November 2008/2

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Swiss Re has withdrawn from negotiations with private equity firm CVC Capital Partners over its proposed purchase of Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) insurance assets, The Insurance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

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...

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.

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.

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.

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 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...

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

ARC forms ICA group; R&Q wins double

Resolute Management Ltd, Berkshire Hathaway’s operation for managing its discontinued London market lines, will now be led by Steve Michael, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

The New York insurance authorities are again considering selling the insolvent Midland Insurance Company in a bid to improve the returns available to policyholders.

The “implosion” of 296 sub-prime mortgage lenders in relation to the credit crisis has led to 418 sub-prime and credit crisis-related lawsuits, including 124 securities class actions lawsuits (SCAS) filed to date...

Hannover Re is currently marketing the renewal of two sidecars, raising the question whether the quota share vehicle will regain popularity with (re)insurers if catastrophe rates continue to harden into 2009.

Amid feverish speculation at the beginning of October that Swiss Re was set to unveil drastic measures to ease liquidity pressures, the giant reinsurer did little more than post a relatively modest third quarter loss.

As the financial world waits for President-elect Obama’s key appointments in the US Treasury, the attention of the (re)insurance industry once again turns to the taxation debate over offshore domiciles and the future...

Expansive independent (re)insurance broker Cooper Gay & Co has hired a 10-strong aerospace team from Benfield’s London division.

Independent reinsurance broker RK Carvill concluded months of consultation with private equity firm Stone Point Capital with the separation of its underwriting and broking businesses in a corporate restructure...

A number of Lloyd's stocks have seen significant uplift in recent weeks as investors gamble on a 2009 ratings uplift fuelled by the AIG crisis.

Until recently, one would be forgiven for thinking the inmates had taken over the M&A asylum. While specialist Lloyd’s and Bermudian (re)insurers were (and indeed are) routinely trading at heavy discounts to their asset value – despite, in many cases, bei

It took Aon only four days to agree takeover terms with Benfield Group, but it has taken more than two months to finalise the delicate restructuring of senior London positions for the soon-to-be giant reinsurance broking combine Aon Benfield.

Despite widespread proclamation of a market changing event, the evidence remains mixed...

Royal Bank of Scotland’s insurance assets – which include Direct Line, Churchill, Privilege and the specialty insurer NIG – may now fetch less than £4.5bn, as private equity firm CVC enters into advanced talks with the bank...

Global broker Marsh has taken a $33mn charge in its Q3 2008 results after losing a legal dispute emanating from a political risk placement it made on behalf of US west coast energy group, Sempra to cover 1990s investments in Argentina.

The insurance linked securities (ILS) market has performed well during the financial crisis, despite unexpected credit risk leaking into the cat bond structure.

Despite a moderate rally in its share price, the Hartford Financial Services Group has endured a miserable few weeks in which it reported a $2.6bn Q3 loss, a cut in earnings forecasts and an earnings call that left...

The uplift in mergers and acquisitions activity in the Lloyd’s market over the last two years has contributed to a shift in the make-up of leading investors in the sector.

With losses from Hurricane Ike continuing to eat into third quarter results, at least one area of the market looks set to benefit: Offshore energy rates.

As Lloyd’s mulls its final decision on where to open regional operations in the Middle East, the market has delivered a clear verdict that it prefers Dubai as the location for the London market outpost to be located.

Integro Ltd has reduced its employee headcount by almost a quarter as new chief executive Peter Garvey implements a cost-cutting drive at the independent insurance broker, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Broker Willis Ltd is seeking investor support for a new industry sidecar, The Insurance Insider can reveal, indicating market sentiment for a hardening property cat market in 2009.

Shareholders funds at Hannover Re have shrunk by more than 20 percent from EUR3.3bn at the start of the year to EUR2.6bn at the end of September as the German reinsurer booked a Q3 net loss of EUR395mn...

Holt steps down; Brit pulls out of Augsburg Re binder; Jubilee hires new reinsurance director; London Fac moves; Brockbank returns; London 100 speaker calls bottom of crisis