September 2010/3

French reinsurer Scor has seeded a dedicated insurance-linked investment fund, Atropos, with $100mn of capital and hopes to start raising third party capital from October, reports The Insurance Insider's sister publication Trading Risk.

Expansive US reinsurance broker TigerRisk is "looking at various options" in London as it seeks to grow its business there, according to co-founder and industry veteran Rod Fox.

The Global Reinsurance Forum (GRF), formed in September 2009 as the trade body for the world's largest reinsurers, has claimed some early successes as it celebrated its first anniversary at last week's Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous.

One recent tradition at Monte Carlo is the convoy of investors and equity analysts that join underwriters and brokers for Rendez-Vous week.

In their pre-Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous "state of the markets" reports, Guy Carpenter and Aon Benfield agreed that most rates look set to continue falling in 2011.

The reinsurance industry's resilience in weathering the financial crisis has produced a glut of capacity, all four major ratings agencies have warned.

The relatively quiet week following the exertions of the Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous is usually an excellent time to reflect on the state of the market.

Fairfax Financial Holdings has agreed to pay $209mn for a 39.2 percent stake in Kuwait-headquartered carrier Gulf Insurance.

AM Best has warned that if the US property and casualty (P&C) industry continues reserve releases into 2011 it will pose a danger to underlying reserve adequacy.

Two very different insurance investors gave pronouncements on the general economic outlook last week - with one markedly bullish and the other bearish on the prospects of a sustained recovery.

Ambitious new proposals to boost oil rig capacity were one of the main talking points from this year's Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous

Hurricane Karl regained strength last week as it passed over Mexico for the second time and became the fifth major hurricane of the 2010 season.