October 2009/1

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.

Are recent transactions part of a wider trend, or are the PartnerRe-Paris Re and Validus-IPC Re tie-ups in the summer a couple of exceptions that prove the rule?

Deutsche Bank is developing an equity-based insurance-linked instrument that would provide (re)insurers with an alternative to cat bonds and sidecar vehicles, The Insurance Insider understands.

Four ex-General Re executives have reached settlements in the civil action over a sham finite reinsurance transaction involving the Berkshire Hathaway-owned reinsurer and American International Group (AIG).

The Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) is enhancing insurance regulation in a push to become the ILS jurisdiction of choice.

Mining conglomerate BHP Billiton - which experienced heavy losses in 2008, primarily as a result of flooding in Australia - has decided to self-insure for property and business interruption risks.

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

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.