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.

The long-running saga over Credit Lyonnais' illegal takeover of the distressed Californian life insurer Executive Life took a further turn last week, after the French bank agreed to settle with an American International Group (AIG) subsidiary.

French insurer Axa has become the first sponsor to bring a cat bond issuance in the fourth quarter with a new Calypso Capital offering covering European wind risk.

Amid the swirling market turmoil on the continent, the UK Bank of England (BoE) has announced it will pump an extra £75bn into the economy by extending its quantitative easing (QE) programme, adding to the litany of challenges facing the UK insurance sector.

The cost of insuring against French (re)insurers defaulting has made the largest leap among European peers amid the uncertainty on the continent over sovereign debt holdings, according to pricing data compiled by Fitch.

Amlin's travails with the integration of ACI and its punishing international catastrophe losses do not justify the extent of the fall in the Lloyd's (re)insurer's share price over the last two months, analysts have said.

In the face of market criticism, Lloyd's performance management director Tom Bolt appeared to have struck a compromise over controversial proposals on offshore energy liability underwriting last week.

Estimated insured losses from two of this year's largest energy claims have increased significantly due to business interruption (BI) claims, it emerged last week.

Specialty insurer WR Berkley reported pre-tax catastrophe losses of $50mn-$60mn for the third quarter, including reinsurance recoveries and reinstatement premiums.

Bermudian (re)insurer Endurance has announced that it is expecting $99mn of cat losses in the third quarter - demonstrating that Hurricane Irene was not the only major nat cat loss in the third quarter.

Chartis is the lead market on the Asiana hull cover that is facing a $137mn claim following a crash involving a 747 cargo plane in July, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Munich Re, Berkshire Hathaway, PartnerRe, Swiss Re and Top Layer Re (RenRe) are likely to take upwards of one-third of the circa $1.75bn deterioration in the Zenkyoren loss estimate, according to filings from the cooperative.

Pre-tax profits at Arthur J Gallagher (UK) Limited fell by a quarter in 2010 as one-off costs associated with the acquisition of financial lines specialist FirstCity weighed on results.