October 2011/4

Citigroup has agreed to pay $285mn to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over an action relating to the securitisation of sub-prime housing debt. The settlement is the third largest payout

Fears of overzealous implementation of Solvency II regulations by UK regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has prompted several UK (re)insurance companies to consider re-domiciling their headquarters.

An increased focus on the handling of client assets has led the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) to order Section 166 skilled person reports after 80 percent of visits to UK insurance intermediaries, The Insurance Insider understands.

GC Securities confirmed last week that it has hired Des Potter from rival broker Aon Benfield to work in a newly created role within its merger and acquisition (M&A) advisory arm.

The ILS market will stagnate if it tries to build a broadly diversified base, according to Mark van Zanden, Catlin's head of outward reinsurance.

European insurance giant Axa's latest Calypso Capital cat bond shows how the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market is benefiting from data provided by European loss reporting agency Perils, structuring agent Swiss Re Capital Markets said as it confirmed details of the EUR180mn deal.

As it has matured and gained confidence, the cat bond market has shown it is willing to take on more risk, Aon Benfield Securities' president Paul Schultz said at the Trading Risk New York conference last week.

Swiss Re is considering setting up a platform to transform industry loss warranties into bond format, allowing multiple (re)insurers to access smaller amounts of protection from the capital markets

Much-maligned programme may not make a 2011 loss despite flooding

Although there are now 19 foreign insurance companies on the ground in China they wrote just 1 percent of the $63bn of primary insurance business in 2010, as they struggled to erode domestic players' market share.

Despite the heavy cat losses this year, reinsurers are likely to have more excess capital at year-end 2011 than they did at the end of 2010, keeping a lid on upwards rating pressures.

In the immediate aftermath of Eliot Spitzer's assault on the US broking industry, reinsurance brokers were chary of taking stakes in start-up (re)insurers.