October 2007/3

Corporate asbestos liability risk Bermudian class 3 (re)insurer Iron Re is set to launch by the end of the October - as revealed in The Insurance Insider this month.

Chaucer Holdings plc has continued its track record of launching turnkey Lloyd’s operations with the £135mn private equity-backed Antares Syndicate 1274 – to take on the London market portfolio of WürttUK...

How the jury interprets the words of Independent Insurance's former CEO Michael Bright and other key witnesses will be key to the outcome of the trial, according to the summing up of Judge Rivlin.

It has emerged that Lloyd’s insurers face potential losses from the investment of US trust fund cash in Mainsail II, a structured investment vehicle (SIV) hit by the credit crunch.

Insurance Futures Exchange Services (IFEX), the reinsurance trading platform launched last month by Climate Exchange plc and Deutsche Bank, saw the first trades take place on the exchange last week.

Errors and omissions (E&O) claims arising out of the sub-prime crisis and subsequent financial markets liquidity crunch are likely to “dwarf” directors and officers (D&O) claims, according to Greg Flood, president of Ironshore’s subsidiary, Ironpro.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has called on the UK government to take action on flood risk following this summer’s events.

Fitch has lowered its outlook for the German non-life and life insurance to negative from stable reflecting the ratings agency view that there will be more downgrades than upgrades in the next 12 to 18 months in the sector.

Forecasters at Colorado State University (CSU) research team are predicting above-average hurricane activity for the last two months of the season.

After hitting Taiwan as a Category 4 storm on 6 October Typhoon Krosa weakened before hitting China forcing the evacuation of 1.4 million people the following day. Krosa made landfall in China near the Fujian/Zhejiang Province border with winds...

Lloyd’s investment vehicle Hampden Underwriting plc (HUP) has closed its subscription offer on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) after raising £7.4mn.

Hank Greenberg's Starr International Co has continued to build its relationship with Berkshire Hathaway with the acquisition of the Dallas-based Republic Insurance Co.