What’s new: In brief (April 06, 2005)

Despite news that several German industrial insurers facing fines by the country’s antitrust authority, Standard & Poor’s says no rating actions will be taken on companies named. S&P rates eight of the ten insurers who have been accused of acting against German antitrust laws, including Allianz, AXA and Gerling-Konzern. Most of the companies are appealing the fines, but even if these appeals fail, S&P says the amounts of the fines will not affect the companies’ capitalization, and many of companies have already set up reserves in advance.

Standard & Poor’s has named the “top five” U.S. specialty lines insurers, led by HCC, followed by RLI Insurance Co., Markel Corp., RSUI Indemnity Co. and Argonaut Group. This list does not include those large insurers who write surplus lines through affiliates, such as AIG. S&P has rated the top five based on such factors as capitalization, operating performance, investments and liquidity. S&P notes the crucial role played by these surplus lines writers for difficult to insure risks particularly as they remain free of most regulatory requirements for rate and policy form approval in the U.S.

The latest RIMS Risk Fellow (RF) workshop is set for May 16-17 in Ottawa, on the topic of “Enterprise Risk Management”. For more information or to register, go to http://www.rims.org/ermott.