Latest Excess Surplus Headlines

All the headlines from our Excess Surplus Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Savage Appointed to Finance Director Post at Lloyd’s

Jul 22 2004 // Lloyd’s of London announced it has appointed Luke Savage as its new finance director.Savage has worked in investment banking for the last 17 years, including ten years at Morgan Stanley and three years at Lloyds Bank...

Axis Introduces New Commercial Property Capabilities

Jul 21 2004 // Axis U.S. Insurance has announced that its excess and surplus (E&S) property unit is now offering property insurance coverage for U.S.-based lumber, wood products and furniture risks.Jeffrey Berkshire has joined Axis...

N.Y. Surplus Lines Industry Worried Gov. Pataki Will Not Sign Minimum Premium Bill

Jul 20 2004 // The New York surplus lines industry is trying to convince the Pataki administration to allow a change in the premium financing of surplus lines accounts, a change that lawmakers have approved overwhelmingly, but the...

New Specialty Trades Program Looks to Exploit Market Opportunity

Jul 19 2004 // Litigation around the country concerning contractors’ liability for construction defects discovered after operations are completed has made coverage very difficult to come by for specialty trade contractors, but it...

Construction Defects Burning a Hole through the Residential Contractors Market

Jul 19 2004 // Whether real or imagined, the threat of construction defects litigation has burned through the residential contractors liability insurance market like a California wildfire. Over the past couple of years, contractors and...

White to Head New Swett & Crawford Specialty Division

Jul 19 2004 // Professional liability insurance is certainly no stranger to Jason White, managing director of Swett & Crawford Professional Services Group. The 37-year-old White, who has spearheaded the efforts of the new division,...

Prime Enters Maine Surplus Lines Market

Jul 16 2004 // The Prime Insurance Syndicate Inc. said that it has received approval to write surplus lines insurance business in the state of Maine effective July 2, 2004.Prime, which offers solutions for hard-to-place risks, will offer...

Berkshire to Back Plan for Lloyd’s Consolidation

Jul 15 2004 // Nothing succeeds like success, and Lloyd’s recent successes have apparently attracted the attention of the world’s premier investor, Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett.Berkshire is sitting on a mountain...

The Midland Company Unveils Q2 Numbers

Jul 15 2004 // The Midland Company, an Ohio-based provider of specialty insurance products and services, reported record results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2004.Net income per share was 58 cents, which included 2 cents in...

Gregg Higgins joins E.L.M. Insurance Brokers Inc.

Jul 13 2004 // Frederick J. Fisher, president and CEO of Los Angeles-based E.L.M. Insurance Brokers Inc., specialists in professional liability coverages, announced that Gregg Higgins has recently joined E.L.M. as director of field...

Budget Dominates Ill. Special Sessions

Jul 12 2004 // Although the 2004 Illinois legislative session continues into overtime with several insurance issues left on the table, it is unlikely that legislators will focus on anything but restoring a viable budget, according to a...

Insurers Back N.Y. Surplus Lines Financing Change

Jul 8 2004 // A trade group for property casualty insurers is urging New York Governor George Pataki to sign a bill that would eliminate current limitations on premium financing for surplus lines transactions.“We strongly support...

S&P Affirms Ratings for Best Meridian Insurance Co. Along with Subsidiary

Jul 7 2004 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services affirmed its ‘BBB-‘ counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Best Meridian Insurance Co. (BMI) and its subsidiary, Best Meridian International...

Another Soft Market Creates a Hard Reality

Jul 5 2004 // Like a commercial airline scrambling to squeeze out a profit in the face of increased competition and skyrocketing fuel prices, many insurance agents find themselves caught in the downward spiral of another soft market...

Newest E&S Broker Keating at Home in New England

Jul 5 2004 // I always wanted to return here,” Jim Keating says.“Here” is the Northeast, more specifically Atlantic Avenue in Boston, overlooking Boston harbor, where Keating has set up shop as The Keating Group to...

BOGUS TRUCKING POLICIES’:

Jul 5 2004 // Lloyd’s America revealed it is investigating allegedly bogus umbrella trucking liability policies reportedly placed through the Oakland, Calif.-based broker Ambassador Insurance Services and/or GIO International of...

LLOYD’S INVESTIGATES BOGUS UMBRELLA TRUCKING POLICIES:

Jul 5 2004 // Lloyd’s America has revealed exclusively to Insurance Journal that an investigation is currently underway for allegedly bogus umbrella trucking liability policies reportedly placed through the Oakland, Calif.-based...

LLOYD’S UNDERWRITERS SUE USAIG, MEMBERS:

Jul 5 2004 // A number of Lloyd’s of London underwriters filed a lawsuit June 15 against an aircraft insurance group and several of its members, alleging the group refused to assist in the defense of companies involved in a deadly...

W. R. Berkley Forms New Specialty Company, Acquires Gulf Renewal Rights; Zeitman to Head Unit

Jul 1 2004 // W. R. Berkley Corporation has announced the formation of Berkley Specialty Underwriting Managers LLC, to offer specialty insurance products on behalf of the company’s insurance subsidiaries.Berkley also announced...

National Specialty Underwriters Opens Chicago Office

Jun 30 2004 // Bellevue, Wash.-based wholesaler and program administrator National Specialty Underwriters Inc. has opened a new branch in Chicago. NSU specializes in insurance for the hospitality and health-care industries, as well as...