Bermuda: M&A warning

Brian Duperreault, president and CEO at Marsh & McLellan said: "You are always going to run into problems during a merger so you need to make sure your interests are alligned. If you are divided when you start you will be still be divided at the end. Alligned management interest is what makes for a successful acquisition."

Lord Levene, chairman of Lloyd's also noted that it is important to consider your partner/target's attitude towards risk: "If you are looking at acquiring you need to look very carefully at risk. If the way they handle risk does not match your approach then don't go anywhere near."

Ted Kelly, president and CEO of Liberty Mutual Group added that insurers and reinsurers need to be cautious about what they do with their excess capital as the capital surplus may well be shortlived. He said: "The reason we are all making a lot of money now is due to lack of inflation - let's not kid ourselves - if we have a surge in inflation that capital will be wiped out."

This story was originally published by Reinsurance