October 2007/2

Zurich Financial Services Group (ZFS) has named ex-Converium Holdings CEO Inga Beale as head of organisational transformation and mergers & acquisitions with effect from 1 January 2008.

Insurance giant American International Group (AIG) reported operating results for the third quarter below analysts' expectations, compounded by losses in its AIG Financial Products (AIGFP) division, which suffered a $352mn pre-tax charge on credit default

In the first transaction of its kind following Germany’s implementation of the EU Reinsurance Directive, Deutsche Rückversicherung AG (Deutsche Rück) has transferred all of its run-off business to its UK-based subsidiary.

Roger Townsend, executive director of Xchanging Insurance Services (XIS), has dismissed market accusations that it is taking advantage of a monopoly over the market.

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc (MMC) suffered a slump in its third quarter profits from its continuing operations, which fell to $80mn from $133mn in the prior-year period, the company reported today (8 November).

German insurance giant Allianz SE has issued EUR155mn and $65mn of European windstorm cat bonds through a newly created EUR1bn shelf vehicle, Blue Fin Ltd, as predicted by The Insurance Insider last month.

Allianz continued its strategic stake-building in the UK distribution chain this month, with confirmation that it has acquired a 10 percent minority share of Yorkshire-based broker The Oval Group, as predicted by The Insurance Insider in September.

Kiln Ltd is to return £60mn of surplus capital to investors in a share buyback part-paid for by the sale of its 20 percent interest in US insurer WR Berkley’s European operation.

Bermudian Validus Holdings Ltd almost doubled third quarter profits from $69.7mn to $136.5mn year-on-year as it reported its first set of results reflecting the July acquisition of Talbot Underwriting.

Kamp Re 2005, Zurich Financial Services' (ZFS) catastrophe bond, hit by losses from Hurricane Katrina soon after its launch, is due to be tested within the next month, after the bond's administrators finally filed a proof of claim notice on 30 October.

European giant Swiss Re has forced analysts to backtrack on their earnings forecasts after its net income came in well ahead of predictions.

Tawa plc, the UK quoted run-off consolidator, has acquired the US firm PXRE Reinsurance Co (PXRE US) from parent Argo Group International Holdings Ltd in a $114mn transaction.

Bermudian Max Capital Group Ltd reported third quarter net profits of $66.8mn, up from $26.5mn, and gross premiums written of $223mn, compared to $177.9mn in the prior-year period as a significant deal in its life and annuity business boosted the top line

Goldman Sachs is set to launch a Lloyd’s syndicate for the 2008 year, as the banking sector continues to demonstrate a growing appetite for (re)insurance risk.

Stock in US insurance giant, American International Group Inc (AIG) continued its sharp slide in early trading today, losing 4.6 percent and reaching a new 52-week low as investor unease mounted over the group’s sub-prime investment exposures.

Low catastrophe losses drove Bermudian (re)insurer Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd to a record quarter, it reported yesterday (1 November).

Bermudian insurance start-up Ironshore Inc’s American subsidiary has added to its US platform after completing the acquisition of admitted insurer Stockbridge Insurance Company from Folksamerica Reinsurance Company.

Bermudian (re)insurer Endurance Specialty Holdings has reported a rise in income against a background of falling written premiums in the third quarter.

Run-off insurer Highlands Insurance Company (UK) Ltd will apply for insolvent administration at the High Court today (1 November).

Broking giant Aon is to lose 2,700 jobs in another wide-ranging restructuring that aims to save an annual $240mn by 2010.

Validus Holdings-owned Talbot Underwriting has become the latest Lloyd’s insurer to launch an Asian venture through the Corporation’s Singapore platform.

Spain’s largest (re)insurer, MAPFRE SA has agreed to buy Massachusetts-based non-life personal lines insurer The COMMERCE Insurance Company in a $2.2bn (EUR1.5bn) cash deal.

London market reinsurers led by Allianz have had their appeal dismissed against the striking out of significant parts of their defence in the controversial EUR44.3mn dispute with the North Korean national insurer.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has warned that if rates in most classes continue at their present level beyond mid-2008, then it may downgrade the outlook for a number of industry sectors.

Bermudian-headquartered (re)insurer, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd, has reported a 19 percent increase in operating income for the third quarter of 2007, capping eight straight quarters of "record profitability", according to its president and CEO...

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter is developing five different trading indices with the first European index looking to go live as early as six months time.

“Class of 2005” insurer Lancashire Holdings Ltd said the third quarter had been its “best yet” with net income of $105.2mn up 100 percent from $52.6mn in the prior-year period.

Insurance specialists Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP (EAPD) and London-based Kendall Freeman have confirmed plans to merge the two law firms today (30 October), as predicted by The Insurance Insider last week.

Cullum Capital Ventures (CCV), part of the Towergate group, has recruited two teams from troubled property services group Erinaceous.

Munich Re has bought the Lloyd’s insurer Beaufort Underwriting Agency Ltd through the acquisition of its parent company MSP Underwriting Ltd.

Deccan Value Advisors LP, the hedge fund which specialises in buying firms that look under-priced, has continued to build its stake in the UK quoted reinsurance intermediary, Benfield Group.

The threat of "economic populism" is one of the greatest challenges facing the US insurance industry, according to Property Casualty Insurers Association of America's (PCI) president and CEO David Sampson.

HSBC Insurance has launched a Dublin-based reinsurer to accept risks from the parent company’s banking customers.

Insurance specialists Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP (EAPD) and London-based Kendall Freeman are understood to be close to reaching a merger deal, sources suggest.

Giant reinsurer Swiss Re has signed an agreement to acquire some of Resolution plc’s life books from Standard Life plc for £2.35bn as it continues to build its Admin Re business.

The southern California wildfires, which have been raging across the region since 21 October, look set to cost (re)insurers between $900mn and $1.6bn in insured losses, according to the latest estimates from catastrophe modelling firm Risk Management Solu