October 2016/1

The North American mutual market is a paradoxical place - ripe for disruption and afflicted by a creeping cost base, but still reluctant to change.

In a momentous hearing at New York's Supreme Court, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg has taken the stand to give evidence in a decade-old suit accusing the 91-year-old executive of fraud.

The contrasting reactions to the damage to the Kwame Nkrumah floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in June this year and the Gryphon North Sea FPSO loss of 2011 show the extent to which overcapacity is dictating the market's moves.

The energy market is likely to continue softening into 2017 as huge overcapacity bears down on rates, according to JLT.

Tokio Marine HCC has exited the US builders' risk market in a demonstration of the extremely soft pricing conditions being experienced in the business line, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

A string of property moves between several E&S carriers added intrigue to the otherwise gloomy tone of meetings for underwriters at the Napslo annual convention in Atlanta last week.

For all the talk at Napslo meetings of underwriting pain in the depths of the soft market, the gossip at the bar was dominated by tales of company-swapping in the E&S property sector.

Underwriters worn down by almost three-and-a-half years of significant rate softening in the excess and surplus lines (E&S) property space are beginning to talk about walking away from business, as margins approach unsustainable levels.

Although precise details of curtailed M&A talks between Markel and Allied World are being closely guarded, the discussions again highlight the logic of further consolidation in a fragmented industry with a challenging operating outlook.

Shariah-compliant managing general agency Cobalt will go before the Franchise Board in mid-October with a view to securing approval for its Lloyd's start-up, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

We Londoners come better prepared for a visit to New York than most US citizens.

You can see on paper why private equity houses look at the London market broking space and see a sector crying out for a roll-up strategy.