October 2009/3

Matthew Elderfield, the current CEO of the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), is to step down at the end of the year to take up the post of director of financial regulation at the Central Bank of Ireland.

Hardy Underwriting Bermuda Limited has launched a reinsurance joint venture based in Bahrain in equal partnership with Arab Insurance Group (Arig).

Willis Group's reinsurance arm unveiled a series of management changes and a new organisational structure last week.

Last week, it was five years ago that the then New York Attorney-General Eliot Spitzer unleashed his snarling pit bull on the US P&C industry with his notorious bid-rigging/steering charges against MMC.

UK regulator the Financial Services Authority's (FSA) clarification of its approach to vetting senior appointments for regulated companies represents a considerable expansion of its powers...

If the most effective way to tackle conflicts of interest is full and unvarnished disclosure then this appears to finally be the consensus among senior state insurance officials...

Overseas and emerging markets are forecast to continue to be important areas of growth for European (re)insurers in the coming years...

Rating agency AM Best painted a lacklustre picture of the European non-life sector in 2010...

Despite a moderate uptick in the number of securities lawsuits filed in the third quarter, the number of new suits related to the credit crisis fell sharply...

QBE Europe has confirmed that of the 200 jobs that were subject to consultation as part of a restructuring overhaul, 125 redundancies are expected...

Rating agency Moody's has withdrawn the debt ratings on Flatiron Re after its loans were repaid in full earlier this year...

The decision by a Scottish Court last week to prevent the proposed Scottish Lion solvent scheme of arrangement because of objections by some policyholders will be appealed, scheme adviser and partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Dan Schwarzmann has tol

As the first of the Q3 financials begin to trickle through this week led by Platinum Underwriters on Wednesday, the expectation is for bumper profits from property casualty (re)insurers...

While Beaufort and Beazley remain on course to launch special purpose syndicates (SPS) for 1.1, fellow Lloyd's insurers Hardy Underwriting and Ark Underwriting have shelved plans to establish new sidecar style vehicles for the 2010 year.

Despite reined in optimism over underwriting conditions next year, a quartet of new Lloyd's syndicates are set to join Nick Jones' Apollo Syndicate 1969 in time for 1/1 launch 2010 launch.

Italian insurance giant Generali's buy out of the 49.6 percent minority shareholding in its Alleanza Italian life insurance unit should produce tax savings of EUR40mn a year...

Bermudian domiciled (re)insurer Axis Capital says it expects its third-quarter operating income to be impacted by an increase of approximately $136mn in the fair value liability of an indemnity derivative contract that is exposed to longevity risk.

The total liabilities of the UK non-life run-off market increased by approximately 30 percent to an estimated £37.4bn at the end of 2008...

Hong Kong-based investment company Primus Financial Holdings headed the consortium that won the battle to acquire American International Group (AIG)'s Taiwanese life insurance unit, Nan Shan, for $2.15bn.

Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) has continued to lure senior Aon executives to bolster its Asian and aviation resources...

Guernsey reviewing corporate tax regime; Enstar completes Copenhagen acquisition; ING to transfer US reinsurance business to RGA...

Hannover Re will open a non-life branch in Shanghai, after receiving regulatory approval earlier this month.

State-backed Brazilian bank Banco do Brasil (BB) has announced it is in preliminary discussions with the Brazilian ministry of finance and the Brazilian federal government to allow it to buy a stake in IRB–Brasil Re (IRB).

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has highlighted concerns over life settlement securitisations (LSS).