Latest Reinsurance Headlines

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

Cooper Gay: Premiums Rise as Reinsurers Recover

Feb 26 2009 // Reinsurers have begun 2009 determined to wrest back the initiative from a period of softening rates and savagely declining investment returns. As a consequence, underwriters are increasingly being governed by the...

Equipment Breakdown Reinsurer to Pay Certificate, Inspection Costs

Feb 23 2009 // Mutual Boiler Re, a Malvern, Pennsylvania based equipment breakdown reinsurer, said it will now pay for its insureds’ boiler and pressure vessel certificate issuance fees and inspection costs in the nine U.S....

House Sponsors Sign Onto Surplus Lines Bill

Feb 22 2009 // Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Financial Services said they would introduce legislation to create national standards for how states regulate the surplus lines market and reinsurance as...

Reinsurers Seem Ready to Flex Muscles, Raise Prices by Double-Digits

Feb 22 2009 // Reinsurers’ tough talk about raising prices on the risk cover they sell to insurers may have rung hollow before, but this time the promise is credible. Reinsurance companies such as global leader Munich Re have been...

Reinsurers Seem Ready to Flex Muscles, Raise Prices by Double-Digits

Feb 17 2009 // Reinsurers’ tough talk about raising prices on the risk cover they sell to insurers may have rung hollow before, but this time the promise is credible. Reinsurance companies such as global leader Munich Re have been...

Fitch Report ‘Remains Negative’ on Bermuda Insurance Market

Feb 13 2009 // Fitch Ratings stated in a Special Report today that its Rating Outlook for the Bermuda (re)insurance market remains negative, “reflecting uncertainty tied to the continued highly volatile investment markets and a...

Swiss Re CEO Aigrain Resigns; Lippe to Succeed Him

Feb 12 2009 // Swiss RE’s CEO Jacques Aigrain resigned today, Thursday, February 13, a week after U.S. investor Warren Buffett stepped in with new capital and the reinsurer said it was disbanding its financial markets...

Surplus Lines Reform Legislation Reintroduced in Congress

Feb 11 2009 // Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Financial Services have announced plans they will introduce legislation that will create national standards for how states regulate the surplus lines...

S&P, Best Put Swiss Re’s Ratings on Negative Credit Watch

Feb 6 2009 // Reactions from the rating agencies to Swiss Re’s announcement of further losses (See IJ web site – https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2009/02/05/97610.htm) has been swift. A.M. Best announced...

ACE Q4 Net Income Drops 96% to $20 Million; $1.2 Billion Full Year

Feb 4 2009 // ACE Limited reported net income for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2008, of $20 million, a 96 percent decline from the $572 million the group posted in the same period of 2007. The company recorded net losses on...

Report Finds Cat Bond Market Resilient in Financial, Property Catastrophes

Feb 4 2009 // Catastrophe bonds withstood the impact of onerous market forces in 2008, brought on by turmoil in the global capital markets, according to a new briefing on catastrophe bond market activity. The cat bond market update,...

S&P Withdraws Emerson Re Loan Rating; Other Ratings Unaffected

Feb 3 2009 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that its “ratings on Emerson Re Ltd.’s three bank loans are unaffected by CIG Reinsurance Ltd. and New Castle Re Ltd.’s (collectively the cedents)...

Greenberg Fights New York AG to Keep Reinsurance Testimony Private

Feb 2 2009 // Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, former chief executive of American International Group Inc., has gone to court to prevent New York’s attorney general from releasing testimony Greenberg gave in a state lawsuit...

Ratings Recap II: Chaucer, MSIG, Congregational, Top Layer, Asia Capital

Jan 30 2009 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has issued a bulletin indicating that “its ‘3’ Lloyd’s Syndicate Assessment (LSA) on Chaucer – Syndicate 1084 is not affected by the announcement...

Best Affirms RenRe and Subs ‘A+’ Ratings; Glencoe Raised to ‘A’

Jan 30 2009 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A+’ (Superior) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “aa-” of Bermuda-based Renaissance Reinsurance Ltd. (RenRe) and Dublin-based...

S&P Assigns Preliminary Ratings to Atlas Re V Securitization

Jan 29 2009 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has assigned its preliminary credit ratings to the $200 million principal at-risk variable-rate notes series 1, 2, and 3 issued by Atlas Reinsurance V Ltd. “The sponsor...

Willis Re Appoints 17 Brokers to Drive Specialty Lines Growth in US, UK

Jan 29 2009 // Willis Re, the reinsurance arm of global broker Willis Group Holdings, announced the appointment of 17 professionals “to extend the global growth of the unit’s specialty lines business.” Willis said the...

Former AIG Vice President Sentenced to 4 Years for Reinsurance Scheme

Jan 28 2009 // The former vice president of reinsurance of American International Group Inc. (AIG) has been sentenced to four years in prison for his role in a fraudulent scheme to manipulate AIG’s financial statements, according...

Hiscox Comments on Renewals, Investments, Currency, Hurricanes

Jan 27 2009 // Bermuda-based Hiscox Ltd. has issued a summary of the January renewals, its expected investment returns and the effect of currency fluctuations, as well as its hurricane loss estimates. Hiscox said it has “seen good...

Max Cap CEO Letter to Investors Recaps 2008, Gives 2009 Outlook

Jan 26 2009 // W. Marston (Marty) Becker, Chairman and CEO of the Bermuda-based Max Capital Group has issued a letter addressed to the Company’s shareholders, employees and other stakeholders updating them on Max Capital’s...