October 2008/2

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.

Bermudian-headquartered run-off specialist Enstar Group Ltd has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Royston Run-Off Ltd, has won the race to buy Unionamerica Holdings Ltd, the discontinued UK-based operations of Travelers for $343.4mn.

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.

The global stock market crash has caused Yamato Life insurance, Japan's nearly century old insurer, to file for bankruptcy last week with Yen 269.5bn ($2.7bn) of liabilities.

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

Embattled US insurer American International Group (AIG) has borrowed $70.3bn on loans from the US government in the three weeks since its initial $85bn bail-out, according to reports.

The latest reported Hurricane Ike loss estimates have revealed continued industry pessimism about the eventual bill to be paid from the September storms.

WR Berkley has hired an American International Group (AIG) financial institutions duo, The Insurance Insider understands.

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.

Troubled Australian insurer Insurance Australia Group (IAG) is continuing to seek potential buyers for its Singapore-focussed Lloyd's operation Alba, with AMTrust and Asia Capital Reinsurance Group (ACR) thought to have expressed an interest in the platfo