-
March 2010
RenRe North America Holdings will issue $250m of senior notes in an underwritten public offering. The notes, maturing in 2020, will offer a coupon of 5.750% and are backed by parent, RenaissanceRe Holdings.
-
Swiss Re has nominated Jean-Pierre Roth as non-executive member of the board of directors. Previously, he was working as chairman of the governing board of the Swiss National Bank (SNB).
-
Insurers paid out £650m ($980m) in dealing with 335,000 claims from customers who suffered damage to their homes, businesses and vehicles in the coldest winter for thirty years, according to the ABI.
-
Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings, the global reinsurance and insurance company, has announced its preliminary estimate of claims relating to its exposure to the earthquake in Chile is $50m net of reinstatement premiums and retrocession.
-
The Federation of European Risk Management Associations (Ferma) has voiced concerns about the effect Solvency II and capital requirements put forward by the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors will have.
-
Don Kramer has stood down as CEO of Ariel Holdings.
-
The merger of Bermudian firms Max Capital Group and Harbor Point has been termed a merger of equals. Reactions spoke to the CEO’s of the two companies and an analyst to get the perspective from all sides on what the future holds for the combined company Alterra Capital Holdings.
-
Lloyd's insurer Omega Insurance Holdings has published the results of the proxy vote on a board revamp at a special general meeting held today.
-
Validus Holdings, the Bermuda based provider of reinsurance and insurance, today provided an initial estimate of losses from the recent Chilean earthquake and European windstorm Xynthia.
-
French reinsurer Scor expects costs related to the recent earthquakes Chile to amount to about Eu95m ($130.7m) net pre-tax.
-
On Thursday, March 11 two large aftershocks of the Mw8.8 Chile earthquake have struck the Libertador O’Higgins region of central Chile, reports the RMS Reactions Catastrophe Centre.
-
Everest Re has estimated its preliminary loss owing to the earthquake in Chile at about $225m.
-
Hannover Re said Thursday that group net income increased by Eu858.2m ($1.2bn) to Eu731.2m in 2009; the largest net income in the group's history.
-
A unit of PartnerRe has raised $500m through a 10-year note sale. PartnerRe Finance has issued the senior notes, maturing June 1, 2020.
-
Platinum Underwriters Holdings, the Bermudian reinsurance company, has announced an initial loss estimate from first quarter 2010 catastrophe events to date of about $85m.
-
RenaissanceRe has announced the impact of the Chilean earthquake and windstorm Xynthia on its financial results could be material.
-
French reinsurer Scor has been added to the EuroStoxx Select Dividend 30 index.
-
Windstorm Xynthia, which caused serious damage in Western Europe at the end of February, will present a substantial, though manageable, cost for the French insurance industry according to Moody's Investors Service.
-
Munich Re has reported a profit of Eu2.56bn ($3.5bn) in 2009 compared with Eu1.58bn in 2008. Gross premiums written rose by 9.5% to Eu41.4bn, from Eu37.8bn in 2008.
-
The catastrophe reinsurance fund of Nephila Capital has secured $340m from 11 UK institutions.
-
Swiss Re said Wednesday it expects around $500m in claims from the earthquake in Chile, and around $100m in claims from European winter storm Xynthia.
-
The Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers today filed its opposition to a house bill which would replace private sector risk bearing capital with government reinsurance and government guarantees of state debt.
-
Leigh Ann Pusey, president and CEO of the American Insurance Association, today sent a letter to the House Financial Services Committee voicing concerns over the Homeowners’ Defense Act (HR 2555).
-
European insurance and reinsurance firm Glacier Group today reported improved net income for the full year of 2009 of $60m, an increase of $34m over 2008.
-
Endurance's new CEO will be looking to continue the work done under eight years of Ken LeStrange's leadership but won't be afraid to make big changes if necessary, he tells Reactions in an exclusive interview.
-
Swiss Re is preparing a new catastrophe bond, which will be the first cat bond to use Perils AG as a benchmark for losses.
-
Fac players are bullish about their business offering in the uncertain economic climate. But with fierce competition among brokers and softening rates there the picture is not as rosy as it may seem.
-
Shortly after 02:30 UTC on Monday March 8 an earthquake of magnitude 5.9 Mw (moment magnitude) occurred in the Elazig province of eastern Turkey, reports the RMS/Reactions Catastrophe Centre.
-
Rating agency Moody’s believes reinsurers will shoulder the majority of insured losses from the Chilean earthquake because of the large amount of reinsurance protection purchased in Chile and the size of the catastrophe
-
Bermudian reinsurance company PartnerRe expects between $220m and $320m of pre-tax losses from the magnitude 8.8 earthquake that hit Chile on February 27.
-
Asia’s reinsurance markets have weathered the global economic turmoil and a greater share of premiums is set to stay in the region, says the CEO of Asia Capital Reinsurance Group.
-
The amalgamation deal between Max Capital and Harbor Point to form Alterra Capital is being deemed a ‘modest positive’ by analysts.
-
General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) is looking to curb the risk reinsured through facultative reinsurance arrangements.
-
Consolidation rumoured on Bermuda.
-
Bermudian firms Max Capital Group and Harbor Point have announced they have agreed to a merger.
-
German reinsurer Munich Re is extending its offer to shareholders of Ergo Versicherungsgruppe for their remaining shares as part of a squeeze-out, reports the Wall Street Journal.
-
Scor, France’s largest reinsurer, said Wednesday that 2009 net income increased 17.6%, while fourth quarter-profit more than doubled to Eu92m ($125m).
-
The US Senate has passed legislation that includes yet another short-term extension of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
-
General Re Life has made appointments to its North American reinsurance unit, Gen Re LifeHealth.
-
Insured losses from the earthquake that struck central Chile early Saturday February 27 will likely exceed $2bn, estimates AIR Worldwide.
-
Hannover Re has concluded a $500m long-term letter of credit facility with Deutsche Bank to expand its life and health business.
-
For the second consecutive time, US Congress has failed to extend the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) before its expiration date and has allowed it to lapse.
-
Windstorm Xynthia, which swept across western Europe at the weekend, has resulted in widespread power outages, damage and at least 50 fatalities according to RMS.
-
February 2010
A powerful magnitude 8.8 (moment magnitude) earthquake occurred offshore Maule, Chile at 06:34 UTC (3:34 am local time) on Saturday, 27 February, reports the RMS Reactions Catastrophe Centre.
-
With three weeks to go until this year’s Brazilian Reinsurance Conference, the secretary of finance for the state of Rio de Janeiro tells Reactions what is keeping him busy, how the insurance market is integral to a successful Olympics and what he is looking forward to about the conference.
-
Pierre Ozendo, chairman & CEO of Swiss Re America Corporation, tells Reactions about Swiss Re’s strategy in the industry’s most exciting market as well as what delegates can look forward to at the conference.
-
RenaissanceRe has elevated Peter Durhager to the role of executive vice-president. He will report to the reinsurer’s CEO, Neill Currie and will continue his role as chief administrative officer.
-
Nikolaus von Bomhard, CEO of Munich Re, has lambasted the argument that insurance companies can be labelled as “too big to fail” based on sized alone.
-
Bermudian reinsurance firm Everest Re Group has announced the appointment of Roger Singer to its board of directors.
-
The insurance industry will be increasingly important to China’s future economic development, according to a study by German reinsurance firm Munich Re.
-
Bermudian reinsurance firm PartnerRe today announced that its board of directors has approved a new share repurchase authorisation up to a total of 8 million common shares.
-
Caymans Island-domiciled reinsurer Greenlight Capital Re has reported net income of $57.3m for the fourth quarter of 2009.
-
In a first of its kind agreement, German reinsurer Hannover Re has become the first foreign reinsurer to benefit from lower collateral requirements in the US, with an agreement it has reached with the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.
-
US reinsurance firm Transatlantic Holdings today announced that William Poutsiaka has resigned from the board.
-
Endurance Specialty Holdings has been urged to find a merger partner by its largest shareholder, as the reinsurers’ Bermuda-based rivals look to consolidate.
-
For the fourth consecutive year, AM Best is maintaining a stable outlook for the global non-life reinsurance industry.
-
Aegis London, the UK-based subsidiary of Aegis (Associated Electric & Gas Insurance Services Limited), has announced a move into the reinsurance treaty business.
-
Bermuda’s regulator is making strides towards its goal of achieving regulatory equivalence. It also revealed that the island’s insurance market’s assets grew by 7% last year.
-
Bermuda’s regulator is making strides towards its goal of achieving regulatory equivalence. It also revealed that the island’s insurance market’s assets grew by 7% last year.
-
PartnerRe Global’s chairman, Bruno Meyenhofer, will step down. Meyenhofer, who will retire on March 31, 2010, has held the position as chairman of PartnerRe’s global, non-US operations since July 2008.
-
Validus Holdings has reported net income of $165.8m in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with net income of $37.0m for the same period last year. Net income for the year was $897.4m, compared with $53.1m for 2008.
-
Bermudian insurance and reinsurance firm Endurance Specialty Holdings today announced that, effective March 1 2010, David Cash will become its chief executive officer.
-
Canadian insurance and reinsurance group Fairfax Financial Holdings has announced net earnings of $79.4m in the fourth quarter, down from $346.8m in 2008. Net earnings for the year were $856.8m, down from $1.47bn.
-
General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) is setting up a natural catastrophe pool for insurance and reinsurance companies.
-
Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurer will no longer conduct business in Iran.
-
RenaissanceRe’s board of directors has approved an increase in RenaissanceRe's stock repurchase programme, bringing the total authorisation to $500m.
-
Swiss Re has raised its dividend for 2009, in a sign that the world’s second-largest reinsurer is now in a position to repay a expensive convertible loan from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
-
Reinsurer Validus has appointed John Fitzpatrick to its board of directors. The appointment will increase the number of board members to 12.
-
Reactions will be recognising the best companies, teams and individuals in the London market with our Reactions London Awards 2010 programme, and we need your help. Have your say now!
-
Bermuda has long been viewed as the so-called better mousetrap, the best and most efficient place for new insurance capital. That is now changing, but the island’s leaders say observers should not underestimate Bermuda’s importance.
-
Endurance Specialty Holdings today reported net income of $154.8m for the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with net income of $16.9m for the fourth quarter of 2008.
-
Benita Ferrero-Waldner has joined German reinsurer Munich Re’s supervisory board.
-
Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings has reported net income for the fourth quarter 2009 of $71.5m compared with a net loss of $75.6m for the quarter ended 2008.
-
Bermudian reinsurer Platinum Underwriters Holdings today reported net income for the fourth quarter of 2009 of $90.8m, compared with a net income of $61.5m in the same period last year.
-
Lloyd’s of London’s decision to broaden its product range as part of its strategic plan will not harm the market’s position in its core lines, Sean McGovern, Lloyd’s general council, has told Reactions.
-
Arch Capital Group has reported net income in the fourth quarter of 2009 of $284.7m, compared with a net loss $143.0m for the 2008 fourth quarter. For the full year of 2009, net income was $851.1m, compared with $265.1m for 2008.
-
PartnerRe's acquisition of Paris Re, along with involvement in initiatives such as the Global Reinsurance Forum trade group, confirms Patrick Thiele's position as one of the most influential reinsurance executives around.
-
Liberty Mutual Insurance has claimed it has been a victim of fraud and asked a federal court judge to undo a recent settlement between a US regulator and General Re.
-
Montpelier Re Holdings, a Bermudian provider of short-tail reinsurance and other specialty lines, today reported strong fourth quarter and record full year financial results.
-
A piece of US employment legislation introduced in the US senate that included an extension of the National Flood Insurance Programme has been scaled back to a version that does not include the NFIP.
-
Shares in Berkshire Hathaway, billionaire Warren Buffett's holding company, rose on February 12 as trading of its shares reached a record as it joined the Standard & Poor's 500 index.
-
Warren Buffett now holds a 5.073% stake in insurer, Munich Re.
-
Fresh off the back of the busiest ever fourth quarter for cat bonds, insurance-linked securities activity is predicted to be high in 2010. Reactions' Convergence Quarterly section includes all the cat bond data from 2009.
-
Catastrophe risk modelling firm Eqecat estimates insured losses resulting from the two February winter storms in the eastern US will exceed $2bn.
-
Bermudian insurance and reinsurance firm Allied World Assurance Company today reported net income of $161.3m for the fourth quarter of 2009 compared with net income of $19.9m for the fourth quarter of 2008.
-
Bermudian reinsurer PartnerRe today announced organisational changes, following the acquisition of Paris Re. These include Paris Re’s chief executive officer leaving the company at the end of June.
-
Reinsurance pricing softened at the January 1 2010 renewals. Reactions asks what this will mean for pricing for the rest of the year.
-
After getting sidetracked by the minor inconvenience of the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression, New York’s state insurance department is serious again about setting up an insurance exchange in New York city.
-
Everest Re Group, the Bermudian reinsurance company, has reported fourth quarter net income of $197.2m, compared with a net loss of $16.6m for the fourth quarter of 2008.
-
Fierce pricing competition is prompting investors to choose their stocks carefully this year. We reveal which stocks equity analysts are tipping to outperform.
-
Rating agency Fitch has downgraded the issuer debt rating of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway to AA- from AA+ and the insurance financial strength ratings of its insurance subsidiaries National Indemnity Company, General Re and Geico to AA- from AAA.
-
A Scottish ruling leaves insurers on hook for billions.
-
Bermudian reinsurer PartnerRe today reported net income of $354.4m for the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with net income for the fourth quarter of 2008 of $95.3m.
-
Paris-based reinsurer Scor said Wednesday that the January 1 reinsurance renewals were a success as the firm recorded a 7% rise in business volume.
-
The Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorisation Act provides important solvency protection for property/casualty insurers in the event of catastrophic acts of terrorism and a scaling back of the programme will increase property/casualty insurers’ exposure to terrorism, says rating agency Moody’s.
-
Aspen Insurance Holdings today reported net income of $126.3m in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with net income of $21.8m for the fourth quarter last year.
-
Bermudian insurer and reinsurer Axis Capital Holdings has reported net income for the fourth quarter of 2009 of $282m, compared with net income of $131m for the corresponding period in 2008.
-
Bermudian insurance and reinsurance group Max Capital Group today reported net income of $62.6m for the quarter, compared with a net loss of $94.1m for the same quarter in 2008.
-
Bermuda reinsurer RenaissanceRe Holdings has reported net income of $211.8m in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with a net loss of $55.2m in the fourth quarter of 2008.
-
Bermudian insurer and reinsurer XL Capital today reported a net loss for the fourth quarter of 2009 of $40.3m, compared with a net loss of $1.4bn in the fourth quarter of 2008.
-
Ace Resseguradora, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Ace, has received approval for a local reinsurance license from the Brazilian insurance and reinsurance regulatory agency.
-
AM Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of A- and issuer credit rating of “a-” of Scor Global Life Reinsurance Company of America (SGLRe of America).
-
Rating agency AM Best expects the US property/casualty industry’s net income after taxes to improve to $30.6bn for 2009, up almost 10-fold from the $3.8bn reported in 2008.
-
Chartis, the property/casualty insurance operation of American International Group, is on the hook for millions of dollars of losses after an explosion at an under-construction power plant in Middletown, Connecticut.
-
Lloyd’s of London is set to reveal its biggest ever strategic review. The insurer will unveil the Deloitte-led plan following a nine-month consultation with underwriters, brokers and market associations.
-
A coalition of 13 US insurance groups have voiced support for US president Barack Obama’s proposal to cut what it sees as offshore tax avoidance. The coalition has urged legislation to be passed quickly.
-
Warren Buffett’s investment holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, has raised $8bn through a six-part note sale.
-
The Lloyd’s market had a strong year and is presently experiencing a period of unprecedented profitability reports Guy Carpenter in its review of the UK based syndicate.
-
This year firms face a stark choice over how to deploy their capital, says Kenneth LeStrange, chairman, president and CEO of Bermudian insurer and reinsurer Endurance Specialty Holdings.
-
The Brazilian federal government has decided to reduce its control of IRB Brasil Re, the former reinsurance monopoly holder in Brazil, by transferring control over to Banco do Brasil.
-
Rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) today lowered its long-term counterparty credit rating on Berkshire Hathaway to AA+ from AAA.
-
FM Global has become an admitted reinsurer in Labuan, a federal territory in Malaysia.
-
Hannover Re, Germany’s second-largest reinsurer, said Wednesday it is targeting a return on equity of 15% in 2010 as it expects modest premium growth in the coming year.
-
Insurance and reinsurance group Ace Limited has reported a record fourth quarter income of $953m, compared with $20m in the same period last year.
-
Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurer, said Tuesday that it plans to raise its dividend after reporting a seven-fold increase in profits for the fourth-quarter, helped fewer natural catastrophe claims and higher investment income.
-
US life reinsurer Reinsurance Group of America said Tuesday that it will hike its dividend payout by 33% after net income for the fourth quarter increased to $112.4m from $9.4m in the prior year quarter.
-
The Risk and Insurance Management Society today expressed concerns with two Obama administration US budget proposals that it feels will be detrimental to commercial insurance consumers.
-
Global reinsurers face the daunting prospect of eroding profitability margins over the next two to three years, S&P has warned in a new report.
-
US president Barack Obama’s 2010 new budget proposal puts the issue of tax avoidance through offshore business back in the limelight as it plans to reduce the US deficit.
-
Gen Re is opening a branch office for its life/health reinsurance unit in Tokyo.
-
US president Barack Obama’s proposed budget unveiled today eliminates nearly $250m in federal subsidies to insurance companies for terrorism insurance, according to the AIA.
-
January 2010
Munich Re’s financial instruments owned by Warren Buffett as of January 19 are likely to raise his voting rights in the firm to 5.029%.
-
XL plans to redomicile to Ireland and the remaining Lloyd’s players headquartered in the UK are also considering leaving. We ask why firms are looking to move and to where.
-
The new director of underwriting performance at Lloyd’s has a big challenge to fill the shoes of his predecessor, Rolf Tolle.
-
Sony Life Insurance said Wednesday that it has set up a Bermuda-based reinsurance joint venture with Dutch insurer Aegon.
-
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway will join the S&P 500 and S&P 100 stock indexes following its acquisition of railroad company Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
-
Endurance Specialty Holdings has appointed Nicholas Campbell. Campbell will join as senior vice-president and head of specialty treaty reinsurance at Endurance Specialty Insurance.
-
German reinsurer Hannover Re has securitised more natural catastrophe risk through its K6 transaction.
-
A federal judge has ordered Lloyd’s of London to pay for the criminal defence costs for Allen Stanford, the founder and chairman of Stanford Financial Group, and two officers in his company accused for their part in a $7bn Ponzi scheme.
-
Lloyd’s of London wants to build up its market share among insurance buyers in continental Europe, says the market’s chairman Lord Peter Levene.
-
The sanction commission of Six Swiss Exchange, Switzerland’s stock exchange, has imposed a fine on Swiss Re.
-
US investor Warren Buffett has taken a taken a 3% stake in German reinsurer Munich Re, the company revealed Tuesday.
-
Bermudian reinsurer PartnerRe today announced that during the January 1 2010 treaty renewal season it expects to write and bind about $2.6bn of non-life premium
-
The Actuarial Profession’s UK Asbestos Working Party has updated its estimate of the future cost of UK asbestos-related claims to the insurance industry.
-
Bermuda-based insurer Hiscox said Monday that during the January reinsurance renewal season it experienced average reductions in reinsurance rates of between 5% and 7% from the historically high rating levels of 2009.
-
New York’s Insurance Department will prioritise making the city a place where insurance companies want to do business by launching the New York insurance exchange, said James Wrynn, the department’s superintendent, at a Reactions US Business Club held in New York last week.
-
AM Best has upgraded the financial strength rating of Paris Re to A from A- and the issuer credit ratings a+ from a-. The ratings have been assigned a positive outlook.
-
Warren Buffett has admitted that the settlement General Re reached with the SEC for its role in finite reinsurance deals with American International and Prudential Financial is appropriate.
-
Swiss Re is expecting sales of catastrophe bonds to increase by at least 43% this year, as maturing notes are replaced.
-
Bermuda-based reinsurer Validus Holdings plans to sell $250m of debt, the company said in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
-
White Mountains Re announced today that it intends to acquire Central National Insurance Company of Omaha from Drum Financial Corporation.
-
US specialty insurer Assurant has entered into a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that concludes the SEC’s finite reinsurance investigation of the firm.
-
Economic turmoil drove a surge in securities lawsuit filings in 2009, according to a new report from Advisen.
-
Validus Holdings, the Bermudian reinsurer and insurer, has issued $250m of senior bonds according to IFR, the Thompson Reuters service.
-
Max Capital Group, the Bermudian reinsurer that lost out to Validus in its tussle for IPC Holdings last year, may still be on the look out for large-scale acquisition, the firm’s CEO has suggested.
-
Great Lakes Reinsurance has appointed the former group chief executive of Global Aerospace Underwriting Managers as a non-executive director and chairman of the company.
-
General Re, the reinsurer owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, has agreed to pay more than $60m to end an investigation into its role in a fraud at American International Group, Bloomberg reports.
-
Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance has appointed Phyllis Steffen as vice-president of the direct claims unit.
-
Chartis, the general insurance unit of American International Group, has named ex-Validus executive Samir Shah senior vice-president and chief risk officer.
-
US specialty insurer RLI has entered into a two-year agreement to become a quota share reinsurer of Producers Agricultural Insurance Company, known as ProAg, based in Amarillo, Texas.
-
UK motor insurer Admiral said Monday it has signed reinsurance pacts with Munich Re and Hannover Re for Elephant Insurance, its new car insurance operation in the US.
-
Swiss Re said Monday it has closed a reinsurance deal with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway that the Zurich-based reinsurer said would improve its capital efficiency.
-
Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurer, has said that its losses from the earthquake in Haiti will be in the single-digit to a low double-digit million US dollars, net before tax.
-
Aspen Insurance Holdings has announced it will change its corporate structure to manage its insurance and reinsurance businesses under two separate brands, Aspen Insurance and Aspen Reinsurance.
-
Eqecat has updated its estimate of economic damage from this week’s earthquake in Haiti to the low-single-digit billions of dollars, compared with is initial estimate in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
-
The Association of Run-Off Companies (ACR) has warned that run-off firms will be disadvantaged by the impending Solvency II directive.
-
Read a selection of stories from the December 2009/January 2010 issue of Reactions.
-
Michael McGavick, chief executive officer of XL, wants to move his firm’s holding company to Ireland because of the stability the country offers, he has told Reactions.
-
Reactions canvassed executive search firms worldwide to produce a list of who they believe will be the top leaders of the future. Here are the names they came up with.
-
XL Capital has announced today that it proposes to change the parent holding company's place of incorporation to Ireland from the Cayman Islands, with the parent holding company to be renamed XL Group.
-
UK insurance and reinsurance firm Brit Insurance has appointed Peter Grocock as head of its Bristol office, effective today.
-
Delegates discussed the worrying implications of new regulation for the industry at the Reactions Global Insurance Conference on November 10 and 11.
-
Insurers have lost a legal battle to invalidate a Scottish legislation, which gives victims of an asbestos-related condition the right to claim damages, Financial Times reports.
-
The mixed reinsurance rating environment is a disappointment against last years’ expectations says Bermudian reinsurer Aspen Re.
-
Bermudian reinsurer RenaissanceRe Holdings today announced a consolidation of its global underwriting organisation.
-
Lack of quality, consistency and transparency in financial reporting could hurt insurance companies by creating uncertainty about their financial condition and business drivers, according to a PWC report.
-
Modernisation and Solvency II, two of the London market’s biggest challenges for 2010, will be closely linked and interdependent, predicts Dave Matcham, chief executive of the International Underwriting Association.
-
Swiss Reinsurance and Zurich Financial Services have reached an agreement to plan advisory polls of shareholders, The Wall Street Journal reports.
-
Thompson Heath & Bond, THB’s Lloyd’s broking arm, has enhanced its international treaty platform by hiring three senior brokers specialising in the Latin American, Caribbean, Middle Eastern and Asia/Pacific territories.
-
The Asia Special Situation Acquisition Corporation is seeking shareholder approval to acquire up to three insurance companies and $650 million of assets of two families of hedge funds.
-
The fourth quarter saw a big fall in cat bond spreads, according to a report issued today by reinsurance broker Aon Benfield. This trend was especially seen in the US wind and multi-peril sectors, which decreased by 36% and 26% respectively on a non-seasonal adjusted basis.
-
The gross premiums written by the Guy Carpenter European Reinsurance Composite, which the reinsurance broker uses to track the performance of the European reinsurers it follows, increased by a 6% weighted average to $102bn during the year to date ending September 30 2009.
-
Predicting the future direction of the market is not a simple exercise. In today’s climate it is a genuine challenge. Nevertheless, a number of events and recent judicial developments are helpful indicators.
-
Bermudian reinsurer Harbor Point has announced that its affiliate, New Point Re is continuing to offer collateralised retrocessional reinsurance coverage for contracts taken up from January 1 2010 onwards.
-
The catastrophe bond market recovered in 2009, with issuance returning to the pre-crisis levels, says Munich Re in a briefing.
-
Aspen Insurance Holdings has announced an accelerated share repurchase program with Goldman Sachs to buy back $200m of Aspen's ordinary shares within the next 10 months.
-
The Bermuda firms tracked by reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter experienced strong recovery in their balance sheets as net income improved to $7.28bn in the first nine months of 2009, from a $440m loss in the first nine months of 2008.
-
A division of AIG is required to pay more than $517m of reinsurance to five workers’ compensation insurers in liquidation.
-
After the announcement that US Risk Insurance Group has expanded into the specialty reinsurance brokerage marketplace, Reactions quizzed Randall Goss, chairman and chief executive officer of US Risk Insurance Group about his intentions for 2010.
-
Last year saw the most active fourth quarter ever for catastrophe bond issuance and insurance-linked securities (ILS) activity looks set to remain high in 2010 as a record volume of catastrophe bonds mature, according to risk modelling firm RMS.
-
David Paterson, the New York state governor, today vowed to revive the New York insurance exchange.
-
Members of the Guy Carpenter Global Reinsurance Composite saw their total net income more than double to almost $10bn in the first nine months of 2009, according to a Guy Carpenter briefing.
-
Insurance and reinsurance group Ace expects its operating income per share to be between $6.25 and $6.75 for 2010.
-
Swiss Re, the world’s second-largest reinsurer, has completed a $150m catastrophe bond deal to protect it against Californian earthquake risk.
-
Swiss Reinsurance has secured a $1bn long-term letter of credit facility with JP Morgan.
-
Bermudian Max Capital Group has appointed Joseph Monk as global chief actuary.
-
Reinsurance rates across most lines of property-catastrophe business declined at the January 1, 2010 renewal, according to a briefing released by Guy Carpenter.