• X
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Show more sharing options
  • Copy Link URLCopied!
  • Print
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Insurance Insider is part of the Delinian Group, Delinian Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 00954730
Copyright © Delinian Limited and its affiliated companies 2024

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

May 2010/4

  • The global specialty (re)insurance world is a bit like the clientele of a large and successful dating agency. Everyone pays their dues and keeps their profile up to date, but there does not always seem to be a lot of action going on for the members.
  • As the Prudential board seeks to secure shareholder support for the £14.5bn rights issue it needs to fund its takeover of American International Assurance (AIA), the company's three most senior directors have said they will take up their full allocation of rights to acquire new shares.
  • Florida's cat fund would be able to absorb a $17.2bn, or one-in-21 year storm, before having to raise funds through post-event bonding, according to its advisers Raymond James & Associates (RJA).
  • Non-US (re)insurers that operate in the US market look set to benefit from reduced collateral requirements after Senator Dodd's financial reform bill passed the Senate.
  • Standard & Poor's (S&P) has offered a vote of confidence to Hannover Re CEO Ulrich Wallin as he moves towards the end of his first year in the job by removing the company from negative watch.
  • KPMG has been appointed administrator for Lloyd's broker FirstCity's legacy book, following the sale of its active insurance business in early April to AJ Gallagher.
  • Grant Thornton, the administrators to distressed Irish insurance group Quinn Insurance, are keen to minimise job losses by selling the insurer to a buyer that does not have an existing Irish platform.
  • Bermudian Flagstone Re is unlikely to expand aggressively in 2010 after it announced the departure of its founding chairman Mark Byrne and the addition of $50mn to its share buyback programme.
  • Lloyd's reinsurance broker Walsham Brothers & Co is up for sale, with London-based corporate financial advisers Lexicon Partners managing the tender process, The Insurance Insider can reveal.
  • Marsh's wholesale division, Bowring Marsh, has opened an office in Tokyo as part of its plans to expand in Asia in 2010.
  • The new UK chancellor George Osborne has hinted that the coalition government would not dampen the Conservatives' commitment to scrutinise a tax policy paper prepared by The Insurance Insider's London 100 group.
  • Lloyd's (re)insurer Kiln has reported catastrophe losses of almost £50mn in the first four months of the year, as the start of the Atlantic hurricane season looms.
  • WR Berkley to build Lloyd's marine book with Talbot hire
  • Reinsurance broker BMS has taken advantage of the fallout from Marsh's acquisition of HSBC Insurance Brokers (HIBL) by setting up a specie division.
  • Marsh's wholesale division, Bowring Marsh, has opened an office in Tokyo as part of its plans to expand in Asia in 2010.
  • Trade credit specialist Coface looks to have recovered in the first quarter, as its insurance segment produced a net profit for the first time since the onset of the global recession.
  • American International Group (AIG) has announced that Henri Courpron will serve as the fourth CEO within the last six months of its embattled aircraft leasing business.
  • Fairfax Holdings CEO Prem Watsa, who accumulated over $2bn betting against credit default swaps (CDS) at the height of the financial crisis, has started investing in US commercial real estate.
  • The Conservative Party has abandoned plans to abolish UK regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) as a concession to its coalition partners the Liberal Democrats.
  • The fine art insurance market has been spared a potential EUR100mn mega-loss after the audacious theft of five masterpieces from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris on 19 May.
  • The German financial regulator has banned naked short selling of stocks in key financial services companies including Munich Re and Hannover Re, as concerns rise over the stability of the Eurozone.
  • The European Union has expressed strong opposition to "anti-competitive" Washington tax proposals, which it says could result in non-domestic operators withdrawing from the US reinsurance market.
  • Hampden Underwriting swung to a pre-tax profit of £985,000 in 2009 from a loss of £85,000 a year earlier, as it shrugged off start-up costs and began to enjoy positive cash flow from its acquisition of 2006 and 2007 year underwriting capacity.
  • Lloyd's insurer Chaucer has forecast a "significant increase" in offshore energy rates and flagged up hardening conditions in aviation and catastrophe-exposed property markets.
  • UK-based legacy player Compre Holdings has set up a service company in Switzerland after agreeing to manage Alea's remaining European run-off.
  • Bermuda-domiciled (re)insurer Omega Insurance Holdings has continued to recruit new directors by appointing three non-executives to its Lloyd's agency arm.
  • The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has granted Lloyd's China a licence to write direct insurance, in addition to its existing reinsurance licence.
  • No criminal charges will be filed against the senior executives that ran AIG Financial Products (AIG FP) into the ground and racked up tens of billions of losses, it has emerged.
  • There is a 30 percent chance that a weather system currently over the Atlantic will become the first named storm of the season in the next 48 hours, according to forecasters from the US National Hurricane Center.
  • Broker Marsh placed the insurance programme for the Air India Boeing 737-800 that crashed on Saturday (22 May), killing all but eight on board, The Insurance Insider understands.
  • Florida cat reinsurance rates are likely to fall back to 2008 levels at the key 1 June renewal date, with pricing projected to soften by 10-13 percent across most layers, fuelled by excess capacity.
  • Three cat bonds have closed in the last week taking the total 2010 issuance so far to $2bn, amid a late rush to place risk into the capital markets before the hurricane season.
  • The launch date of Long Bay Re - Catlin Group's $150mn sidecar due to IPO on AIM this week - has been delayed to next month, The Insurance Insider understands.