March 2006/2

Lloyd's today (6 April) reported a pre-tax loss of £103mn in its full-year results after absorbing the cost of the worst hurricane season on record.

Shares in Zurich Financial Services have leapt suddenly on suggestions of a takeover by US insurance St Paul Travelers.

German insurer Allianz AG almost doubled profits last year, it announced today (16 March).

Inmarsat has become the first satellite operator to insure with newly launched space consortium LibSat.

Start-up Lancashire Holdings’ financial strength rating has been placed under review by AM Best after the (re)insurer announced the departure of vice president Alex Richards.

UK Insurer Brit Insurance Holdings plc has replaced house broker Cenkos Securities Ltd with Citigroup while unveiling a 2005 profit created by an unexpectedly high release from prior-year reserves.

Reinsurer considers share buybacks as capital surplus grows Strong investment performance enabled German giant Munich Re to shrug off it...

Swiss reinsurer Converium today (15 March) announced net income of $68.7mn for 2005, with $34.2mn added to the total during the final quarter. The fourth quarter figure beat some analyst’s forecasts by close to $30mn, and provided a solid start for...

Last week Lloyd’s confirmed the appointment of Dr Richard Ward, the former head of the London-based International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), as its new chief executive and the person responsible for executing the Corporation’s three-year strategic vision.

Terry Clarke has confirmed he will step down from Converium’s board of directors at the company’s AGM on 11 April. Clarke was appointed interim CEO in February 2005 to steady the ship following the ousting of Dirk Lohmann over the company’s much...

Lloyd’s insurer Omega Underwriting Holdings predicted a profitable 2005 despite last year’s storm losses with the group estimating a $24mn hit from Hurricane Katrina alone. Omega has forecast a profit of 2.5-12.5 percent for Syndicate 958 on...

Aon Corp has confirmed that it plans to lay-off another 400 employees as part of its restructuring initiative. The broker – which announced last year that it expects to lose 1400 staff – said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that this...