March 2007/1

Omega Insurance Holdings has closed the 2004-year of account for Syndicate 958 at a profit of 7.6 percent of capacity despite absorbing losses from four major hurricanes.

Analysts at Numis Securities have predicted further premium growth for Lloyd’s insurer Kiln as the firm announced improved forecasts for its syndicates.

Reinsurance broker Benfield Group continues to build its facultative team after last year’s mass defection to rival Aon Corp.

Giant US insurer State Farm benefited from the unexpectedly low catastrophe losses of 2006 as it posted after-tax net profits of $5.32bn, compared to $3.24bn in the hurricane-hit year of 2005.

US giant American International Group (AIG) reported a rise in its 2007 net income and announced an $8bn share buyback scheme.

In a year in which "everything went right in insurance", investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway reported a record gain in net worth during 2006 of $16.9bn.

The impact on reinsurers of last month’s legislation in Florida may not be quite as severe as first feared, with the state reportedly opting to expand its hurricane catastrophe fund by $12bn, less than the $16bn increase allowed in the bill.

UK general insurer Royal & Sun Alliance (R&SA) has completed the sale of its US run-off operation Arrowpoint Capital to its management even though some policyholders are continuing to object.

The rise in German run-off liabilities and the changing attitude to the sector will eventually see the creation of a chief liability officer at (re)insurers, according to Arndt Gossmann, director in KPMG's Advisory practice in Germany.

A report into the European run-off market by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has estimated its size at in excess of EUR204bn of liabilities.

Rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) is launching a new set of ratings for the run-off sector to indicate the expectation of recovering the principal from (re)insurers.

Tawa UK, the run-off acquisition firm backed by the French billionaire François Pinault, has acquired Continental Management Services Ltd (CMS), a (re)insurer with gross assets of $285mn.