Latest Reinsurance Headlines

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

Tower Group Pens Reinsurance, Pooling, Expense Pact with CastlePoint

Apr 5 2006 // Tower Group, Inc. in New York has entered into a strategic relationship with CastlePoint Holdings, Ltd.,a Bermuda-based holding company that it has sponsored.The move gives Tower reinsurance backing, additional...

Rating Agencies React to Fairfax 10-K Filing; Part 2 – Fitch Maintains Credit Watch on Group

Apr 4 2006 // The rating agencies have taken different actions on Fairfax Financial Holdings and its subsidiaries, including Odyssey Re Holdings in which Fairfax has an 80 percent stake, following the Group’s filing of its Form...

Downsized D & O

Apr 3 2006 // It hasn’t been healthy. In fact, the directors and officers liability insurance market for super-sized Enrons, WorldComs and the Fortune 1000 has been unhealthy for some time.Looking at the market’s...

Best Assigns Casiopea Re ‘A-‘ Ratings

Mar 31 2006 // A.M. Best Co. announced that it has assigned a financial strength rating of “A-” (Excellent) and an issuer credit rating (ICR) of “a-” to Luxembourg-based Casiopea Re S.A., the reinsurance captive...

S&P Stresses Importance of ‘Financial Flexibility’ for Reinsurers

Mar 31 2006 // An article published in Standard & Poor’s Ratings Direct stresses that “financial flexibility continues to be an extremely important rating factor.” The publication, entitled “More Frequent...

Fitch Finds Life Insurers/Reinsurers Most at Risk from Bird-Flu Pandemic

Mar 28 2006 // Fitch Ratings has issued a report, “Bird-Flu – Will It Ruffle The Industry’s Feathers?” which indicates that “life insurers and their reinsurers would be most likely to be the hardest hit by a...

Hannover Re 2005 Pretax Net Income Down 89.8% to $57.78 Million

Mar 27 2006 // Germany’s Hannover Re managed to eke out a small profit in 2005, despite over a billion dollars in hurricane losses, due to investment income. The company posted pretax profits of €48 million ($57.78 million) an...

Max Re Conducting Internal Audit of Finite Reinsurance Contracts

Mar 27 2006 // Bermuda-based Max Re Capital Ltd. announced that the “Audit and Risk Management Committee of its Board of Directors has initiated, with the assistance of outside advisors, a review of three finite risk retrocessional...

XL Names Cross Global Chief Actuary

Mar 23 2006 // Bermuda-based XL Capital Ltd. announced the appointment of Susan L. Cross as Global Chief Actuary. She is currently Chief Actuarial Officer of the Company’s reinsurance general operations, and will now “lead...

News Currents

Mar 19 2006 // Berkshire’s Buffett still high on insurance despite catastrophe riskGen Re misfortunes overcome by Geico’s stellar performance, Buffett says Warren E. Buffett, the billionaire chairman of giant Berkshire...

Cat Bonds Becoming a Common Alternative to Reinsurance, S&P Says

Mar 17 2006 // The insurance industry is turning more frequently to catastrophe bonds, according to an article titled “Catastrophe Bonds: Assessing A Risky Business,” which was published by Standard & Poor’s...

XL Re Life Enters the U.S. Life Reinsurance Market

Mar 17 2006 // XL Re Life has acquired Servus Life Insurance Company, expanding its U.S. life reinsurance market. Servus Life will be renamed XL Re Life America Inc. following state regulatory approvals.XL Re Life America Inc. will offer...

Munich Re’s 4Q Profit Quadruples Despite Gulf

Mar 15 2006 // Munich Re AG, the world’s largest reinsurer by gross premiums, said Tuesday its fourth-quarter profit quadrupled and its annual earnings rose despite the furious series of hurricanes that struck the Gulf of Mexico...

Aon Study Reveals Investors More Intolerant of Catastrophe Risk

Mar 14 2006 // Aon Re Global announced today that it has produced research on the impact of earnings volatility on shareholder value for insurers and reinsurers.Hurricane Katrina and the entire hurricane season provided an interesting...

Lloyd’s Welcomes NAIC Review of U. S. Collateral Requirements

Mar 10 2006 // Lloyd’s Chairman Lord Peter Levene may finally get his wish, as U.S. insurance regulators have instructed a National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) task force to examine options for a reform of the...

Reinsurance Ruling Reduces Cigna Net Income by $14 Million

Mar 7 2006 // Cigna Corporation in Philadelpha today reported that it has received an adverse ruling from a London arbitration panel concerning a dispute over a retrocessional reinsurance arrangement related to a portion of its runoff...

SCOR Premium Income up 25%

Mar 6 2006 // France’s SCOR Group noted a 25 percent rise in worldwide premium income follwing the January renewal season. Non- life and credit & surety treaties totaled €1.041 billion ($1.256 billion). The reinsurer said...

Windstorm panelists: Carriers hesitant to write policies in Florida

Mar 6 2006 // A panel of eight insurance experts agreed unanimously that carriers are closely scrutinizing Florida and are hesitant to renew homeowners policies. Bill Bailey, director of the Hurricane Insurance Information Center,...

Finite re can fill environmental liability gap

Mar 6 2006 // Finite reinsurance has received a lot of negative publicity within the past year amid allegations of its misuse as an accounting rather than risk transfer tool.But the product has its merits when used correctly, and it...

Former Gen Re, AIG execs plead not guilty to reinsurance fraud charges

Mar 6 2006 // As a federal probe into the insurance industry widens, four former top executives of giants General Re and American International Group are pleading not guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges.The Justice Department has...