October 2007/5

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter & Co has announced two key appointments to its facultative team as it continues to rebuild following a number of senior defections to Integro earlier this year.

Integro Ltd has hired well-known broking figure Guy Bessis from Aon as a managing principal in its London operation.

London market broker Alwen Hough Johnson Ltd (AHJ) has increased its Scandinavian presence by taking a stake in Norwegian firm Nilsen Brokers Re AS.

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.

Munich Re's $1.3bn planned purchase of US primary insurer The Midland Company (Midland) met with caution from analysts last week.

Bermuda-based insurer Hiscox plc has continued to build on its international expansion with the launch of Hiscox Global Markets in New York.

As predicted by The Insurance Insider in July, Liberty Syndicates - one of the largest Lloyd’s (re)insurers - has confirmed the appointment of Nick Metcalf as its new CEO.

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.

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.

A US securities-law case, currently being heard in the Supreme Court "could be the legal equivalent of Hurricane Katrina" for professional liability insurers, according to William Wilt, analyst at Morgan Stanley.

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

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter & Co has announced that it has changed the name of MMC Securities to GC Securities and has expanded its investment banking capabilities in Europe.