September 2006/2

Lloyd’s this morning announced half-year pre-tax profits of £1.35bn – marginally down on the £1.38bn booked at the same stage last year – as strong underwriting results in benign conditions were offset by a fall in investment income.

Highfields continues SCOR sidecar dispute; Spitzer drops key Greenberg charges; Fairfax restates; ACE acquires minority stake in Russian Re; AM Best removes Hannover Re from review; Greenlight Re receives Best rating; et al

Levene makes tax call for London’s competitiveness; Beazley boosts cat capability with Berkshire Hathaway tie-up; Gibson returns to Highway; LMA launches wordings repository; Fitch affirms Lloyd’s A rating; et al

With the limitations of traditional reinsurance pushing cedants to look for other options they must get comfortable with their understanding of the basis risk associated with the alternatives, according to Rolf Tolle...

Bookmakers will rarely accept bets once the race has started which explains why – halfway through the Atlantic hurricane season – there have not been any recent US windstorm catastrophe (cat) bonds.

Consolidation of arbitration takes new path

Hiscox plc revealed on 1 September that it is close to setting up a Bermudian sidecar operation to reinsure its Lloyd’s Syndicate 33.

UK professional indemnity (PI) rates are under pressure and nowhere is this more keenly felt than solicitors’ PI.

Reinsurers who fail to meet the challenge of cycle management risk being downgraded, said rating agency Fitch as it released its report on the sector at the beginning of September.

Insurance giant Zurich Financial Services (ZFS) reported half-year net profits of $1.96bn, up 9 percent on the first six months of 2005, and ahead of analysts’ consensus of $1.8bn.

It was a tale of two markets for reinsurance specialist Benfield Group with disappointing news on its new corporate risks division being more than matched by impressive earnings growth in its US division on the back of the capacity crunch for catastrophe

Two months after Jardine Lloyd Thompson’s (JLT) proposed takeover of rival Heath Lambert fell through, analysts have turned their attention to the quoted UK broker’s prospects as an independent entity.

Marsh & McLennan and Willis Corp revealed last month that US regulators have eased restrictions on them charging contingent commissions, or Placement Service Agreements, when the broker is acting as agent of the (re)insurance seller, rather than as a repr

Analysts offered a muted response to SCOR’s interim results despite a 42 percent rise in net profits at the French (re)insurer, sending the share price of the company down 6 percent.

The going rate for a privately owned broker is typically one to one-and-a-half times annual broking revenues, which suggests US broker Lockton Company and the private equity firm Stone Point Capital LLC bought Alexander Forbes’ international arm...

The hard-pressed retrocessional sector – which was decimated by 2005’s storm losses – is now dependent upon securitised capacity for 30-40 percent of its market, a figure likely to reach 50 percent by the end of next year.

Sidecar vehicles have now raised more than $4bn in capital since they roared into fashion in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina last year.

Lloyd’s insurers saw half-year profits dented by the impact of foreign exchange adjustments, with the effect on the bottom line partially influenced by the hedging strategy company's employed.

If Converium can sell-off its discontinued US arm, Converium North America, then it may spark an upgrade by Standard & Poor’s back to the longed-for A- territory.

The growing interest in acquiring non-life insurance businesses in run-off was demonstrated by two major sales last month coupled with the emergence of a new corporate investor looking to profit from parent companies keen to offload unwanted subsidiaries.