October 2007/6

The four-month trial of three former Independent Insurance Group plc (IIG) executives ended with a successful conviction for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and a total of 14 years in jail sentences last week.

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.

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.

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).

German insurance giant Allianz SE is expected to launch a new issue of European peril catastrophe bonds through a newly created vehicle, Blue Fin Ltd, Insider Week understands.

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.

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).

Despite a drop in gross written premiums for the third quarter of 2007, US commercial lines insurer WR Berkley reported net income of $180mn or 93 cents per share, buoyed by a...

UK flood losses of $11.4mn during the third quarter failed to dampen Bermudian firm Montpelier Re's net income of $101.3mn, up from $83.4mn in the prior-year period.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Lloyd's broker Oxygen has announced the formation of a new specialist team in partnership with CRS Yachts Ltd, an insurance broking team servicing the superyacht industry.

Insurance specialists Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP (EAPD) and London-based Kendall Freeman are understood to be considering a merger, Insider Week understands.

An Australian court has been told of the culture of "bravado and extravagance" at failed Australian insurance company HIH.

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

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

Willis Group Holdings improved both its top and bottom lines in its third quarter results, which were published last week.

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.

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

Ark Syndicate Management, the private equity backed Lloyd's insurer formed in March from a team of senior underwriters who resigned from Aspen Insurance Holdings last year...

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...

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.

Rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has revised its outlook on Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd (FFH) and its subsidiaries to stable from negative citing the Canadian group’s improving enterprise risk management.

Bermuda-based Lloyd's insurer Hiscox Ltd will replace its $360mn sidecar Panther Re with a Lloyd's special purpose syndicate next year.

Leading US congressman Barney Frank has sent two bills to the Senate proposing the extension of the Terrorism Risk Act and the flood insurance programme in anticipation of the upper house’s stalling on the legislation.

Amlin Bermuda (ABL) has been upgraded to A (Excellent) from A- (Excellent) by ratings agency AM Best after "conservative implementation" of its business plan and a strong performance from the group's Lloyd's syndicate.

The money collected by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the administrators of the defunct UK insurer Folksam UK, outweighs the collections made on behalf of creditors by almost £2.5mn, the latest report to creditors reveals.