March 2009/5

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.

Aon veteran Vincent Redier has retired from his position as executive chairman of the broking giant's French operations, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

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...

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 insurer Amlin plc remains a leading runner in the race to acquire rival Chaucer Insurance Holdings, after making an offer which values the firm at around £280mn, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

The European Commission (EC) has put forward plans to scrap certain EU competition exemptions relating to insurance policy agreements, citing preliminary findings which suggest the agreements are not specific to the insurance sector.

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

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.

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.

Europe's largest insurer, Allianz, has added to the flurry of first quarter cat bonds after combining with Aon Benfield and Goldman Sachs to issue the $150mn US wind and quake bond Blue Fin II.

Standard & Poor's (S&P) became the second rating agency to turn negative on Berkshire Hathaway, after it changed its outlook on the firm's core AAA financial strength ratings to negative.