May 2012/4

Capital management among publicly listed (re)insurers remained tepid during the first quarter of 2012 as firms licked their wounds after a bruising sequence of catastrophe losses last year.

Investors may have revolted against the salary of former Aviva CEO Andrew Moss, but the pay packets taken home by London's listed reinsurance CEOs last year shows that the industry is responsive to financial performance - albeit in varying degrees.

An exceptionally low level of aerospace incidents in 2011 - offset by positive forecasts in turnover and passenger numbers - point to another year of close to flat premiums, according to Aon's annual aerospace report.

Sixty percent of insurance companies active in the Arabian Gulf expect the market to grow ahead of the region's GDP, according to the new GCC Insurance Barometer.

AM Best said it expects London market insurers to rebound in 2012 after a year that ruthlessly tested their resilience, but warned that shrinking reserve releases and meagre investment returns are likely to drag back earnings.

JLT's wholesale broking subsidiary Lloyd & Partners Limited delivered operating margins of 22.5 percent on continuing operations as it again lived up to its reputation as one of the best performers in the space.

Goldman Sachs' head of structured finance Michael Millette has estimated that the "quiet and pervasive" collateralised reinsurance market is almost as big as the cat bond market and growing in importance.

In recent years P&C (re)insurers have moved toward a new "paradigm" where a smaller core balance sheet is complemented by a range of off-balance sheet ventures that provide less volatile fee income and a more efficient means of flexing capital, according to Goldman Sachs's head of structured finance Michael Millette.

The $805mn Thai flood claim from electronics giant Sony included a $66.5mn contingent business interruption (CBI) claim, The Insurance Insider revealed.

Insured losses from the tornadoes that devastated parts of Texas in April are likely to reach $1bn, with more bad weather expected in May, according to the Insurance Council of Texas.

Ironshore's Lloyd's syndicate, Pembroke 4000, has cut back its property direct and facultative (D&F) book after a mixed performance and the relocation of underwriter Rod Todd from London to Bermuda, sister title Inside FAC revealed last week.

Insurance Australia Group (IAG) has sunk around £800mn into Lloyd's insurer Equity Redstar and the rest of its UK operations since 2006 and will be looking to recoup as much of this sum as possible from the recently announced sale process.