March 2009/5

A preliminary deal on the European Union (EU) Solvency II (SII) directive was reached last week by omitting contentious group support regime proposals, which had been a major stumbling block to EU-wide agreement.

The 1.4 renewals – dominated by the Japanese treaty market – will provide a barometer of the direction reinsurance rates are headed in after a 1.1 renewal that didn’t deliver the rate rises underwriters had hoped for.

One of the most effective shackles preventing Aon Benfield's key producers from leaving the newly formed leviathan were removed last week, when the reinsurance broker paid its annual bonuses.

Lloyd's insurers are unlikely to benefit this year from the bumper tide of reserve releases that bolstered the 2008 bottom line, according to the Corporation's director of finance, risk management, and operations, Luke Savage.

Allied World hires ex-AIG execs for Asia expansion; JLT launches RVI unit with Aon hire; Colemont hires aviation duo from Aon; Sutherland appointed CEO of Qatar Board; Allianz appoints new risk transfer CEO; Aspen promotes Griffiths replacement

The London International Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers' Association (LIIBA) has said that its members now total over 120 firms - representing 98 percent of the London-based international broker sector...

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) facilitated a $10mn trade on its new 2nd event Gulf and Florida hurricane futures contract just days after its launch.

Last week's deal between Talanx and Swiss Life will boost Hannover Re's life reinsurance business, according to the unit's CEO Wolf Becke.

Existing estimates of the global (re)insured losses arising from sub-prime, credit crisis, liquidity and fraud-related litigation are "intuitively low", according to industry leaders...

Following a nine-month strategic review, XL Capital placed its UK and Irish life annuity reinsurance business into run-off, citing market conditions.

Lockton International is to outsource its London professional indemnity claims broking department to commercial liability claims specialist Devonshire Claims Services (DCS), The Insurance Insider can reveal.