March 2006/3

The Insurance Insider’s 2006 market survey, in association with Salmon Ltd, will gauge the views of senior industry figures on the competitiveness of the London market at a time of extraordinary flux for the industry. It takes less than five minutes...

But share price suffers as plans for new holding company, FSA insurer and rights issue revealed... Lloyd’s insurer SVB Holdings plc has confirmed a scheme of arrangement to ring-fence past liabilities, with the creation of a new holding company...

UK regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has said it regards a healthy run-off sector as an essential part of the insurance market. Speaking at the Association of Run-Off Companies (ARC) Congress on 7 March, Julian Adams, head of...

When, without prompting, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc’s (JLT) new chief executive Dominic Burke volunteered: “I passionately believe in the independence of JLT”, it begged the question: “Who was suggesting otherwise?”

The brokers working to achieve peer-to-peer initiatives with the “gang of six” Lloyd’s underwriters have been revealed as Aon, Benfield, Willis and Marsh. The “gang of six”, or G6, is the breakaway group of powerful insurers which has combined...

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...

As Amlin, Beazley, Catlin and Hiscox kicked off the Lloyd’s listed vehicles’ 2005 reporting season, analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Ltd (KBW) noted good prospects for the sector based on recent trading statements, despite the record hurricane...

Shares in (re)insurer Quanta Capital Holdings Ltd collapsed earlier this month after the company admitted it was putting itself up for sale following deteriorating losses and a downgrade by rating agency AM Best from the crucial A- to B++.

Months after Lloyd’s insurer Wellington Underwriting plc stunned shareholders with two loss updates in the space of ten days came the announcement that its chief underwriting officer David Foreman was to retire.

Axiom Consulting is the latest UK financial services firm planning to cut costs by outsourcing its functions to an offshore firm, The Insurance Insider can reveal. The (re)insurance run-off consultancy – which spun-off from former owner Aon Ltd in...

The Insurance Insider reports from the World Insurance Forum where the growing interaction between the reinsurance industry and the capital markets was a key subject of debate. Industry leaders gathered at the World Insurance Forum in Bermuda last...

London-based HSBC Insurance Brokers announced a restructuring on 2 March, with the creation of four core divisions reporting to chief executive Mike Dixon. The new structure sees Direct Client Solutions, International Solutions, Intermediary...

EC3 insurers continue to make '05 profits despite hurricane losses : Upbeat Amlin sets Lloyd’s rivals tough challenge. Amlin plc was as good as its word when posting record results earlier this month which promise to stand out among all the quoted...

Despite the demise of Kinnect, London’s back-office provider Xchanging is continuing to develop initiatives to help the market’s insurers reach the contract certainty targets agreed with the Financial Services Authority.

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 as its next chief executive following the departure of Nick Prettejohn at the end of last year.

Aigrain slams Bermuda start-up ; ARIG report record profit ; Hannover completes €100mn securitisation ; Trident II to sell Axis shares ; RFIB opens Dubai office ; Ariel recruits execs from rivals ; Lancashire reshuffles ; et al...

Hurricane-decimated Bermudian in talks to transfer ongoing business after downgrades. Embattled Bermudian reinsurer PXRE Group Ltd is pinning its hopes on Lloyd’s as part of a rescue plan that could see the group transfer its ongoing business to...

Andrew Askham, a colourful kidnap and ransom broker, is attempting a return into the London market The recent attempt by a colourful kidnap and ransom (K + R) broker to return to the London market has set alarm bells ringing on Lime Street.

London on target with contract certainty initiative ; G6 becomes magnificent seven ; HCC grows Lloyd’s presence with Heritage stake ; Managing the cycle key to Lloyd’s underwriters ; FSA cancels broker’s permission to trade ; et al...

Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group Inc, the US investment bank which launched Quanta Capital Holdings Ltd in late 2003 before being embroiled in a controversy over the insurer’s demise, is in the throes of forming a new $220mn Bermudian headquartered...

Attendees at the ARC Congress were given a stark warning over asbestos liabilities by lawyer David Gross of US firm Saiber Schlesinger Satz & Goldstein. Giving a presentation entitled “Toujour Asbestos: Will we ever be free of it?” Gross gave the...

The last month has seen several developments in the protracted and increasingly acrimonious divorce proceedings between American International Group (AIG) and the company's former chief executive Maurice “Hank” Greenberg.

Supplementary benefits withdrawn for all but highest earners. Marsh UK is in the process of scrapping its final salary pension scheme for its staff and ceasing supplementary benefits for all but the highest earners, our sister title Insider Week...

In stark contrast with JLT, reinsurance broker Benfield Group impressed analysts early March with a positive outlook on conditions although, as expected, its cost base impacted margins. Group revenue rose 6.8 percent from £303.5mn in 2004 to...