March 2006/5

Hampden Private Capital is set to become one of only two remaining Lloyd’s members’ agencies after agreeing to acquire the Names’ advisory business from CBS Private Capital.

Despite last autumn’s record industry hurricane losses, Lloyd’s insurer Kiln beat market expectations with a £8.5mn pre-tax profit, as strong investment income, a reserve release and an increase in fees and profit commission from its managing agency...

Michael Bright, the colourful founder of collapsed UK insurer Independent Insurance, will face trial on charges of conspiracy to defraud at a trial starting after Easter 2007, a preliminary hearing at Southwark Crown Court heard on the 24 March.

As widely expected, catastrophe modelling firm Risk Management Services (RMS) has increased the activity predicted by its hurricane loss models by 40 percent for Florida and the Gulf Coast. The company has also increased the modelled annualised...

Lloyd’s insurer Omega Underwriting Holdings plc (Omega) has reported a £6.7mn pre-tax profit in its maiden results as a listed company. The results follow a busy year for the company, which floated on London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment...

Hannover Re may decide not to buy catastrophe protection from the traditional retrocessional markets because of the high cost, warned the reinsurer’s chief executive Wilhelm Zeller last week. The retro market is now “damned expensive”...

Run-off services provider CMGL has announced the appointment of Jonathon Piper as its chief actuary. Piper joins CMGL from run-off management company KMS, where he has spent 12 years, most recently as senior actuary. He began his career at Victory...

Shares in Canadian combine Fairfax Financial Holdings dropped almost 15 percent on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on 22 March. The slump occurred after Fairfax – which owns a number of insurance companies including reinsurer Odyssey Re...

Strong investment income helped French reinsurer SCOR continue its recovery as it recorded a 22 percent increase in 2005 operating profits to EUR242mn, along with a 75 percent increase in net profit to EUR131mn. However, the legacy of the past...

Lloyd’s insurer Talbot Underwriting Ltd shrugged off a £3.8mn loss for 2005 with a focus on the strong trading conditions it is currently experiencing. According to the insurer – which underwrites through Syndicate 1183 – it has experienced average...

Fitch Ratings has predicted that a bird-flu pandemic would hit life insurers and their reinsurers hardest, although the rating agency said it did not believe this would lead to a widespread downgrading of (re)insurers.

Class of 2005 start-up Lancashire Holdings Ltd passed a potentially difficult test last week when rating agency AM Best affirmed its A- financial strength rating. The rating agency placed Lancashire’s ratings under review with negative implications...