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.

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

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.

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...

Rostrum Group, the third largest investor in the Lloyd’s quoted insurance stocks, is winding up its involvement in the sector because of a failure to generate consolidation among the companies.

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.

Embattled insurance giant American International Group moved a step closer to settling with US regulators over allegations of fraudulent business practices with the filing of a civil lawsuit against the firm and its former management duo Hank Greenberg...

Syndicate 33, the Lloyd’s operation managed by Hiscox, today reported unchanged forecasts for the 2003 and 2004 years account. For the 2003 year, the insurer projects a 12.5 to 17.5 percent profit on the Syndicate’s £842mn, 65 percent of which it owns.

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

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.

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

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.