October 2007/6

John Charman will stay on as CEO and president of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd for at least a further year after the Bermudian (re)insurer extended his contract to 31 December 2009.

Early-reporting (re)insurers and brokers posted a healthy set of third quarter results last week, reflecting a quiet US catastrophe year to date and boosted by increased retention rates and reserve releases, according to William Wilt, analyst at Morgan St

It may have been another benign year for US hurricanes, but IPCRe's international book means it has inevitably taken a number of hefty non-US catastrophe losses, not least from the UK summer floods.

Bank of Ireland Life has securitised EUR400mn of value-in-force (VIF) life insurance policies in the first rated European VIF transaction for almost three years, according to ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P).

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

Beaufort Underwriting Agency Ltd has become the latest Lloyd's insurer to be acquired this year as interest in Lime Street continues unabated.

German giant Hannover Re has established a new life reinsurance subsidiary in Bermuda, the firm announced last week.

Advent, the quoted EC3 reinsurer, has said it is exposed to a potential small loss from Lloyd's decision to invest in Mainsail II, the stricken structured investment vehicle (SIV).

Bermudian reinsurers Everest Re and PartnerRe both reported third quarter results last week comfortably ahead of analysts' estimates after benefiting from this year's low catastrophe losses.

Brian O'Hara, president and CEO of Bermudian (re)insurer XL Capital announced last week that he will retire from the post in mid-2008, drawing the current chairman...

Stock in US (re)insurance giant, American International Group Inc (AIG) plummeted by nearly 10 percent in a day on Thursday (25 October), as worries about its exposure to the sub-prime mortgage market mounted.

Bermudian (re)insurer XL Capital dismissed rumours of significant sub-prime related losses in its financial and professional lines portfolio last week, stating that indeed the crisis provided "an attractive opportunity" for the class.