May 2006/6

An Australian judge has approved a scheme of arrangement for collapsed Australian insurer HIH Group at a sanction hearing in Sydney's Supreme Court on 26 May.

The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Association (NOAA) has forecast that 2006 will be another "very active hurricane season" in the North Atlantic.

The High Court has sanctioned the first transfer of business out of a Lloyd's syndicate since the formation of Equitas ten years ago, opening the prospect of a new method to obtain finality for non-trading syndicates.

BP Marsh & Partners plc, the London-based investor in specialist insurance and other financial services related companies, grew its net asset value by 16.3 percent last year.

Swiss reinsurer Converium reported its net income of $61.6mn in its first quarter results, taking the company back to a profit after a $5.5mn loss in the prior-year period.

The London market is enjoying strong rate rises in 2006, according to trading statements from three leading quoted Lloyd's (re)insurers.

The run-off (re)insurance group Alea Group Holdings Ltd has sold its US insurance arm to a unit of Praetorian Financial Group Inc, the US specialty arm of Hannover Re.

Embattled Bermudian (re)insurer Quanta Capital Holdings will move most lines of business into run-off, the company announced on 26 May.

Analysts from Merrill Lynch have downgraded shares in broker Benfield to neutral noting that, although they believe the company is "entering a phase of rapid earnings growth", this is largely reflected in the current share price.

Electronic reinsurance trading platform RI3K has teamed up with back-office provider Xchanging to launch the Framework for the Electronic London Insurance eXchange (FELIX).

Alexander Forbes Group Ltd has announced a Rand380mn (£31mn) settlement with South African regulators over its practice of "bulking" pension funds and said the package will reduce its 2005 earnings by 20 percent.

Key parties in the London Market, including the London Market Association (LMA), the G6 and Xchanging have welcomed Lloyd's CEO Richard Ward's contract documentation initiative, which was announced last Monday (22 May).