September 2004/4

AXA Re Property and Casualty Company (AXA Re P&C) became the first ratings casualty of the trio of storms hitting the South Eastern corner of the United States as AM Best revealed today (20 September) its decision to downgrade the reinsurer’s financial st

Following on from last month’s 25 percent share price fall on news of deterioration from its run-off US legacy exposures, Lloyd’s insurer SVB released mixed results in its latest interims.

US property/casualty insurers prospered in the first half of 2004, posting underwriting profit of almost $9bn, substantially up on the same period of 2003, according to a report published today (20 September) by ratings agency AM Best.

A trend gathering pace? Benfield Group has become the latest broker to recruit from a reinsurer with the appointment of former Swiss Re chief Patrick Murphy-O’Connor to its management team.

Rating agency Fitch has assigned Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) ratings to six Japanese life insurance companies.

Evidence of continuing hard market conditions came with last week's interims from Lloyd's specialist insurer Hiscox which revealed record operating profits of £61.7mn, an increase of 134 percent.

Chaucer Underwriting became the latest Lloyd’s insurer to celebrate the recent, strong underwriting conditions by posting a 32 percent increase in pre-tax profits to £18.8mn for the first half of the year.

“Continuing positive market conditions” have helped Catlin Group almost double its net income from $50.7mn to $95.8mn in its first ever interims as a public company.

The independent Lloyd’s broker Cooper Gay has recruited Nick Newman and Judy Benson to run its new US domestic treaty business.

Wellington chief buys £500,000 shares Wellington Underwriting’s new chief executive Preben Prebensen acquired almost £500,000 worth of his company’s shares earlier this month.

Despite recent suggestions from the likes of Swiss Re that capital markets will increasingly bear the burden of large-scale risk, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) believes the securitisation market is serving as a complementary form of risk transfer, and not a sub

Ratings agency AM Best has affirmed its syndicate rating of "A" (Excellent) and issuer credit rating (ICR) of “a+” on Hardy Syndicate 382, both ratings issued with a stable outlook.