United Kingdom News

Ratings: Lincoln, Grain Dealers, National States, Hanover, Atradius, WRM America, Michigan Commercial

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has assigned its ‘A-‘ issue credit rating to Lincoln National Corp.’s (LNC) $300 million issuance of senior notes. S&P also affirmed its ‘AA-‘ counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on LNC’s life insurance operations (Lincoln) …

Ratings Roundup: Novae, DAS Legal

A.M. Best Co. has downgraded the financial strength rating to ‘B++’ (Good) from ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating (ICR) to “bbb+” from “a-” of Novae Insurance Company Limited (NICL) and placed the ratings under review with negative implications. …

ACE Names Furgueson President, Multinational Client Group for Int’l. P/C

The ACE Group announced the appointment of Michael Furgueson to the newly created post of President, Multinational Client Group, ACE Overseas General. He will be responsible for leading the company’s commercial property and casualty insurance capabilities targeted to large multinational …

Floods in the U.K.; Lloyd’s Exchange Gets Rolling; Willis in Deal for Gras Savoye

A series of violent storms struck the west coast of England, beginning Nov. 19. Cumbria, the county just below the Scottish border, was the most severely affected area, where heavy rain caused extensive flooding in a number of towns. Six …

W.R. Berkley Names James Senior VP of Enterprise Risk Management

Greenwich, Conn.-based insurance holding company W.R. Berkley Corp. has appointed Gillian James to the newly created office of senior vice president for enterprise risk management. Her duties will include analyzing, modeling and responding to risk, events and opportunities, the company …

Customer & Credit Risks top Agendas for European Business, Says Marsh

New research, conducted by Marsh, has found that senior executives in Europe’s leading organizations are most concerned about customer-related risks and access to credit, as they plan their recovery from the global economic downturn. Marsh said the nearly two-thirds of …

UPDATE: RMS Gives Preliminary Loss Estimates from UK Floods

Risk Management Solutions has issued a bulletin that presents several possibilities concerning the economic losses from the floods, which have caused extensive damage in northwest England [See IJ web site – https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2009/11/23/105496.htm]. The catastrophe modeling firm notes that the floods …

Climate Change Treaty and Doha Round Top International Agenda

Climate change and Doha Round agreements remain doubtful, as last minute efforts to construct a deal all parties can accept remain stymied by national priorities. Although negotiations have been continuing, it now seems as if yet more meeting will be …

New York Signs Regulatory Agreement with El Salvador

The New York Insurance Department has signed a cooperation agreement with its counterpart in El Salvador, the latest in a string of similar agreements with insurance regulators in foreign countries. The agreement calls for increased cooperation on insurance-related issues between …

Zurich Global Energy Names Hawker VP – Exploration & Production

Zurich North America announced that its Global Energy unit has appointed Iain Hawker as vice president – Exploration & Production and underwriting manager for London. He replaces Len Messenger, who will take on a new role focused on Asia Pacific …