October 2011/2

London-listed collateralised reinsurance fund manager Catco is considering fundraising options to take advantage of a looming capacity crunch in the high-severity retrocession market at the January 2012 renewals.

S&P downgraded the Mariah Re 2010-1 tornado bond by one notch to CCC with a negative outlook after covered losses rose to $790mn.

UK-listed Charles Taylor Consulting (CTC) has agreed to purchase run-off life assurance company Alico IoM from the American Life Insurance Company (Alico).

The size of the UK non-life legacy market declined by almost 10 percent during 2010 as favourable prior-year development and the active management of portfolios reduced run-off insurance liabilities

New York's new Department of Financial Services (DFS) will focus on keeping the Empire State as the pre-eminent global finance centre and on being tough in carrying out its consumer protection duties, according to the body's new superintendent Benjamin Lawsky.

Insurance companies could bring down the entire financial system in a way similar to the banking 2008 banking crisis, according to Patrick Liedtke, secretary general of the Geneva Association.

US lawmakers have avoided yet another lapse of the beleaguered National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) after the House of Representatives voted last week to extend it through to mid-November.

The UK insurance industry has given a mixed response to the Financial Services Authority (FSA)'s declaration that it is now planning for a 2014 start date for the Solvency II regime, with large (re)insurers pushing for the new system to begin a year early in 2013.

The overhaul of the UK's financial regulatory architecture received fresh criticism last week as the political wheels on reform begin to turn.

The spate of litigation relating to the Washington Metro train crash in June 2009 that killed nine people and seriously injured a number of others has continued, with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) now seeking more than $13mn from Lexington.

Property damaged by flooding from Hurricane Irene is set to cause a multitude of legal issues, according to Dan Gerber, a partner at New York law firm Goldberg Segalla.

A settlement between embattled US (re)insurer American International Group (AIG) and a group of institutional investors from Ohio has been given preliminary approval by a district court judge, potentially winding up a long running saga.