November 2006/3

Benfield Group warned last month that trading profits are likely to be £10mn lower in 2006 than previously expected because of the loss of senior members of its facultative team to a rival firm.

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.

Willis Group Holdings became the latest of the international brokers to respond to the post-Spitzer pinch, announcing the loss of 400 jobs as part of an efficiency drive on 25 October.

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

Munich Re, the world’s second largest reinsurer, raised full-year earnings forecasts and announced a EUR1bn share buy-back – its first ever, equivalent to 3.4 percent of its share capital – as it became the latest industry carrier to benefit from benign c

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

Marsh Inc’s chief executive Brian Storms parted company with another senior executive early in November as the broking giant announced it was to make its President William (Bill) Malloy redundant.

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.

Bermudian (re)insurer Everest Re Group faces the prospect of a downgrade from Standard & Poor’s (S&P) after the rating agency revised the outlook on its AA- rating from stable to negative on 13 November.

Fitch Ratings has decided to “set the record straight” following industry criticism that rating agencies are putting pressure on (re)insurers to diversify.

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.