September 2012/5

A Validus Securities and Exchange Commission filing has revealed that Flagstone was engaged in a serious M&A process at the time of the May and August conference calls, despite its management's insistence that it was focused on executing a standalone strategy.

Unrated Latvian insurer Balva is set to increase its share of the UK solicitors' professional indemnity (PI) market by around half in next week's renewals, The Insurance Insider has learned.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) president and CEO Brian Duperreault has had the shortest tenure among the current leaders of the big three brokers, but he has still managed to institute a major turnaround during his time at the firm.

The first Lloyd's auction of 2012 saw £40.6mn of capacity change hands at an average price of 24.7p per £1 of capacity.

Private equity-backed start-up Southport Re hopes to have written $100mn-$250mn of collateralised reinsurance limit after the 1 January renewals, CEO Glenn Weber has said.

The 2012 half-year results at Lloyd's to be released this week look set to bounce back strongly against a prior-year period marred by Asia Pacific catastrophes to produce an estimated profit before tax of approximately £1.8bn.

Scor is looking to ramp-up its Lloyd's syndicate in 2013 as it prepares to enter its third year as a direct writer in the marketplace.

Novae Re hires Axis credit underwriter; Charman's final Axis exit; Gallagher shops in UK retail; Direct pick-up for Ryan Specialty; Chinese march; Allianz aviation head; AA sale saga; Doré extends warranty

The euro crisis has turned a corner since June and a resolution of the bloc's monetary union woes is now a more realistic possibility, according to State Street Global Advisors senior managing director John Nugée.

Insurance outsourcing services provider Xchanging is working towards launching a new accounting and settlement platform, Netsett, to export London's settlement processes to the global reinsurance market.

Berkshire Hathaway has joined with Torus's existing backers First Reserve and Corsair to inject an estimated $80mn-$100mn into the global specialty insurer, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

One of the unique historic selling points of the London market has been its back office bureaux.