May 2004/5

The chief financial officer of Swiss Re’s Americas division is taking a US strip club to court alleging it overcharged him for a night on the town.

Despite the risks of criminal proceedings, over 717,000,or 58 percent, of UK businesses have failed to carry out an asbestos assessment on their business premises, according to research commissioned by law firm Davies Arnold Cooper (DAC).

Strong first quarter results at US reinsurer Odyssey Re prompted Moody’s to place its Baa1 insurance financial strength ratings on review for possible upgrade.

In contrast to Insider Week’s sister publication The Insurance Insider, analysts at US investment house Prudential Equity believe that the global brokers have only a marginal reliance on so-called Placement Service Agreements for their revenue.

Corporation aims to operate at break-even; Markel named and shamed Lloyd’s has revealed the full cost of a first successful year for its Franchise Performance Directorate in its Corporation of Lloyd’s Annual Report 2003, published last Thursday (20 Ma

Lloyd’s insurer Kiln has acquired a 25 percent stake in South Africa’s International Marine Insurance Managers (International Marine).

The fronting insurer of Spanish football club Atletico Madrid failed in its attempts to overturn a decision in the UK Courts which allowed London market contingency underwriters to void coverage relating to the side’s relegation in 2000.

Broking giant Marsh has announced its first large-scale foray since 1998 with the $1.9bn acquisition of corporate security firm Kroll.

Hugh Stevenson, the chairman of the Lloyd’s run-off vehicle Equitas, is set to join the Financial Services Authority (FSA) as a non-executive director.

Outsourcing outfit Capital Group announced last week that it had tied up a deal with Winterthur Life UK which positions it as the number one business process outsourcing (BPO) operator in the open book life and pensions market.

World’s largest insurer AIG announced last Wednesday (19 May) that it had raised its quarterly dividend by 15 percent from 6.5 to 7.5 cents a share, the third increase in the last year.

In contrast to barnstorming Q1 results for US and Bermudian (re)insurers, European carriers enjoy a mixed first quarter with some showing a more subdued uplift from hard market conditions.