March 2008/4

Brit Insurance Holdings plc's Gibraltar based protected cell reinsurer, Rockhampton Insurance PCC Limited, which will provide reinsurance to the UK insurance group, has begun trading.

German insurer Allianz AG is to break up its Dresdner Bank division in a move that will enable it to divest its underperforming investment banking unit Dresdner Kleinwort.

Market analysts have responded positively to Lloyd's insurer Chaucer Holdings 2007 results and its recent strategy.

The opportunities afforded to French reinsurer SCOR from its acquisition of Converium still outweigh 'integration risks', according to analysts.

The US tax authority the Internal Revenue Service has reiterated its position on the cascading federal excise taxes (FET) that will apply to foreign (re)insurers on when the deal involves an underlying US risk.

The head of Aon Market Services for Asia has left the company, Insider Week has learnt.

As stock markets fell around the world, shares in troubled Bermudian giant XL Capital followed suit after the (re)insurer announced it had ended its two-year search for a successor to CEO Brian O’Hara with an external appointment.

Former Heath Lambert executive Tom Ernoult has joined independent London-based intermediary Oxygen Holdings plc as managing director.

AXA Re spin-off reinsurer PARIS RE has reported "limited" exposure to sub-prime US mortgages, of less than 0.3 percent of total invested assets, as it reported an increase in shareholders' equity of 18.3 percent in its 2007 financial year results.

Catastrophe-related economic losses from natural and man-made catastrophes around the world exceeded $70bn last year, according to Swiss Re.

Broker Marsh Inc has appointed Jeremy Cooke to the new position of global head of market relationship management (MRM).

Japanese company Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co has completed its takeover of Lloyd's insurer Kiln Ltd.