May 2010/3

Faced with a slew of expected lawsuits following the loss of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, Transocean has moved to limit its liability to the $27mn value of the drilling unit.

The Florida property catastrophe market is facing an "unmitigated disaster" if a major hurricane along the lines of Katrina hits this year, according to Rod Fox, CEO of reinsurance broker TigerRisk Partners.

Think that property cat reinsurance is a short-tail class? It might be time to think again because the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) is selling $693mn in bonds - apparently to pay for claims for the heavy 2004-05 years.

The Obama administration will need to rethink its proposals to eliminate the $250mn federal backstop for those that provide terrorism risk.

With a stellar cast assembled for an audience of 250 in New York last week, InsiderScope was a unique opportunity to connect with the zeitgeist of the (re)insurance industry. Here are just a few snippets of wisdom, observation and reflection from the day...

Record low valuations mean that wide-scale merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the property casualty (P&C) (re)insurance sector is unlikely in the near-term - despite the current soft phase of the market cycle that has historically been a catalyst for deals.

The fate of the (re)insurance cycle is in the hands of industry leaders, according to industry legend Maurice "Hank" Greenberg.

Lloyd's syndicates have almost $60mn of exposure to the Aban Pearl gas rig loss off the coast of Venezuela, with Argenta leading the slip, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

The Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330-200 that crashed on 12 May while attempting to land at Tripoli International Airport had a hull value of $124mn, according to market sources.

Senior management of energy mutual Aegis are mulling strategy and taking cover this week against the benign backdrop of Casablanca, as storms continue to rage in the energy markets.

The major Lloyd's (re)insurers are continuing to expand their international operations, in part at the expense of their London business.

Lloyd's underwriting veteran Roger Field has been appointed to the board of Omega Underwriting Agents Ltd, the Lloyd's managing agent of Omega Insurance Holdings, The Insurance Insider has learned.