May 2005/6

The head of Xchanging’s London market sector Clive Buesnel is to pioneer the rollout of the outsourcing firm in the US, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Reinsurer Hannover Re confirmed last week that it had successfully completed its EUR500mn hybrid capital bond via its subsidiary Hannover Finance (Luxembourg) SA.

Former FirstCity professional indemnity executive Roddy Graham has joined Thompson Heath & Bond Ltd (THB), Insider Week understands.

French reinsurer SCOR today (31 May) revealed a disappointing set of first quarter results, as the repercussions of the crisis it slipped into during the latter half of 2003 continued to dog its recovery.

Declining P&C insurance rates, the weak dollar and the impact of Spitzer were all blamed by South African financial services firm Alexander Forbes for a 5 percent decline in revenues in its international risk services unit.

Ambitious Lloyd’s listed insurer Chaucer Holdings said it plans to double its current underwriting capacity by the time the next sector cycle peaks, as it reported a positive start to the year in its latest trading statement, released to the London Stock

Matthew Fosh, the chief executive of Lloyd’s insurer SVB Holdings plc, described his company’s first quarter syndicate forecasts as “pleasingly uneventful” last week. The insurer – which continues to battle against a legacy of US professional indemnity

Advent Capital (Holdings) plc will float later this week on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in an IPO that will value the Lloyd’s insurer at £77mn.

As predicted in the May edition of The Insurance Insider, UK broker Heath Lambert Group has undergone another capital restructuring less than two years after a debt-for-equity swap with its bankers.

As the fall out from New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer’s investigations into insurance industry practices continues, Swiss based Zurich Financial Services (ZFS) admitted last week that a number of its international operations had used complex...

Kinnect, the Lloyd’s-backed electronic data transfer initiative, has confirmed that it is recoding its platform for future releases. Speaking to Insider Week, Iain Saville, chairman of Kinnect, said the re-coding aimed to improve the functionality...

The president and chief operating officer of US broker Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Co. (HRH) resigned last week (26 May) after evidence was uncovered of his involvement in illegal payments in exchange for steering accounts to insurers.