September 2003/1

Munich Re executives met with London based analysts and fund managers earlier this month as the reinsurer sought to reassure the City in the light of its shock downgrade by rating agency Standard & Poor's. In August, Munich Re suffered the humiliatio

Hurricane Isabel, which hit the US eastern seaboard with heavy wind and rain on 18 September, is estimated to have caused $1billion of insured property damage - significantly less than early forecasts.

A new $550mn capitalised (re)insurer is set to be launched later this year with backing from US private equity houses and management shipped in from Swiss Re, The Insider can reveal. Bermudian based Quanta Capital Holdings Ltd will provide fresh (re)i

Against the backdrop of US tort reform, some US insurers are lobbying to increase Equitas' burden of asbestos claims, warned Equitas’ new chief executive Scott Moser this month. Speaking at Equitas' annual meeting on 12 September, Moser applauded the

AIG backed ruling finds INA liable for Brandywine exposures, ACE to appeal The spectre of asbestos legacy issues hangs over Bermudian-based giant ACE Ltd, with the (re)insurer’s defeat in a landmark case involving Brandywine and ACE INA, inherited with

Under-reserved, GoshawK’s Syndicate 102’s future is on a knife-edge... Embattled Lloyd's insurer GoshawK saw its share price tumble for the second time in three months as the company admitted it was under-reserved by an undisclosed amount. Following

Belgo-Dutch insurer Fortis is set to spin-off its US insurance business in a 2004 New York Stock Exchange IPO that could value the business at around Eur4.2bn.

The $10mn fine handed to AIG this month (11 September) was a further sign that US regulators are scrutinising the industry's penchant for complicated financial instruments. The world's most valuable insurance company agreed to settle an investigation b

Crédit Lyonnais has announced that it has reached agreement with the United States Attorney's Office to settle a long running investigation into the French bank's 1991 acquisition of Los Angeles-based Executive Life Insurance Company. In a statement po

Lloyd's insurer Advent Capital (Holdings) plc revealed a welcome return to profit after the devastations of the 2001 underwriting year. The former BF Caudle agency is forecasting a strong profit of 25 percent on the 2002 year of its Syndicate 780, but

Lowered LSAs reflect poor performance and pipeline losses In the second yearly review of its Lloyds Syndicates Assessments (LSAs), rating agency Standard & Poor's has lowered its assessments on 10 syndicates and raised two, reflecting on the “poor oper

Lloyd's insurer Brit is considering legal action against rival Abacus Syndicates Management over the recruitment of former PRI Ltd staff, the liability insurer acquired by Brit earlier this year for around £173mn. As first revealed in issue 81 of The I