus Holdings Ltd announced today (6 March) that former Merrill Lynch investment banker Joseph E. (Jeff) Consolino has been appointed chief financial officer and executive vice president of the company and its subsidiary...

Boston-based insurer Liberty Mutual Group last Tuesday (1 March) reported a $312mn fall in fourth quarter net profits to $253mn, and a $218mn drop in full-year profits to $1.03bn as it took close to $1bn in 2005 hurricane losses. The company, which...

Bermudian Allied World Assurance Holdings (AWAC) announced a fourth quarter net loss of $23.9mn from last year with the company suffering an $83mn hit from Hurricane Wilma. The company’s net loss for 2005 was $159.8mn, down significantly from the...