November 2005/5

Lloyd’s listed insurer Chaucer published its latest quarterly syndicate forecasts for the 2003 and 2004 years of account last Friday (25 November) revealing improvement on 2003 alongside a 15 percent increase in its total underwriting interests...

Canadian combine Fairfax Financial Holdings announced on 23 November estimates of $200mn pre-tax group losses caused by Hurricane Wilma. Although the figure falls to $112mn after tax Fairfax added that calculations could not be made with “a high...

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has written a letter to the CEOs of broking firms in order to “remind you of your responsibilities to implement appropriate processes to enable your firm to manage conflicts of interest effectively”.

Lord Levene used his ‘Chairman’s View’ lecture to the Insurance Institute of London speech at Lloyd’s on 24 November to announce a three-year strategic plan for market reform to be published next January. The chairman also used his lecture to warn the...

The fast-expanding broking group Integro Ltd has established a London market foothold with the acquisition of Lloyd’s broker Humphreys Haggas Sutton & Co. As predicted by The Insurance Insider in September, Integro has completed the purchase the...

Fast-expanding Lloyd’s insurer Omega last Thursday announced unchanged forecasts for the 2003 and 2004 years of account on its Syndicate 958, adding that it expects the widely loss-struck 2005 year to also yield a profit. The insurer predicts a 2003...

Lloyd’s reinsurer Advent Capital has increased its Katrina loss estimate by almost 50 percent and unveiled plans for a heavily discounted £30mn equity issue to fund its underwriting for next year. The reinsurance specialist revealed last week that...

Shares in Lloyd’s insurer Wellington Underwriting plc fell almost 15 percent last week to close at 91.75p after the company amazed investors by increasing its Katrina loss estimates by a further $100mn to $320mn. The announcement came a little over...

AM Best joined its rivals in putting the ratings of Swiss Re under review with negative implications following the giant reinsurer’s move to buy up the reinsurance operations of US conglomerate General Electric. In an 18 November statement, the...

Bermudian (re)insurer XL Capital has said that its $500mn quota-share sidecar initiative will be called Cyrus Re and remains on track, having obtained its Bermuda Monetary Licence. XL president and CEO Brian O’Hara confirmed that the hedge fund...

Capital providers have approached Lloyd’s insurer Beazley to manage a new Lloyd’s syndicate with up to £200mn of capacity. Beazley has written to the existing underwriting members of Syndicate 623 asking for approval and offering limited tenancies...

In a pioneering move, Lloyd’s is set to form an Islamic reinsurance syndicate to target Shari’a compliant business which will be managed by Creechurch Holdings Ltd, Insider Week can exclusively reveal. According to sources, the takaful reinsurance...