November 2011/4

Mark Byrne's Haverford vehicle has confirmed a reduced partial offer for Omega Insurance at a fixed price of 74p per share, as the would-be acquirer contends that its previous bid lapsed yesterday (30 November).

Quoted Lloyd's insurer Hardy has confirmed the widespread market rumours of sizeable Thai flooding loss exposures and put itself up for sale.

The circumstances for a turn in pricing in the direct and facultative markets may all be currently coming into alignment, but a broad or sustained market turn is not a realistic prospect.

Legacy acquirer Catalina Holdings has hired Martin Kauer as CFO/COO for its subsidiary Glacier Re under the firm's plan to expedite its run-off and expand its operations in continental Europe.

The captive reinsurance mutual for YMCA organisations across the US has been successfully liquidated on a solvent basis.

The South of England protection and indemnity (P&I) club has been put into liquidation after a bitter court battle with the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) over its solvency and corporate governance.

Transatlantic Re is being sued by a shareholder over the company's $3.4bn takeover deal with Alleghany.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged another long-term employee of Bernie Madoff for facilitating the work of the swindler's massive Ponzi scheme.

Harleysville Mutual Insurance Company is being sued by a policyholder over its planned buyout by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.

Several Lloyd's insurers including Brit, Chaucer and Catlin are being sued by Proton Bank and Blanca Shipmanagement Company over a disputed $35mn marine claim.

Despite the plethora of broker poaching cases that make their way to the UK courts, it is possible to hire whole teams without falling foul of the law, the London market was told today (28 November).

Despite growing fears about Eurozone defaults, a near-term root and branch rethink of the risk-free treatment of European sovereign debt under Solvency II rules is unlikely, predicts Fitch.

Hiscox's Bermuda platform has become the latest reinsurer to qualify for reduced collateral requirements in the state of New York.

A planned $125mn cat bond from California workers' compensation insurer State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF) and a repeat deal from French reinsurer Scor are set to take total issuance past the $4bn mark this year.

Collateralised retrocession writer Catco has attracted at least $375mn from a new fundraising round, putting the firm's reinsurance funds under management at nearly $900mn in its first year.

The old underwriting adage that good years get better while bad years gets worse seems to have been borne out by developments in syndicate forecasts for the past two years of account at Lloyd's (re)insurers.

The wave of civil unrest and revolutions across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) will have a negative impact on the predicted growth of the developing insurance markets in the region, according to AM Best.

Optimism on rates broadly outweighed third quarter combined ratio pain across US and Bermudian P&C (re)insurers, causing a strong rise in stocks within the sector through the reporting season.

Soft market conditions and higher policy limits, aircraft values and liability settlements are driving aviation underwriters toward a "perfect storm", according to a report from broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT)'s aerospace division.

US P&C insurer Alleghany will assume the management of Transatlantic Re's $13.7bn investment float and determine the allocation of capital between subsidiaries, but the reinsurer will otherwise retain the right to chart its own path.

Tokio Marine's net loss from the Great East Japan earthquake has grown from 90bn yen ($1.2bn) to 150bn yen ($1.9bn) in the months following the catastrophe.

Following the Thai flooding, attention has so far been focused on reinsurance losses from the Japanese big three or regional (re)insurers, but the international cat programmes of global insurers are expected to take losses too.

French state-owned reinsurer CCR is the first of the international reinsurers to publicly withdraw from Thailand following the devastating flooding which some (re)insurers are now privately estimating could cost the industry over $20bn.

Solvency II will cost the UK insurance industry £1.9bn from 2008 to 2013 according to a consultation paper Transposition of Solvency II released this month by UK regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

The French government will review CatNat - the state catastrophe reinsurance programme - by the end of the year, according to reports in French media.

Talanx, the German insurance group that includes major global industrial insurer HDI Gerling and which holds a 50 percent equity stake in Hannover Re, is actively recruiting investment banks to handle its much delayed initial public offering (IPO) process, FT Deutschland reported last week.

Munich Re says it will limit or exclude contingent business interruption (CBI) cover from reinsurance treaties within 18 months if its clients do not provide full transparency on their supply chain or come up with plans to replace their key suppliers in the event of a disaster.

Europe's largest insurance group Allianz has lost two of its most senior executives to the banking world in little over a week.

French mutual Groupama has received disappointing initial bids for its up-for-sale subsidiary GAN Assurances, possibly delaying crucial fundraising for the under-pressure insurer.

Apollo, the Lloyd's syndicate that specialises in writing direct and facultative property business, is to appoint Catlin Group's UK head David Ibeson to lead the group.

Catlin's third party syndicate strategy at Lloyd's is a "placeholder for the future" and a buffer for the group's economic capital, founding CEO Stephen Catlin explained to investors last week.

Willis has successfully signed some London market (re)insurers up to Finmar360, its new financial institutions (FI) suppliers' club, and has finalised terms and conditions on the structure, The Insurance Insider understands.  

Veteran specialty reinsurance underwriter Tony Lovett has joined forces with Hyperion's managing general agency (MGA) Dual Corporate Risks to set up specialty excess of loss (XoL) unit Tamesis Dual.

Sciemus, the London-based specialty managing general agency, analytics and modelling firm has appointed broking veteran Dennis Mahoney as chairman with effect today (28 November).

Lloyd's reins in spending with 2012 budget The Corporation of Lloyd's will cut spending by £17mn in 2012 and freeze service charges at 2011 levels as it acknowledges the tough underwriting conditions for (re)insurers operating in the market.

Lloyd's (re)insurer Chaucer is planning to end its role as a provider of turnkey services to the market, according to well-placed sources.

Brit Insurance is improving the appeal of its under-performing UK business Brit Insurance Ltd (BIL) to potential buyers by looking at adverse development-type cover that would protect against the risk of under-reserving, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

$100mn tornado cat bond wiped outThe remaining $100mn tranche of American Family Mutual tornado cat bond Mariah Re 2010-1 is set to be a total loss, in what will be the third wipe-out of a cat bond this year. This comes after the lower-lying $100mn Mariah 2 issuance was written off by cat bond investors. But investors in the Mariah 1 notes were previously only expected to lose $11.6mn of their capital, according to loss reports from the end o

Validus has confirmed that it is withdrawing its interest in Transatlantic Re after the latter's board recommended a takeover by US specialty insurer Alleghany, as predicted by The Insurance Insider earlier today.

Lloyd's insurer Barbican has hired two senior executives to bolster its UK and specialty businesses, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

In the last 20 years much has been written on the rising tide of difference between the alignment of the interests of the executive class, the workforce and the shareholders that own the business.

The MS&AD-led property programmes of Sanyo-Matsushita and Sony are expected to suffer total losses from the Thai floods to inflict a $1.75bn gross loss on their insurers, The Insurance Insider understands.