Latest Excess Surplus Headlines

Calif. Surplus Lines Association Elects Norton Chairman

Feb 2 2007 // The members of the Surplus Line Association of California (SLA) unanimously elected Ceil Norton as their Chairman during the SLA Annual meeting held Jan. 23 in San Francisco and Jan. 25 in Beverly Hills, Calif. Norton is...

California Surplus Line Premiums Top $6 Billion

Jan 31 2007 // The Surplus Line Association of California (SLA) has released its analysis of annual filed premium, which indicates that $6.02 billion in California surplus line insurance premiums were processed in calendar year 2006. The...

Group Urges Legislators to Reintroduce Surplus Lines Reform Bill

Jan 31 2007 // National Association Professional Surplus Lines Offices is urging members of the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs to enact the surplus lines and reinsurance...

S&P Publishes Lloyd’s Syndicate Review

Jan 29 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services reported that it has preliminarily reviewed its Lloyd’s Syndicate Assessment (LSA) coverage for 2007. S&P said it will “undertake a full review of the LSAs...

Bank of America Expands U.S. Insurance Operation with Lloyd’s

Jan 29 2007 // BA International Underwriters Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Banc of America Insurance Group, in conjunction with Lloyd’s of London, has established the Pembrace Casualty Insurance Syndicate to expand Bank of...

Sea of opportunity in the ocean marine market

Jan 29 2007 // Agents should know that coverage is often overlooked because most general policies exclude vessels and boats How big is the United States ocean marine marketplace? The U.S. ocean marine market is quite large and diverse;...

Private equity market bullish on E&S brokers

Jan 29 2007 // By mid-November more than $500 billion in private equity transactions had occurred in 2006, $100 billion in Oct. 2006 alone, according to Andrew Rosen, a partner with private equity firm HM Capital Partners. Dallas-based...

Excess, Surplus & Specialty Markets

Jan 28 2007 // N18 2007 Excess, Surplus & Specialty Market Directory, Vol. 1 132 Coping with catastrophe Ten things agents and brokers can do to help clients obtain adequate cat coverage

Jan 28 2007 // People Citizens Property Insurance Corp.’s board of governors voted unanimously to recommend interim President Scott Wallace be appointed to the post permanently. Wallace was selected from more than 70 candidates by...

Private equity market bullish on E&S brokers

Jan 28 2007 // By mid-November more than $500 billion in private equity transactions had occurred in 2006, $100 billion in Oct. 2006 alone, according to Andrew Rosen, a partner with private equity firm HM Capital Partners. Dallas-based...

8 Customer satisfaction doesn’t guarantee agent, insurer loyalty

Jan 28 2007 // U.S. has second-highest level of satisfaction 9 Calif. Commissioner Poizner sworn in Vows to keep office independent, nonpartisan 10 Calif. declares claims emergency Freezing temperatures create citrus losses 12 Biggest...

A look behind the very good P/C results for 2006

Jan 28 2007 // This is the most remarkable statistic of all. The combined ratio we estimate to be about 94 for the year. That would be the best result since 1955. News Currents The numbers, or estimates, for the property casualty...

8 N.Y.’s Interboro Mutual’s back in

Jan 28 2007 // Long Island insurer reborn as stock insurer 8 Delaware agents groups to merge Group will be both Big ‘I’ and PIA 8 Mass. Diocese gives files to insurers Insurers may review handling of abuse cases 10 Royal...

10 Injured Ark. trucker wins court order for rehearing

Jan 28 2007 // Judge criticizes state Workers’ Compensation Commission 10 Accused of insurance fraud, La. police officer resigns Change in accident report at issue 10 La. Citizens gets nod to raise rates Statewide average...

AAMGA Leaders Conclude ‘Fact-Finding’ London Trip

Jan 26 2007 // Insurance may be local, but it doesn’t have to be handled exclusively in the state, or even the country, where it’s needed. For the surplus lines market that means Lloyd’s, which explains the annual visit...

Best Affirms Lloyd’s Syndicate 570 Ratings

Jan 26 2007 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the Best’s Syndicate Rating of “A” (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating of “a+” of Lloyd’s Syndicate 570, which is managed by Atrium Underwriters Limited,...

Best Affirms Lloyd’s Syndicate 609 Rating; Atrium’s ICR

Jan 26 2007 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the Best’s Syndicate Rating of “A” (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating (ICR) of “a+” of Lloyd’s Syndicate 609, which is managed by Atrium Underwriters...

Lloyd’s Chairman Praises Indian Initiative to Open Markets

Jan 19 2007 // Gordon Brown, The UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) and odds-on favorite to succeed Tony Blair as Prime Minister, has apparently come away with some success during his working visit to...

AXIS Reorganizes; Reding Named COO

Jan 18 2007 // Bermuda’s AXIS Capital has announced a strategic reorganization “to further strengthen the global operations of AXIS Insurance,” starting with the appointment of Dennis Reding, currently that...

Markel Offers New ‘Follow Form Excess’ Product

Jan 15 2007 // Markel Underwriting Managers, Inc.’s (MUM) Environmental Division has released a new excess product. The Follow Form Excess product (FFE) will be considered when writing over accounts where MUM’s Environmental...