March 2006/2

Lloyd’s insurer Heritage is to move into personal accident on its Syndicate 1200 after hiring a team headed by former Euclidian underwriter Marc McLean. McLean was previously senior accident and health underwriter at now defunct Euclidian Syndicate...

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...

The fate of the campaign by non-US reinsurers to have onerous collateral requirements relaxed for business written in the US should be known by the end of 2006, after the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) finally set itself a...

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...

Shares in UK listed Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc (JLT) fell sharply last week following the broker’s 2005 results which showed a fall in profits and a downbeat assessment of trading conditions. JLT’s shares, which started the week at 445p, fell...

Listed UK insurer Hiscox beat analysts’ expectations on 13 March as it reported pre-tax profits of £70.2mn, increasing its final dividend 36 percent to 4.75p in the process. The company put the performance down to its balanced book of business...

Amlin plc was as good as its word when posting record results last week which promise to stand out amongst all the quoted Lloyd’s insurers. The insurance company had already signalled 2005 would be a strong trading year despite the storm losses...

Despite its growing cost base, reinsurance broker Benfield Group announced what was an “encouraging set of results” for 2005 last Thursday (9 March), according to analysts. Group revenue rose 6.8 percent from £303.5mn in 2004 to £324.1mn last year...

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). The (re)insurer also announced that it has raised £38mn capital...

Start-up (re)insurer Lancashire Holdings has parted company with vice-president Alex Richards, the former Renaissance Re underwriter, who joined the company at the end of last-year. Richards was part of chief executive Richard Brindle’s start-up...