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.

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...

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...

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...

Lloyd’s insurer SVB Group is close to launching a new FSA authorized insurance company and change its trading name to Novae as it makes a break from its troubled past, Insider Week understands. The UK quoted insurer – which has battled for five years..

HCC Insurance Holdings’ executive John Molbeck – who returned to the insurer last year after a stint with Jardine Lloyd Thompson’s US arm – will become the company’s new president and chief operating officer. The insurer’s founder Stephen Way will...

UK insurance giant Aviva plc pulled its bid for compatriot Prudential plc on Friday (24 March) after failing to secure the co-operation of its rival. As reported in this publication, Prudential strongly rebuffed the proposed merger last Monday...

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...

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”...

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...

Troubled Bermudian reinsurer PXRE Group Ltd has negotiated a deal with Lloyd’s for “early settlement” of claims outstanding to the market, but has denied the move is connected to its possible re-entry to the market, Insider Week can reveal.

The fast-expanding London broker SBJ Group Ltd has acquired the employee benefits technology company Orbit Benefits Ltd from Benfield Group. SBJ – which is majority owned by the private equity firm Capital Z Financial Services Partners – said the...

German reinsurer R+V returned to the Royal Courts of Justice last week as it attempts to establish the quantum of liabilities due from the controversial, Lloyd's based managing agency Risk. The case, on which The Insurance Insider has reported...

Allianz’s head of UK aviation business, Emilio Di Silvio, has parted company with the insurance giant, and is set to head a new aviation syndicate at QBE’s Limit. Di Silvio – who has more than 29 years of aviation underwriting experience – resigned...

Peach Holdings, a life settlement company, is set to become the latest foreign financial services company to list on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market, Insider Week can reveal. According to sources, Peach Holdings will list...

Bermudian reinsurer RenaissanceRe has promoted Ross Curtis to senior vice president of its catastrophe reinsurance unit. Curtis has been with the company since 1999, when he joined as a catastrophe reinsurance analyst, and is involved in the...

Wellington Underwriting plc says its reinsurance costs have risen substantially after restructuring its programme following Hurricane Katrina last year. The Lloyd’s insurer posted a full-year pre-tax loss of £26.2mn for 2005 as the devastating storm...

A group of hard-hit US reinsurers suffered over $7bn in collective underwriting losses during 2005 after hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma (KRW) added 23.2 points to the sector’s combined ratio, according to the Reinsurance Association of America (RAA).

Insurance claims from Cyclone Larry, which struck north-eastern Australia on 20 March, reached AUS$90mn last week with 4,000 claims already made, according to the Insurance Disaster Response Organisation (IDRO).