May 2007/5

QBE Insurance (Europe) has merged its London casualty operations to create an £850mn premium-income underwriting unit.

Guy Carpenter & Co has appointed the former Benfield Group executive Charlie Fry as its global chief operating officer.

Specialist financial services investment bank Fox-Pitt, Kelton (FPK) announced a merger with its peer Cochran Caronia Waller (CCW) last week.

Insurers were given a stern warning about the state of the UK’s flood risk at the British Insurance Brokers Association conference in London last week. Professor David Crichton of Benfield’s Hazard Research Centre cautioned the industry that the UK’s Env

A good year driven by strong margins and a low loss environment were the main themes from trading statements released by four Lloyd's-based insurers last week.

Bermudian (re)insurer Validus Holdings Ltd has suffered its first major departure after taking over Lloyd's insurer Talbot Underwriting with deputy head underwriter Darren Redhead joining DE Shaw.

Seven insurers reached a $2bn settlement with World Trade Center (WTC) developer Larry Silverstein last week bringing to an end more than five years of litigation between the parties.

The laws of European Union countries are moving into line as the effect of insurance directives increases, according to a report by reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter and legal firm DLA Piper.

Bermudian headquartered PartnerRe confirmed last week that it has acquired the international reinsurance renewal rights of Mutuelle Centrale de Reassurance (MCR).

Marsh Inc has announced the creation of Marsh Oman LLC, a joint venture with the Omani business Zubair Group.

Increased capacity and a low loss record are combining to soften the energy market and prices will fall "a good deal further" in the absence of catastrophe losses, according to a report published by Willis Group Holdings last week.

Shares in Greenlight Capital Re leapt 21 percent after its debut on the Nasdaq electronic exchange trading exchange last week.

Lloyd’s start-up Ark Syndicate Management has launched its terrorism, war and political risk business with former Wellington underwriter Simon Low at the helm.

Lloyd's insurer Heritage Underwriting Agency plc is to add an international treaty team later this year headed by former Ascot underwriter James Braddock.

Rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has updated its insurance capital model to include an explicit allowance for diversification.

Ironshore Inc has made its entry into the professional liability sector with an onshore US platform, a move predicted by The Insurance Insider earlier this month.

The long-awaited trial of the ‘Independent Three’ – the former directors of the collapsed UK insurer Independent Insurance - is set to start tomorrow (30 May) at Southwark Crown Court, London.

Broker commission transparency is "inevitable", according to Peter Cullum, the founding chairman of Towergate Partnership, yet he insisted the London market needs to eradicate major inefficiencies in order to compete in the long-term.

Judges in the UK High Court last week upheld the £48mn divorce award to the ex-wife of John Charman, the former Lloyd's deputy chairman and founding president of AXIS Capital.

Bermudian (re)insurer Platinum Underwriters Holdings has appointed James Krantz as executive vice president and CFO.

Aon Corp has announced the planned departure of its influential chief financial officer Dave Bolger, who will leave once his successor has arrived.

Munich Re has announced plans for a EUR1bn subordinated bond issue as it continues to restructure its capital base.

Despite winning the support of Converium’s board with an increased bid, SCOR’s attempts to buy its rival have been further frustrated by the Swiss Takeover Board (STB).

Paris Re, the former reinsurance arm of AXA Re, has confirmed plans to list on the Paris-based, European Stock Exchange, Euronext, a year after it was acquired by a consortium of private equity firms.