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October 2008/2

  • A US congressional committee criticised former AIG executives last week during a hearing to examine the regulatory mistakes and financial excesses that led to the $85bn September bailout of the insurance giant.
  • Speakers at the Isle of Man Captive Conference last week (10 October) expressed cautious optimism about the future of captives in the face of the current financial turmoil.
  • Shares in Swiss Re and XL Capital rebounded today after a week when the legacy of expansion out of traditional (re)insurance into areas worst impacted by the credit crisis decimated shareholdings in the companies.
  • A financial report from Atlas partners LLP has alluded to factors that point to the end of the soft market.
  • The latest reported Hurricane Ike loss estimates have revealed continued industry pessimism about the eventual bill to be paid from the September storms.
  • As the (re)insurance industry gears up to report Q3 financials, earnings are expected to be dominated by deteriorating investment performance and continued catastrophe losses, this time from US hurricanes.
  • Global stock indices rebounded from their spiralling falls last week on news of a central bank co-ordinated rescue plan to provide emergency funding to countries hit by the credit crunch.
  • London and international broker HSBC Insurance Brokers Ltd. has opened a branch office and received regulatory approval from the QFC Authority to provide insurance broking services to corporate customers within Qatar.
  • A survey of senior level members of insurance brokerage firms carried out by market data provider Advisen suggests that most brokers are "very confident" or "somewhat confident" in AIG after the $85mn federal bail-out, and only a small percent are advisin
  • Janet Edey and Mathew Carr, two underwriters with 35 years experience in D&O between them, have been appointed as joint leaders of Novae's Syndicate 2007 management liability unit.
  • Expansive Lloyd's insurer Hardy Underwriting Bermuda Ltd has hired a five-strong team from HSBC that will bring renewal rights to a portfolio of high net worth property business.
  • The notional value of the global weather derivatives market has tripled in three years to $32bn for 2007-8 and is expected to see 30 percent annual growth "for the next several years", according to a report from the World Economic Forum (WEF).