May 2005/3

Start-up broker Integro Ltd will pursue a policy of strictly limited acquisition as it attempts to crack the hegemony enjoyed by Marsh and Aon in the US commercial risks market, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Lloyd's CEO Nick Prettejohn has called on London Market brokers and underwriters to voluntarily embrace contract certainty initiatives ahead of the FSA's 2006 deadline.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC), the parent of world's largest broker Marsh, reported first quarter net income of $134mn, or $0.25 a share, well down on the $446mn or $0.83 a share booked in the first three months of 2004.

The run-off managers of defunct Lloyd's insurer GoshawK are appealing a controversial Court decision which allowed brokers Tyser & Co to avoid handing over claims files that led to severe underwriting losses.

Financial impact worse than feared as beleagured insurer battles its past. Bitter recriminations between the current and former management of American International Group (AIG) hotted up this month, almost overshadowing the revelation by the embattled.

ACE reported first quarter net profits marginally down, making $433mn or $1.46 a share compared to the $447mn or $1.53 a share it recorded in the first three months of 2004.

UK broker Heath Lambert Group is set to undergo another capital restructuring only 18 months after a debt-for-equity deal with its bankers.

In the week that MMC had to reveal a 70 percent cut in first quarter earnings, more bad news arrived in the form of a legal action against the broker from Fortune Brands - the former Marsh client who was an apparent victim of bid-rigging.