October 2005/5

Former American International Group (AIG) chief executive, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, is countersuing his former company through Starr International Company (SICO) in a growing dispute over control of a 12 percent stake in AIG worth nearly $20bn.

America’s second largest personal line insurer Allstate has said it will reduce coverage of homeowners’ risks in the Gulf Coast region after being hit by a $1.55bn loss in the third quarter as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Speaking to analysts in a...

Bermudian reinsurer ACE appointed Bill O’Farrell as chief reinsurance officer for the group on 18 October. O’Farrell, who is a senior vice-president in Reinsurance Recoverables with ACE, will design and buy reinsurance and take overall responsibility..

(Re)insurer Heath Lambert announced the addition of two new directors to its reinsurance business on Friday 21 October. Both Roland Vella and Chris Underwood are joining Heath Lambert from Lloyd’s broker Thompson Heath & Bond.

Property rates have increased by as much as 20 percent in the aftermath of this year’s devastating hurricanes according to a survey conducted by Advisen. The RIMS Benchmark Survey showed that third-quarter renewal prices were dropping before Katrina...

The London Market is missing out on millions of pounds in savings because of its failure to embrace new technology that would speed up business processes. At the ACORD Forum on 20 October, London was described as resistant to change and slow to act...

Willis Corp is being sued by the owner of the Millennium Hilton in Manhattan, New York for alleged negligence in securing business interruption cover for the hotel group. Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc, the owner of the Millennium Hilton, has...

After three days of pounding Mexico’s coastline, Hurricane Wilma has made landfall on Florida’s west coast. According to the latest information, the category three hurricane, which is packing 120mph winds and moving at around 20mph, came ashore just...

Despite the depredations of the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, the US property/casualty sector appears to be in rude health – at least for the time being, if the latest industry report from ratings agency AM Best is to be believed. In its report...

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) gave a stark warning against using CAT models with insufficient data as it announced it is to launch a review of the models place in risk management systems. Speaking at the ACORD Forum in London last Thursday...

Atrium Underwriting plc has increased the loss estimates from Hurricane Katrina on its two syndicates from £42.7mn to £52.7mn. The majority of the increase occurred on Syndicate 609 which climbed from £32.8mn to £42.6mn.

If any of Renaissance Re’s management were forced out of the reinsurer because of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) investigations into the firm, it would probably lead to a downgrade warned rating agency Moody’s last week.