November 2003/2

Insurer St Paul Companies Inc reported Q3 earnings per share of 95 cents up on 52 cents for the same period in 2002.

Bermudian insurer Allied World Assurance Holdings revealed its annual gross written premiums have breached the $1bn barrier in its second year of trading.

GoshawK's Syndicate 102 has been placed in run-off following discussions with Lloyd's and the Financial Services Authority.

Catlin looks set to continue the trend for preferring London to New York for insurance IPOs, according to sources.

Montpelier Re unveiled more impressive results last week – its combined ratio for the first nine months of 2003 is averaging below 50 percent – but revealed that it has seen a slowdown in writing Lloyd’s qualifying quota share reinsurance.

Bermudian (re)insurer XL Capital announced stronger than expected operating earnings on the back of underwriting results that beat previous projections.

With investors still spooked by CIGNA’s $1bn mea culpa over its variable annuity death benefit losses last year, Converium addressed its guaranteed minimum death benefit (GMDB) exposures while revealing its third quarter results last week.

Bermudian giant ACE has announced a solid set of third quarter results, returning earnings per share (EPS) of $1.04, almost double the same period last year and topping analysts’ projections by 2 cents.

The downward ratings migration of major reinsurers continued last week with the AM Best reduction of Hannover Re’s financial strength rating to A from A+.

PICC raises $693mn in IPO PICC Property and Casualty Co Ltd, China’s largest property insurer, successfully raised $693mn in a Hong Kong IPO last week.

Despite the clement underwriting conditions, Canadian insurance combine Fairfax Financial Holdings returned to loss in the third quarter after failing to realise any meaningful investment gains.

Chubb Corp posted a Q3 profit last week, reversing last year’s loss for the same quarter driven by asbestos reserve strengthening.