-
March 2009
Following the fluctuation in US dollar exchange rate, Advent has completed its review of the 2009 plans of Syndicate 780.
-
Bank of East Asia, Hong Kong's fifth-largest lender, has signed a deal to buy the Taiwan securities arm of American International Group (AIG).
-
Legal and General (L&G), the UK's third-largest insurer, has slumped to a net loss for 2008 and has slashed its dividend payment in a bid to ease concerns about the strength of the life insurer's balance sheet.
-
Citizens Property Insurance Corp, Florida's state-run property insurer, is planning to sell $2.5bn of pre-event bonds ahead of this year's hurricane season.
-
Lloyd's of London has reported a 2008 profit before tax of £1.9bn ($2.7bn), compared with a profit before tax of £3.8bn in 2007.
-
The US property/casualty industry's profits fell sharply in 2008 compared with 2007, ratings agency Fitch announced today in its Property/Casualty Insurers' Year End Review.
-
Loss reserves for US property/casualty insurers moved to a level close to break even during the second half of 2008 from a position of comfortable redundancy, according to rating agency Moody's.
-
Glacier Group, the European insurer and reinsurer, reported a 62% fall in net profits to £26.2m for 2008, down from $69.5m in 2007.
-
UK life insurer Prudential reported an operating profit before tax of £1.3bn ($1.9bn) in 2008 from its continuing operations.
-
UK insurer Aviva may suspend lending shares to hedge funds because of its belief that it has been the victim of short selling, the Financial Times reported.
-
Commercial insurance prices declined only 3% during the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the fourth quarter of 2007, which represents the smallest decline in two years, according to Towers Perrin's most recent commercial lines insurance pricing and profitability trends survey (CLIPS).
-
Moody's has affirmed the Aa3 insurance financial strength ratings of Tokyo-based non-life insurer Sompo Japan Insurance and its subsidiary Sompo Japan Himawari Life Insurance, following the announcement that Sompo Japan and fellow Japanese non-life company Nipponkoa Insurance have decided to integrate their operations.
-
Michael McGavick took over at XL during a year from hell for the firm. Now he is looking forward to turning it back into a tightly focused property/casualty insurer and reinsurer.
-
The financial crisis has revealed some shortfalls in insurance and reinsurance firms' asset management strategies. One response to this could be an increase in outsourcing.
-
Leading CFOs and chief investment officers share their views on how they plan to respond to the financial crisis.
-
Patrick Thiele, CEO of PartnerRe, argues that despite the losses of 2008 reinsurers should still consider investment risk an important part of a consolidated portfolio – provided there is a rigorous and consistent risk management approach across the whole business.
-
-
Swiss Re's capital markets expertise was once seen as a strong point. But now too much dabbling in the capital markets has landed the reinsurer in trouble.
-
-
Arch Insurance Company (Europe), a subsidiary of Bermudian insurance and reinsurance group Arch Capital Group, announced today that it has received approval from Lloyd's to establish a new syndicate at Lloyd's.
-
-
Paris Re reported a net operating income of $61m for the fourth-quarter of 2008, and $158m for the year ended December 31 2008.
-
A survey of 19 US property/casualty reinsurers tracked surveyed by the Reinsurance Association of America has revealed the group's net premiums rose last year.
-
Swiss Re announced today that it has moved a step closer to sealing a SFr3bn ($2.6bn) investment from Berkshire Hathaway.
-
Shares in Chaucer climbed on the London Stock Exchange yesterday, amid speculation that Pamplona Capital Management, a fund run by Russian financier Alex Knaster, could step in to bid for the Lloyd's insurer, according to a report in UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph.
-
Hannover Re reported a net loss of Eu127m ($161.4m) for the full-year 2008, compared to a record profit of Eu721.7m in 2007.
-
Novae has withdrawn from talks to acquire rival Chaucer.
-
Hannover Re reported a net loss of Eu127m ($161.4m) for the full-year 2008, compared with a record profit of Eu721.7m in 2007.
-
Max Capital announced a 2% return on its alternative investments for the two months ended February 28 2009, which represents an increase in value of around $18m.
-
The pre-tax profits of Omega Insurance Holdings more than halved during 2008, but the Lloyd's insurer says it has ended the year stronger and better positioned than when it started.
-
Large global insurance brokers are making the most of the lack of capital held by private equity firms by again acquiring large regional and national brokers, a report by rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) said today.
-
Ascot Underwriting has deposited an additional $100m at Lloyd's.
-
French Bank BNP Paribas and the Belgian government have announced revised terms of the deal to acquire Belgian-Dutch insurance and banking group Fortis.
-
Brit Insurance has reported a 53% fall in 2008 pre-tax profits to £89.2m ($124.3m) from £191.2m, as the UK insurance group announced plans to redomicile its operations from the UK to the Netherlands.
-
UK insurance and reinsurance group Brit Insurance has announced plans to redomicile its operations to the Netherlands from the UK.
-
Lloyd's managing agent Chaucer reported a loss before tax of £26.2m ($36.6m) for the full-year 2008, according to the company's preliminary results.
-
Lloyd's underwriter Hiscox reported a net profit of £70.8m ($98.3m) for the full-year 2008, according to the company's preliminary results.
-
News of Aviva's full-year net loss of £885m ($1.3bn) yesterday (March 5) caused the shares of other European life insurers to plummet, amid concerns that they might not be sufficiently capitalised to weather the financial crisis.
-
Specialist insurer Novae Group reported a profit before tax of £40.2m ($57.3m) in 2008, according to its preliminary results.
-
UK-based insurer Aviva reported a net loss of £885m ($1.3bn) for 2008, according to the company's preliminary results.
-
Shares in Aviva have plummeted after the UK insurer announced a full-year net loss of £885m ($1.3bn) for 2008 and confirmed that it was maintaining its divided of 33 pence per share.
-
Hartford Financial Services Group is in talks to sell most of its life insurance unit to Canada-based Sun Life Financial, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
-
Hartford Financial Services Group is in talks to sell most of its life insurance unit to Canada-based Sun Life Financial, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, which cited sources close to the situation.
-
Scor has reported a net income of Eu315m ($394.5m) for 2008, in spite of the financial market turmoil and a busier-than-average catastrophe year.
-
China Life has withdrawn from bidding for the Asian unit of stricken US insurer American International Group over worries about its quality, news reports have claimed.
-
Jardine Lloyd Thomson (JLT) has reported strong growth in all of its businesses for 2008 with fees and commissions up 13% to £536.1m ($750.8m). But pre-tax profit fell 3% to £92.8m.
-
Munich Re has scrapped its target of Eu18 ($22.8) earnings per share set in 2007 for 2010, as a result of investment losses in 2008.
-
AIG has confirmed that continued credit market deterioration and charges related to the restructuring of the firm have caused the stricken insurer to record the biggest-ever loss in US corporate history for a quarter.
-
Amlin's pre-tax profits have slumped by 73% to £121.6m ($172.7m) as the Lloyd's insurer and reinsurer was hit by losses from hurricanes Gustav and Ike of $302.3m and an investment return of just 0.6%.
-
Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway – the holding company of his insurance and asset management business – has described 2008 as the worst year in the firm's history and expects the economy to be in 'a shambles throughout 2009' and probably well beyond.
-
Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter has agreed to acquire John B Collins Associates, a privately-held company and the seventh-largest reinsurance broker in the world.
-
Fellow Bermudian firms IPC Holdings and Max Capital Group have announced that they are set to merge in a stock deal valued at around $912m.
-
Equity analysts believe the merger of IPC Holdings and Max Capital Group is a positive move for both firms.
-
Rating agencies have responded positively to the news that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the US Treasury will continue their financial support of AIG, despite the embattled insurer reporting the single largest quarterly loss in corporate history.