November 2008/2

Kevin Kelley has left his position as president and CEO of American International Group (AIG) subsidiary Lexington Insurance Company to take over as CEO of Ironshore Inc.

Independent reinsurance broker RK Carvill has announced that it is to cease placing or renewing any new treaty business incepting after 1 April 2009, The Insurance Insider has learned.

Omega Insurance Holdings Ltd has become the first quoted Lloyd’s (re)insurer to unveil plans to raise capital to take advantage of the sector’s improved trading prospects.

Lloyd’s managing agent RJ Kiln is to open a new Syndicate in 2009 for intra-group reinsurance as part of the Tokio Marine Group, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

UK finance ministry, Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) has convened a working group of ten top insurance executives to consider key issues facing the issue in the next 10-30 years and shape developments in the market, The Insurance Insider has learned.

Lloyd’s insurers writing US business face the challenge of finding additional capital in the New Year to support 2009 underwriting as a result of the dramatic swing in the $/£ exchange rate – even in the absence of expected hardening of rates.

Property Claim Services (PCS) has raised its estimate for onshore insured losses from Hurricane Ike by just over 30 percent to $10.655bn.

Swiss Re has withdrawn from negotiations with private equity firm CVC Capital Partners over its proposed purchase of Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) insurance assets, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Hiscox Ltd, the UK quoted (re)insurance group, is building out its US operations with “10 key appointments” and plans to open four new offices in Lexington, Kansas City, Miami and Los Angeles next year.

Lloyd’s (re)insurer Hiscox has parted company with Robert Forness, the CEO-elect of its Bermuda subsidiary, The Insurance Insider has learned.

American International Group (AIG) has moved onto the next phase of its revamped US government bail-out with the launch of a vehicle to take on multi-sector collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) underlying...

The European Union Council of Economic and Finance Ministers (ECOFIN) has approved a Solvency II directive in which all reference to group support and group supervision has been cut...

Aviation pool Global Aerospace Underwriting Management (GAUM) leads the $47mn hull cover for the Air New Zealand-owned Airbus A320 that crashed yesterday (27 November) in Perpignan, The Insurance Insider understands.

Amlin plc is raising capital to form a new quota share syndicate for 2009 financed by Lloyd’s Names to take advantage of the improving market conditions, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Fabrice Desnos, CEO of Credit insurance specialist Euler Hermes UK has told The Insurance Insider that an increasing number of risks “have become uninsurable in the strictest sense” and underwriters are having to be more selective...

The acrimonious defection of a UK construction team to London market broker RFIB Group has failed to wrestle the major Balfour Beatty civil engineering account, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

The audacious hijacking of the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star 400 nautical miles off the coast of Kenya earlier this month upped the ante for piracy in the region and is causing hull, cargo and P&I underwriters to look closely at policy wordings...

BMS Group has reached a settlement with former senior employees and rival London market broker CJ Coleman (CJC) over claims of conspiracy and gross breach of duty that it brought to the UK High Court on 24 November, The Insurance Insider has learnt.

American International Group (AIG) has slashed senior executive remuneration as a gesture to its new US political paymasters and in an attempt to speed the group to recovery, with CEO Ed Liddy earning a $1 salary for 2008-2009.

London-based captives and mutual manager Heritage has received the green light to establish Heritage Insurance Management (Bahrain) WLL (HIMB) on the Persian Gulf island kingdom Bahrain.

Private equity backed insurance group Hyperion is poised to take on Benfield Corporate Risk's (BCR) US wholesale property/casualty unit to its broking arm Howden, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Eric Dinallo, superintendent of the New York Insurance Department, has pulled plans for the state to regulate credit default swaps (CDS) it considers insurance.

The timetable for implementing Solvency II is likely to be delayed to 2013 as the proposal for European-wide insurance regulation struggles in murky political waters and amidst the current financial turmoil.

Run-off provider PRO Insurance Solutions has become an accredited Lloyd's run-off broker, gaining full access to the London market accounting and settlement systems.

BMS Group brought its claims of conspiracy and gross breach of duty against former senior employees, competitor CJ Coleman & Co (CJC) and its CEO David Merry to the UK High Court today (20 November).

Legislation to reform the Lloyd’s Act 1982 officially came into force today (19 November) in a move that the UK government said will modernise the operation of the world’s oldest insurance market.

The Aon Benfield deal is due to close on 28 November after the final regulatory obstacles to the £844mn cash tie-up have been completed.

Amlin plc has predicted a strong rise in reinsurance rating levels as insurers look to retain less of their exposures, reversing the trend of recent years.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has cleared Aon Corporation's proposed takeover of reinsurance broker Benfield Group, removing one of the final potential obstacles to the deal.

Zurich Financial Services Group (ZFS) posted a net income of $2.8bn for the last 9 months ending 30 September, a decrease of 32 percent on the same period last year.

Hurricane Ike, which made landfall as a category two hurricane over Galveston Island, Texas on 17 September after smashing Cuba and the Caribbean, confounded modelling agencies by forming much further west in the Atlantic than any other storm.

Lloyd's based (re)insurers Chaucer and Catlin, have each posted bullish outlooks for 2009 (re)insurance market conditions in respective interim management statements.

Outsourcing specialist Xchanging has said that revenue growth during the four months ending 31 October has been ‘slightly ahead’ of the board’s expectations in a bullish interim management, despite being ruled out of the bidding for the Lloyd’s messaging

The International Underwriting Association (IUA) has thrown its weight behind the proposed Lloyd's messaging hub and announced that it will take part in the pilot of the system, which is due to take place in early 2009 and go live later in the year.

Troubled Australian insurance group IAG has confirmed it is placing its Singapore-based Lloyd’s Syndicate 4455 into run-off and will also close its London-based Lloyd’s managing agent Diagonal.

Deciding the London structure for the combined reinsurance intermediary was always going to be awkward, but this morning senior brokers at the soon-to-be merged firm discovered their new lines of responsibility, The Insurance Insider can reveal.