October 2009/1

At £161.5mn, the amount of syndicate capacity traded in the annual Lloyd's auctions last month was up modestly on 2008's £134mn, even if it reflects less than 1 percent of the market's total capacity (2009 aggregate capacity is widely thought to be about £17bn).

Forty years ago the Apollo 11 mission put man on the moon, so it was highly appropriate that Nick Jones' start-up Lloyd's Syndicate - branded Project Apollo - should be allocated the syndicate number 1969.

Although it looks inevitable that Lloyd's will begin next year with its highest ever aggregate capacity, the dawning reality that many (re)insurance rates will be flat-to-down in 2010 has provoked Lloyd's syndicates to moderate their expansion plans.

The London reinsurance market is gearing itself up for a potential legal battle over claims relating to the US energy giant Sempra, The Insurance Insider understands.

As the full impact of the credit crisis hit last autumn, one of the few markets to celebrate was the Asian surety bond market...

Guy Carpenter's European arm has secured a number of high profile account wins, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

A return to charging contingent commissions could net MMC more than $250mn a year, according to estimates.

The run-off industry will again look to Scotland later this month to see whether the confusion created by last month's shock Scottish Lion decision becomes clearer after a case management conference, currently scheduled for the 12 October.

The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is also yielding a bountiful harvest of legacy transactions, not least with the sale of two prominent run-off entities.

Swiss Re is scaling back its exposure on the giant 2010 reinsurance programme placed by the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) by more than a third.

Jeffrey Greenberg's private equity firm Aquiline Capital Partners has made an undisclosed investment in Rod Fox-headed TigerRisk to support the US reinsurance broker’s continued growth.

Guy Carpenter has agreed to buy London-based reinsurance broker Rattner Mackenzie Ltd only weeks after the HCC-owned firm saw its key political risks/trade credit team resign.