November 2009/2

Spanish competition authority the Comisión Nacional de la Competencia (CNC) has fined local insurers Asefa, Mapfre and Caser as well as leading global reinsurers, Munich Re, Swiss Re and Scor a total of EUR120mn for operating a cartel.

Rating agency Fitch said its concerns over reinsurers' ability to tap capital markets following a significant catastrophe have "sufficiently eased" after revising its outlook on the global reinsurance sector from negative to stable.

Marketform, the Lloyd’s insurer majority owned by the US firm Great American Insurance Group, is undertaking a significant reshuffle of its executive operations to improve its “corporate governance”.

UK insurer Brit has laid out the timetable for its redomicile to the Netherlands in a reorganisation that it is expected will see a new holding company listed on the London Stock Exchange on 21 December.

So-called ‘mega-claims’ are now a common occurence in the power (re)insurance market, with almost half of the $9.85bn total loss recorded over the last ten years the result of just 16 claims.

The share price of UK-quoted Randall and Quilter (R&Q) had fallen by 15.02 percent to 107.5p at the time of writing in the wake of today’s crucial LMX-related High Court judgment against the run-off management firm.

The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) highlighted the important role of microinsurance "as a means of socio-economic development" at its annual conference.

US insurers Seaton Insurance Co and Stonewall Insurance Co's long-running case against Randall & Quilter (R&Q) founder Ken Randall is approaching appeal.

Just under 200 investors, advisors and sponsors gathered in New York for Trading Risk's annual executive briefing last month to discuss market issues.

Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH) has described the shareholder class action suit filed against it over the acquisition of outstanding minority interests in OdysseyRe as a "nuisance suit".

Bermudian (re)insurer Mariner's proposed solvent scheme was sanctioned by the Bermudian Supreme Court, the first approval since the Scottish Lion decision.

It’s the new buzz term in the industry's lexicon, but is it more than that? The Insurance Insider went all the way to Senegal to find out…