November 2008/2

Scottish Lion Insurance Company, the UK insurer in run-off that used to be run by AXIS Capital founder John Charman, is again looking to crystallise its liabilities via a scheme of arrangement.

October was set to be the busiest month of the year for secondary trading of cat bonds, in part fuelled by hedge funds being forced to de-leverage amidst the financial turmoil.

Credit derivatives – famously described as “financial weapons of mass destruction” by Warren Buffett – came back to bite his Berkshire Hathaway investment conglomerate as its profits slumped 77 percent in the third quarter.

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.

Carpet-baggers and pre-emptions…

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...

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

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...