November 2007/1

US insurer Liberty Mutual Group has boosted its asbestos reserves by $67mn post-tax following the completion of a "comprehensive ground-up study", it revealed in its third quarter results.

Despite a general weakness in bancassurance business, Italian insurance giant Assicurazioni Generali has shown "solid" progress in its year on year nine month results.

Bermudian-headquartered (re)insurer, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd, reported a 19 percent increase in operating income for the third quarter of 2007, capping eight straight quarters of "record profitability", according to its president and CEO, John Charman.

Swiss Re, which reports its third quarter figures tomorrow (6 November) is expected to generate net attributable earnings of SFr1.01bn and pre-tax profits of SFr1.35bn - down from SFr1.55bn and SFr2.07bn respectively in the prior-year period...

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter is developing five different trading indices with the first European index looking to go live as early as six months time.

China Reinsurance Group, the country's largest reinsurer, is planning an initial public offering (IPO) after inviting "strategic" investors to buy stakes, according to a statement from the company last week.

Fast-expanding (re)insurer MAPFRE SA announced its boldest move yet when confirming last week its $2.2bn acquisition of the Massachusetts-based non-life personal lines insurer The COMMERCE Insurance Company.

The board of Willis Group Holdings has approved a new $1bn stock buyback plan.

Although Berkshire Hathaway reported a 64 percent hike in third-quarter net income late Friday (2 November), underwriting profits from its (re)insurance operation nearly halved, falling from $917mn to $486mn.

The management of German giant Munich Re is confident that the firm will return record profits for 2007 after posting "excellent results" so far this year.

Shares in US insurance giant, American International Group Inc (AIG), continued its rollercoaster ride on the New York Stock Exchange last week, twice plumbing the depths of new 52-week lows as investor unease mounted over the group's sub-prime...

Canadian conglomerate Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd bounced back to a third quarter profit of $253.2mn from a loss of $359.2mn in the prior-year period.

Bermudian (re)insurer RenaissanceRe Holdings reported a third-quarter profit of $144mn, a decrease of 44.6 percent from the prior year period, driven by lower underwriting income, UK flood losses and a $36mn charge on investments hit by the sub-prime...

Bermudian reinsurer Endurance Specialty Holdings has reported a small rise in income against a background of falling written premiums in the third quarter last week.

Low catastrophe losses drove Bermudian (re)insurer Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd to a record quarter, it reported on 1 November.

The (re)insurance sector will watch developments in Bermuda with interest over the coming weeks after premier Ewart Brown called a general election for 18 December.

Private equity firm General Atlantic is to sell another 15.23 million shares, or 7 percent of the issued share capital, in London market back office service provider Xchanging plc.

Investors reacted positively to Aon's news last week that it is to impose a fresh restructuring that will lead to the loss of 2,700 jobs, the equivalent of 6 percent of its global workforce.

Marine, energy and P&I insurer Lingard Limited (Gard) has appointed former JLT Re partner Graham Everard as managing director of its Bermudian operations.

Cullum Capital Ventures (CCV), part of the Towergate group, recruited two teams from troubled property services group Erinaceous last month.

London-based law firm Kendall Freeman has been looking for a partner for some time and so seasoned watchers were not surprised by its proposed tie-up with the US firm Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP (EAPD) that was announced late last month.

Guy Carpenter has appointed Nick Frankland as its new head of Europe following the departure of the long-serving Geoff Bromley earlier this year.

FTSE 100 companies are reporting risk above and beyond what the UK's regulatory regime requires, according to research undertaken by broking giant Marsh Ltd.

Bermudian insurance start-up Ironshore Inc has made a significant step in its roll-out strategy with its acquisition of a US admitted insurer Stockbridge Insurance Company from Folksamerica Reinsurance Co.

Following a hearing in the UK High Court last week, Marsh Ltd will be forced to defend itself on charges of poaching a senior aviation team and confidential business information from rival firm United Insurance Brokers (UIB) in a trial scheduled to...

Australian (re)insurer QBE has rebranded its European operations which means the loss of the name of its Lloyd's (re)insurance arm, Limit.

"Class of 2005" insurer Lancashire Holdings Ltd said the third quarter had been its "best yet" with net income of $105.2mn up 100 percent from $52.6mn in the prior-year period.

Integro has taken on two international property brokers John Millar and Andrzej Danyluk from reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter.

Goldman Sachs' entry to Lloyd's with a syndicate for the 2008 year – exclusively revealed by The Insurance Insider today (5 November) - occurs against the backdrop of the capital markets' increasing appetite to assume (re)insurance risk.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has warned that if rates in most classes continue at their present level beyond mid-2008, then it may downgrade the outlook for a number of industry sectors.

Lloyd's (re)insurance intermediary CRS is poised to finalise a number of deals in preparation for run-off.

Validus Holdings-owned Talbot Underwriting has become the latest Lloyd's insurer to launch an Asian venture through the Corporation's Singapore platform.

Run-off insurer Highlands Insurance Company (UK) Ltd became the first UK insurance firm to become insolvent in three years after it went into insolvent administration at the High Court on 1 November.

London market reinsurers led by Allianz have had their appeal dismissed against the striking out of significant parts of their defence in the controversial EUR44.3mn dispute with the North Korean national insurer.