November 2006/3

UK regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary General Reinsurance UK £1.225mn for arranging two improper reinsurance transactions.

The sudden departure of HCC Insurance Holdings chairman and CEO Stephen Way has prompted a mixed approach from the two main rating agencies. While Standard & Poor’s swiftly affirmed the Houston headquartered firm’s financial strength...

RK Harrison Insurance Brokers Ltd, the independent London market brokers, will appoint the former Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group executive Dominic Collins to replace its retiring executive chairman, Richard Corfield.

It took 18 months for ACE Ltd to persuade the Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner to approve the sale of its asbestos riddled Brandywine subsidiaries, so R&SA shareholders might be in for a long wait before they see their US legacy business spun-off.

Despite comfortably outpacing third quarter earnings projections, Bermudian rivals ACE Limited and XL Capital met very different responses from analysts at Morgan Stanley.

AIG beats earnings forecasts American International Group (AIG), the world’s largest insurance company by value, unveiled strong third quarter results on the back of a benign 2006 claims environment.

Speculation that UK broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc was considering a strategy of focussed regional growth was quashed at the end of last month when the company announced a major restructuring that includes greater integration of its two separatel

USI Holdings’ admission at the end of October that it was mulling a private equity buyout offer reflects a growing interest in the broking sector from the investment community.

While Bermudian (re)insurers uniformly booked strident third quarter results, as soaring cat rates post-Katrina combined with a virtually loss-free hurricane season...

Aspen Insurance Holdings – the Bermudian domiciled (re)insurer which lost three of its four underwriting heads this summer – revealed plans to leverage its balance sheet earlier this month with a $200mn hybrid offering and details of a share buy-back.

If 2006 was the year of the sidecar, there is every sign that these and other non-traditional reinsurance vehicles will continue to emerge next year.

The Corporation’s chief executive Richard Ward is understood to be close to ordering a restructuring of its senior management and reporting structures, according to sources.