News
Lloyd's signs four year contract for managed IT services
Lloyd’s has re-signed a managed services contract worth £10.5 million with European IT services provider, Steria. Steria will continue to provide applications management, data centre hosting and infrastructure management to the market – which has the…
S&P puts Aspen on creditwatch after Katrina blowout
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has placed its 'BBB+' long-term counterparty credit rating on Bermuda-based holding company Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd. on CreditWatch with negative implications. At the same time, Standard & Poor's placed its 'A'…
Partner Re blows its initial Katrina estimate
Bermudian Reinsurer partner Re has updated its Katrina loss estimate, conceding that it is now likely to exceed its original estimate of a hit to shareholders’ funds of no more than 10%.Partner Re now currently estimates that total net impact of the Gulf…
AXIS prepares to join capital rush for up to $1.5bn
AXIS Capital Holdings Limited has announced that it has filed an unallocated universal shelf registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Once the shelf registration statement has become effective, AXIS Capital and certain…
Wellington appoints new energy underwriter
Wellington Underwriting Agencies, managing agent of syndicate 2020 at Lloyd's and a wholly owned subsidiary of Wellington Underwriting plc, has appointed Huw Jones to divisional underwriter responsible for the energy liability account.
Markel International España opens for business
Markel International, the international property and casualty insurer, has announced the opening of its Spanish branch, Markel International España. The office was opened to an audience of 120 Spanish professional liability brokers last week in Madrid.
Omega promises 10% capacity increase
Omega Underwriting today announced an increase (pre-emption) of its 2006 underwriting capacity, adding £25m to its planned stamp. The insurer, which last week estimated losses in the region of $24m ($13.6m) from Hurricane Katrina said following the two…
Aon Re study says US hurricane insurance doesn’t pay
An Aon Re study released today purports to show that average expected results for homeowners insurance in hurricane-prone US states are insufficient to cover the cost of capital. The broker said that even before Hurricane Katrina made landfall,…
Endurance raises $200m and wants $400m more
Bermudian (re)insurer Endurance Specialty Holdings has announced that it has agreed to sell ordinary shares to raise approximately $200m in total proceeds, and that it intends to offer preferred securities and senior notes to the value of $400m.
AMG in management buyout
Hermes Private Equity has backed a £62m management buyout of Ashworth Mairs Group, as predicted by Post Magazine last week (PM, 29 September 2005, p1).
Aspen blows its retro and more than doubles Katrina net loss estimates
Bermudian (re)insurer Aspen Insurance Holdings has announced that it has updated its net post-tax and reinstatements loss estimate from Hurricane Katrina and the New Orleans flood to $325m-$400m. The loss equates to estimated gross losses to the company…
NU in healthcare buy
Norwich Union Healthcare has completed the acquisition of Private Health Care, one of the largest independent providers of occupational health solutions in the UK.
Heavy industry companies unprepared for Noise at Work Regulations
Research commissioned by Zurich Risk Services shows that 28% of construction and manufacturing companies are unprepared for the new Noise at Work Regulations, due to come into force on the 6th April 2006.
Motor premiums falling, survey claims
New research from the financial services monitoring firm Consumer Intelligence shows that motor insurance premiums have fallen over the last 12 months.
Willis survey: D&O continues to benefit policyholder
Responses to the Willis index for the third quarter of 2005 by Directors’ and Officers’ Liability insurers from non-US companies continue to show that there are meaningful gains for purchasers of D&O Liability Insurance in both premium rates and coverage…
Global Aerospace appoints new legal head
Aviation insurance giant Global Aerospace has appointed Stephen Walsh to take up the position of Group General Counsel in succession to Ken Walder.
ACE joins rush to recapitalise with $1.25-$1.44bn share issue
ACE Limited has announced that it intends to commence make a public offering of $1.25 billion of its ordinary shares, plus up to an additional $187.5m of ordinary shares which are subject to a 30-day option granted to the underwriters of the deal.
Allianz Cornhill celebrates first batch of engineering management graduates
Allianz Cornhill Engineering's first eight delegates have just graduated from the new Engineer Development Programme; a new one year course which has been created to aid succession planning and management development within Allianz Cornhill Engineering.
Heath Lambert Construction wins McNicholas contract
Heath Lambert Construction has been appointed broker to UK civil engineering contractor McNicholas Construction.
Fusion highlights employers' duty of care
Fusion Insurance is offering on-line health and safety training to all policyholders and their employees.The decision to introduce the service followed a 9% increase in the number of UK work related injury claims faced by employers last year, a Fusion…
Aon: broaden cover or lose premium
Half of all European multinationals want greater cover from their property insurers, particularly in relation to business interruption, and would be prepared to trade premium rate reductions in return according to a survey by Aon.
AM Best downgrades "volatile monoline" PXRE
AM Best has downgraded the financial strength rating to A- (Excellent) from A (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings to "a-" from "a" for the reinsurance subsidiaries of the PXRE Group Ltd.
GE confirms (re)-insurance sell-off plan
General Electric (GE) is reportedly planning to sell off all of its remaining (re)insurance operatio...
BHRC brings out new hazard and risk review
The Benfield Hazard Research Centre has published its latest hazard and risk science review at the a...