March 2007/5

Forecaster Tropical Storm Risk (TSR) has again raised its predictions for this year’s North Atlantic hurricane season.

Two brokers from UK public and employer’s liability specialists Preston Whiteside were jailed last week for defrauding small businesses.

Lloyd's chairman Lord Levene, who has long campaigned for a lower corporate tax rate in the UK, endorsed the 2 percent cut made by Chancellor Gordon Brown in his final budget.

The spectre of asbestos returned to haunt reinsurance giant Munich Re as it revealed in its full annual report on 20 March a $600mn strengthening of loss reserves for related claims.

Italian (re)insurance giant Generali disappointed analysts by failing to announce a special share buyback scheme despite reporting record net profits of EUR2.4bn for 2006, a rise of 25.3 percent.

Stephen Catlin, the founding chief executive of insurance group Catlin Group plc, is the headline speaker at The Insurance Insider's Capital Management Executive Briefing event next month.

Bermudian Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings Ltd is expected to make its debut on the New York Stock Exchange this Thursday (29 March) as the (re)insurer goes ahead with its long-awaited $202mn IPO.

Lloyd's-based insurers joined their peers in Europe and across the Atlantic in giving additional capital back to their shareholders.

A principles-based rather than a rules-based approach – not just to regulation but to running the entire industry – should be embraced by the industry, according to Joe Plumeri, chairman and CEO of Willis.

Reinsurance broker Benfield Group continues to bolster its Facultative Solutions teams after last year’s mass defection to rival Aon Corp.

PRO Insurance Solutions Ltd, the proposed Scheme Manager of the WFUM Pools Scheme, has confirmed that the 14 WFUM pools scheme companies are applying to the UK High Court for approval.

The Bermuda-based energy mutual Oil Insurance Ltd will increase its aggregation limits for all risks to $750mn when the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season begins later this year.