October 2005/4

Professional Indemnity veteran Reg Brown has retired from the board of Lloyd’s insurer Kiln plc with immediate effect. In an announcement to the London Stock Exchange today, Kiln’s chairman Nick Cosh explained: “Some months ago Reg indicated his wish..

A US federal court has overturned the $700mn damages awarded against the French firm Artermis SA for its role in the Executive Life scandal. Judge Howard Matz of the US District Court for the Central District of California ruled on 4 October that the..

In his capacity as Market Reform Group (MRG) chairman, Lloyd’s outgoing CEO Nick Prettejohn has written to the London market outlining the next practical steps to be taken toward achieving contract certainty.

Advent’s ‘future viability’ in doubt... Canadian holding company Fairfax has received another savaging at the hands of Morgan Keegan analysts John Gwynne and Matthew Cantrell. In a research note released on 10 October, the US based analysts...

A bullish stance on the insurance broking sector by analysts at Numis Securities fuelled a price hike in the shares of brokers Benfield and JLT last week. In the research note, released on 10 October, Numis analysts Nick Johnson and Nick Gradidge...

Although the industry has learnt the business lessons of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, only those companies that suffered actual loss of life in the tragedy have developed sufficient risk strategies, according to research released today (17 October).

For those in the insurance industry who shudder at the very mention of his name, some satisfaction may be gleaned from New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer’s double defeats last week. On 13 October 2005 – on the eve of the anniversary of his...

As Europe braces itself for a potential influenza pandemic, broker Aon warned today (17 October) that businesses remain unprepared for “the greatest threat facing their business today” and called on companies to “take action to protect their performance”.

A new report from insurance boker Aon has predicted that reductions in airline insurance rates will slow in the final quarter of 2005 as the sector feels the knock-on effect of the year’s hurricane season. To date this year, liability and hull...

Property catastrophe specialist IPC Holdings said last week that it is now expecting a loss within a range of $650mn to $750mn due to Katrina and Rita, currently the largest actual loss estimate figure issued by a Bermudian (re)insurer.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley have highlighted concerns that (re)insurers have under-estimated their losses from 2005’s unprecedented hurricane season. In a research note released on 13 October, Morgan Stanley analyst William Wilt observed that...

GoshawK is set to become the first corporate insurance victim from 2005’s devastating hurricane season after the UK quoted company confirmed this morning (17 October) that it is likely to go into run-off. The insurer – which after the demise of its...