October 2007/1

The proposed Schemes for the 14 WFUM Pools Scheme Companies was sanctioned by the UK High Court on 17 September.

Run-off insurer Alea Group Holdings has received a one-time payment of $203.6mn to "fully and finally" commute all exposures with its Bermudian neighbour Max Capital.

Benfield Group's share price continued to climb today (1 October) with news that another US hedge fund has built its stake in the independent reinsurance specialist.

The bitter dispute between the former heads of Guy Carpenter's facultative (Fac) business and the company they worked for has reached an out of court settlement at the eleventh hour allowing them to join rival broker Integro Ltd.

The recent credit crunch is unlikely to dampen insurance linked securities (ILS) investor appetite, according to Standard & Poor's (S&P), as it highlighted increased trading in the secondary market for cat bonds.

Lloyd's CEO Richard Ward has warned the industry that it faces a "severe skills shortage" and announced that the Society was launching a new graduate programme to attract talent.

The European Commission (EC) may call for an end to the practice of contingent commissions in its long-awaited final report into business insurance.

The first set of results since its initial public offering (IPO) on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) are “on track”, Tawa plc has revealed.

XL Capital has continued the market trend for returning capital to shareholders after announcing its second share buyback programme this year.

Consistent profitability and predicted favourable returns have prompted rating agency Moody's to upgrade QBE's non-marine liability Limit Syndicate 386 from A- (good) to A (very good).

Lloyd's has continued its recruitment drive to push process reform with the hiring of Anne Rannie from UK (re)insurer Hiscox Ltd.