November 2006/5

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter is leading a consortium of brokers, including Aon Corp and Jardine Lloyd Thompson, which will place Brazil’s largest property contract in the January renewals.

The Lloyd’s Market Association’s (LMA) has announced that its chief executive Simon Sperryn, will leave the association at Christmas 2006.

Industry legend Hank Greenberg and his Starr companies have sold over 27 million shares in his former company, American International Group (AIG), since May.

Insurers Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group (R&SA) and Zurich Financial Services (ZFS) both unveiled strategies for expanding into Eastern Europe this week.

Lloyd’s insurer Kiln plc increased the forecasts on the bulk of its syndicates when it updated the 2004-5 years in a trading statement on 24 November.

AIM-listed Heritage Underwriting Agency plc announced on 24 November that it has raised £14.6mn in a share placement.

Quoted Lloyd’s insurer Chaucer Holdings plc posted an upbeat trading statement on 23 November with improvements on 2004 and 2005 forecasts and an optimistic outlook for next year.

Omega Underwriting Holdings plc’s move to Bermuda was endorsed by Numis Securities analyst Nick Johnson last week (22 November).

Catastrophe modelling agency Risk Management Services (RMS) has reiterated its medium-term five-year view on the probability of Atlantic storm losses as above average from next year, despite 2006’s placid storm season.

XL Capital, which announced the first of the post-Katrina sidecars Cyrus Re in November last year, has launched a new Cayman Islands special purpose reinsurance vehicle, Stoneheath Re.

Perhaps demonstrating the capital market’s restraint over supporting new reinsurance ventures, a trio of start-ups in the sector that were mooted to list on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) look increasingly unlikely to proc

The Lloyd’s Corporation has brought in David Harris - a senior representative of the G6 group of London market insurers – on secondment, as the three-hundred-year-old Society agrees a number of changes to improve the service it provides.

The nine shareholder members that are departing Oil Insurance Ltd at the end of the year will face a collective bill of $200mn for leaving the energy mutual.

Run-off services provider CMGL has announced the appointment of Robert Bisson as general manager of its French operations.

The sudden departure of HCC Insurance Holdings chairman and CEO Stephen Way has prompted a mixed approach from the two main rating agencies.

Resurgent French (re)insurer SCOR has been upgraded back to "A" territory again, this time by Fitch Ratings on 20 November, a day ahead of the closure of its acquisition of life reinsurer Revios.

Lloyd’s insurer Kiln appointed Keith Land as CEO of its newly formed Kiln Asia operation on 23 November.

Bermudian-headquartered (re)insurer Lancashire Holdings Ltd said it is looking forward to a “healthy” 2007 in a trading statement released on 21 November.

Despite losing three of its four underwriting heads this summer, Bermuda-domiciled Aspen Insurance Holdings (AIH) has seen its Bermudian and UK operating subsidiaries’ ratings affirmed by AM Best.

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

US insurer The Hartford Financial Services Group has issued a $247.5mn cat bond, Foundation II, to protect the company in the event of certain US natural catastrophe losses.

UK motor insurers were propped up by reserve releases and investment returns after experiencing a £200mn underwriting loss last year, according to analysis from Deloitte & Touche.

Wellington plc, the Lloyd’s insurer that has agreed to the takeover overtures from rival Catlin Group, has been struck by resignations from its UK property team.

St Paul Travelers has announced that Steve Eccles has been appointed active underwriter for its Lloyd’s Syndicate 5000.