November 2007/2

The 21-day time limit in which the three former Independent Insurance Group plc (IIG) executives who received a total of 14 years in jail sentences could lodge an appeal will expire on 13 November.

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)...

A US judge who ruled in favour of Gen Re in its dispute with Arch Capital Group over the poaching of a thirty strong facultative team declared that trade secrets can be stored in one's memory.

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.

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.

Marsh Ltd will be forced to defend itself on charges of poaching a senior aviation team and confidential business information from United Insurance Brokers (UIB) in a trial scheduled to take place next summer.

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.

Trading activity has started at the cat derivatives trading platform Insurance Futures Exchange Services (IFEX) with cumulative trading volume totalling 1,209 lots, equivalent to over $12mn of (re)insurance limit, at the end of October.

Kamp Re 2005, Zurich Financial Services’ (ZFS) catastrophe bond, hit by losses from Hurricane Katrina soon after its launch, is due to be tested within the next month, after the bond’s administrators finally filed a proof of claim notice on 30 October.

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.