October 2008/1

Buffy and his correspondent join us from the Digest of Lloyd’s News, Oliver Carruthers’ splendid journal on Lloyd’s affairs...

QBE parts company with US chief; Allianz invests $2.5bn in troubled Hartford; PARIS RE buys out founding shareholder; Lehman Re in liquidation; NAIC collateral proposals welcomed; New bill refuels US tax debate

Beazley confirms MUM $37.5mn acquisition… and reshuffles following Rowell departure; Kiln appoints new CEO; Swiss Re backs new London equine agency; Amlin buys French coverholder; Ironshore hires Liberty execs; Solicitors’ PI

Alice Schroeder’s biography of Warren Buffett ‘The Snowball – Warren Buffett and the business of life’ went on sale at the beginning of the month as its subject continues to dominate the headlines.

Specialist environmental inter-dealer broker Evolution Markets has closed its first cat futures trade since launching its new catastrophe derivatives desk in August.

Despite initial estimates of $8.1bn, (re)insurers and investors are continuing to bet that the final loss for Hurricane Ike will eventually climb to over $10bn.

Beleaguered life securitisation Ballantyne Re has been dealt a further blow as ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgraded three tranches of the bond to junk status, citing mark-to-market losses in the collateral account.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgraded four cat bonds guaranteed by failed investment bank Lehman Brothers in September, signalling further contagion of the financial sector crisis in the insurance linked securities (ILS) market.

UK run-off acquisition firm Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings plc (R&Q) is upbeat about prospects despite the growing competition in London Market run-off acquisition.

Industry Loss Warranty (ILW) prices spiked during the early part of the US hurricane season on the back of large orders in the market from beleaguered (re)insurer XL Capital Ltd.

Swiss Re has partnered with on-line weather derivatives platform CelsiusPro Ltd to underwrite European weather derivatives.

Last month The Insurance Insider predicted PwC partner Dan Schwarzmann’s time was likely to become more scarce following his elevation to head the firm’s Business Recovery Service Practice, just as the Western economies teeter...