May 2005/5

New York's campaigning attorney general Eliot Spitzer has filed a civil lawsuit against the embattled insurance giant American International Group (AIG) accusing the firm and its former chief executive Hank Greenberg of committing fraud.

At a time when the London insurance market is attempting to address its failures to deliver policy wordings on time, one risk manager has raised the possibility of paying more if it ensures contract certainty takes place.

Swiss giant Zurich Financial Services (ZFS) last Thursday (19 May) reported first quarter net income of $779mn, up 21 percent on the $644mn earned in the comparable period of 2004.

There were few surprises as Lloyd’s published its full annual report for 2004 last week. Although profits of £1.36bn were down on the £1.89bn recorded in 2003, the year was, on the face of it, a strong showing from the world’s oldest insurance market,

General Re has cut its consulting agreement with former chief executive Ronald Ferguson after he invoked the Fifth Amendment when questioned by US regulators over his role in negotiating a controversial $500mn finite reinsurance with AIG.

Embattled insurance giant American International Group (AIG) is facing a Grand Jury probe into potential criminal conduct by its executives, according to reports last week. The news was the latest blow to strike the organisation, which has been...

Bermuda’s capital base shrunk in the first quarter of 2005 as a number of the island’s (re)insurers instigated capital management strategies, according to reinsurance broker Benfield’s Bermuda Quarterly.

Accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has warned general insurers not to underestimate the impact of new International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on their reported results, with “the potential for earnings variability and asset and liabi

Don Kramer, the 67 year-old ACE executive has retired from the Bermuda-based insurer.

The UK regulator Financial Services Authority (FSA) has appointed the accountancy firm Deloitte & Touche to audit the cost of complying with financial regulation.

Arch Insurance Company (Europe) Ltd has joined the International Underwriting Association (IUA), the trade body for the London company market.

Arthur J Gallagher & Co became the fourth US insurance broker to settle with US regulators following investigations into its business practices which revealed the firm had steered business to insurers in exchange for lucrative payments.