Reinsurance
Ace survives bad 2005 with healthy profit
Ace has posted a profit of $1bn in net income for the year 2005, despite the fact that it was hit by substantial losses from the intense hurricane season.
Brit to exceed market expectations for 2005
Brit Insurance today said that driven by good performance both in its non-catastrophe exposed underwriting portfolios and in its investment portfolio, it expects that its pre-tax profit for 2005 will be in the region of £60 million. This, Brit added, was…
A curate's egg of a year
Rethink
Benfield issues update predicting future reinsurance capacity
Benfield Group has issued an update on current market conditions and provisional comments on the tra...
The Willis View - A Tale of Two Markets
Renewal Round-up
Lloyd's Lord Levene calls for end to trade barriers post-Katrina
Barriers to trade must be removed to permit foreign reinsurers to lend more support in the event of ...
Recruitment moves
Re-sume
Why cycle - Management is not just for soft markets
Cycle management
Why the class of 2005 will find it hard to write a balanced book
Aspen Re has been in the thick of the action after Katrina. Mark Geoghegan tracked down Nick Bonnar, Aspen's head of specialty lines, for a frank exchange of views on the way the renewal season has panned out
Catlin Group revises hurricane losses
Catlin Group has completed its initial estimate of losses arising from Hurricane Wilma, and has revi...
Lloyd's raises upper disaster limit
Lloyd's of London has raised the upper limit on a string of Realistic Disaster Scenarios (RDS) for t...
Ready for an atomised market?
Inside View
Senate passes TRIA extension bill
In a unanimous consent vote, the US Senate has passed the Shelby/Dodd TRIA extension compromise bill...
The market divide sees 'Old Europe' come into its own
Mark Geoghegan sees the wily old guard of reinsurance running strategic rings around the opposition in 2006
Ratings and capital round-up
The end of 2005 and the start of 2006 were busy times for the reinsurance market, as it coped with a...
Don't always expect fair play
Re-sume
Civil unrest
Civil commotion
That didn't hurt!
Dear friend, The toughest and most exciting renewal season for five years has come and gon...
Validus Re hits the ground running
New Bermudian reinsurer Validus Re has announced that it has bound business representing gross written premiums of $220m after just over a month of operations.
Hurricanes and 12.3% premium drop plunge Everest $218m in red in 2005
A 12.3% drop in net premiums combined with massive fourth-quarter hurricane losses have forced Bermudian (re)insurer Everest Re to report a combined ratio of 120% and a 3.1% fall in shareholders’ funds for 2005.
AM Best downgrades and withdraws Alea ratings
AM Best has downgraded the financial strength rating to B (Fair) from B++ (Very Good) and the issuer credit rating to “bb” from “bbb” of the insurance and reinsurance operating subsidiaries of Alea Group Holdings (Bermuda).
2005 hurricanes firm US property market, claims RIMS survey
US property insurance rates increased sharply in the fourth quarter of 2005, according to the RIMS Benchmark Survey.