October 2007/5

Thousands of jobs are under threat at UK household insurer Norwich Union after its parent, Aviva, announced £350mn of cost savings in the UK by the end of 2009.

Munich Re has launched a $260mn cat bond to cover earthquake risk for the East Japan Railway Company (EJRC) in a sign that insurance linked securities (ILS) demand remains undiminished by recent credit markets turmoil.

The House of Lords upheld a Court of Appeal decision last week, ruling that employers are not liable to compensate employees who develop symptomless pleural plaques after exposure to asbestos.

One of the UK's leading fund managers, Standard Life Investments Ltd has acquired 29 million shares in Lloyd's insurer Chaucer Holdings plc, representing 9 percent of the voting rights in the company.

Airline premium rates fell again this month - after a brief hiatus in August/September - according to the latest data from Aon Aviation.

After decades of lobbying from the international (re)insurance community, one US state is spearheading new regulation that would remove collateral requirements for the highest rated foreign and non-New York reinsurers.

As reinsurance market practitioners gathered in the town of Baden Baden this weekend, German reinsurance giant Munich Re boldly stated that, for the 1 January 2008 renewals, it predicts markets to be "harder than expected" in certain sectors of the indust

The London market has missed its 60 percent third quarter target for usage of electronic claims files (ECF) by 15 percentage points, making the year-end target of 100 percent "more challenging", said the Market Reform Group (MRG) in a statement last week.

Bermudian energy mutual Oil Insurance Limited is co-suing the US government over the flooding of a refinery during Hurricane Katrina.

David Stevens, COO of UK niche-branded insurer Admiral Group plc, has purchased £1.9mn of shares in the company, taking the director's shareholding in Admiral to 3.84 percent.

US insurance giant The Chubb Corporation has received approval from the Chinese authorities to turn its Federal Insurance Company from a Shanghai branch to a wholly owned insurance subsidiary.

Bancassurance is gaining in popularity particularly in emerging markets, according to research by Swiss Re.