March 2008/6

Alea group CFO and COO, Kirk Lusk, has resigned from the Bermudian-headquartered run-off company.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has admitted to failings in relation to the meltdown at Northern Rock and has pledged to improve its supervision levels.

The state of California is looking at the possibility of its pension funds creating a new municipal bond insurer as an alternative to existing players and Berkshire Hathaway’s start-up in the embattled sector.

Allied World Assurance Company Holdings Ltd (AWAC) has launched its $500mn US reinsurance platform with the endorsement of A and A- financial strength ratings from AM Best and Standard & Poor's (S&P) respectively.