November 2004/5

At a time when capital management has become increasingly important to insurance investors, Lloyd’s listed insurer Chaucer announced on Friday (19 November) it would increase dividends by around 10 percent a year from 2005 to 2008, matching its objective

Zurich Financial Services (ZFS) shrugged off the impact of the most severe hurricane season in memory to post net income of $1.902bn for the first nine months of 2004 – a 35 percent increase over the same period last year.

PXRE’s Bermudian reinsurance arm PXRE Reinsurance Ltd will have an additional $83mn of capital to support its 2005 underwriting following the group’s successful fund raising.

Hurricanes, unresolved WTC losses, unreliable catastrophe modelling, PSAs: these are just some of the challenges faced by the global insurance industry for 2005 according to XL chief executive of Insurance Operations Clive Tobin.

US property casualty giant The Hartford announced last Thursday (18 November) that it has bought a $247.5mn cat bond from Cayman Island reinsurance company Foundation Re “to enhance its ability to manage risk related to large natural catastrophes”.