May 2008/2

Bermuda-headquartered Lloyd's insurer Hiscox Ltd has dropped its premium income by 10 percent this year as it sticks to its guns about underwriting discipline in the soft market.

Swiss Re shares fell more than 5 percent last week after the reinsurance giant continued to disappoint analysts with further structured credit losses that halved Q1 profits.

Munich Re's first quarter profits dipped 19 percent as it took a EUR578mn hit in its reinsurance division from the spate of major losses hitting the market in the period.

Italian financial services firm Generali Group’s interest in purchasing the UK’s second largest non-life insurer, RBS Insurance (RBSI), would be a “very significant financial stretch”, warned a leading insurance analyst.

Pressure is mounting on American International Group (AIG) CEO Martin Sullivan as the crisis at the US giant deepened after a second consecutive record quarterly loss.

The European Commission (EC) has finally given public backing to the industry's response to concerns surrounding co-insurance, or subscription, market practices.

The introduction of the Solvency II regulatory system in 2012 will be far more significant to European insurers than sub-prime losses and the credit crunch, according to a report by ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P).

Signs of recovery in the hard-pressed airline market are continuing with a 16 percent increase in April's hull and liability premium, according to Aon Aviation's latest report into the sector.

Despite a slower than expected start to insurance linked securities (ILS) issuance in 2008, the pipeline of cat bond deals is again filling up, with a renewal of a Japanese quake bond expected to close shortly.

Berkshire Hathaway revealed first quarter net profits dropped by around 64 percent to $940mn from $2.6bn in the prior-year period.

French reinsurer SCOR saw Q1 profits rise by almost two-thirds to EUR124mn, compared to the prior-year period, after solid growth in Asia and the US.

French insurance giant AXA said its property and casualty revenues grew by 2 percent in the first quarter of 2008 to EU8.89bn compared to the prior-year period.