October 2011/3

Bermudian run-off acquirer Catalina has completed its purchase of Residential Loss Control Holdings (RLCH) after obtaining regulatory approval from the Colorado and Hawaii Departments of Insurance.

The UK's Supreme Court has ruled that the Scottish Parliament's legislation on pleural plaques should stand, dashing the hopes of insurers that had mounted an appeal to have the legislation overturned.

Artemis Group has agreed to pay $60mn to settle a lawsuit with AIG over the acquisition of an investment portfolio from failed Californian insurer Executive Life dating back to the 1990s.

One challenge facing the senior partners of Clyde & Co and Barlow Lyde & Gilbert (BLG) is to plug the loss of key partners from BLG before the merger completes at the end of this month.

The merger of UK insurance legal heavyweights Clyde & Co and Barlow Lyde & Gilbert (BLG) will provide the insurance industry with a "Rolls Royce" law firm to rival the practices that serve the banking sector, according to the firms' senior partners.

QBE is the fourth Lloyd's managing agent holding a "green light" under the traffic light system the Society is using to measure Solvency II readiness.

A law aimed at ending a "tax loophole" that allows US (re)insurers to transfer premium income to offshore affiliates to avoid paying tax on profits was reintroduced into the US congress last week.

The newly created US Federal Insurance office is a step towards the creation of a national insurance regulator.

(Re)insurance groups with more than $50bn in total assets could be subject to heightened supervision under plans unveiled last week by the US Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC).

Cat bond prices have recovered from a mid-August slump that occurred around the time of Hurricane Irene, although they still remain below the levels seen before the March Tohoku earthquake.

Investors in the second Mariah Re tornado cat bond issuance stand to lose some or even all of their $100mn capital, while losses creep up into the first higher-lying issuance.

French insurance giant Axa has had a repeat success in the cat bond market with its second Calypso Capital transaction, kicking off what many brokers predict will be a bumper fourth quarter (see article on following page).