November 2007/2

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.

QBE Limit and Markel International's UK High Court showdown with broker Surety Guarantee Consultants Ltd (SGC) and other defendants over construction bond fraud allegations has been postponed until next year.

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter is developing a product to allow (re)insurers to hedge the risk of under-reserving on long-tail casualty lines of business.

Lehman Bros has been given the green light by the Financial Services Authority to begin trading at its subsidiary Libero Ventures Ltd, which aims to transfer "vanilla" exposures by employing securitisation...

Catastrophe bond issuance has resumed after a hiatus during the traditionally quiet summer period for insurance-linked securities (ILS) - overshadowed by the post sub-prime credit crisis - as the market awaits...

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

An attempt by Barclays Capital to rescue ailing structured investment vehicle (SIV) Mainsail II failed last month.

The aviation sector's broker merry-go-round continues as Steve Doyle, manager of Aon's Aviation and Aerospace Global Practice Group, has resigned his post and is heading to rival Willis Group Holdings.

Beaufort became the fourth independent Lloyd's insurer to sell this year as interest in One Lime Street remains sky high.

Tysers has sealed a management buyout, bucking the trend for small to mid-size London broker sales to larger rivals and private equity investors.

Lloyd's has approved two new sidecar syndicates for the 2008 year of account, with a targeted combined capacity of £85mn for the Hiscox and Ark quota share special purpose vehicles.

Marsh is mulling the formation of a UK-based facultative (Fac) reinsurance arm that could end up competing with sister company, Guy Carpenter & Co, The Insurance Insider understands.