The year in headlines

January

3 January – Ironshore opens shop in Bermuda after raising $1bn.

10 January – Scottish Re urges its shareholders to back a deal with MassMutual Capital and Cerberus.

12 January – Marsh sets up the first broker-led sidecar in Bermuda.

15 January – Julian James, Lloyd’s director of worldwide markets, announces he is leaving to become executive chairman of Lockton International.

16 January – Validus announces it will launch an initial public offering (IPO).

17 January – JLT Re says the industry is overcapitalised.

22 January –Winter Storm Kyrill is the worst storm to have hit Europe in eight years, says AIR Worldwide.

23 January – Florida Governor Charlie Crist is “mortgaging [taxpayers’] economic future” with new insurance reform laws, accuses the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI).

29 January – Bank of America establishes a new Lloyd’s syndicate with £33m of capacity.

30 January – Fitch downgrades the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund following new legislation which expands its capacity and exposure.

February

13 February – NYMEX begins trading catastrophe risk index futures.

13 February – An IPO by Chinese life insurer Ping An is the world’s largest ever by an insurer.

14 February – Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Carvill launch hurricane index futures.

16 February – Lloyd’s chairman backs calls for a single US insurance regulator.

19 February – AM Best predicts Bermuda reinsurers will become competitive in the Lloyd’s market and Europe after being pushed out of the Florida market.

21 February – Scor buys 32.9% of Converium’s share capital.

26 February – Scor makes a formal bid for the remaining 67.1% of Converium’s shares.

26 February – XL announces a $1bn buyback of shares.

26 February – Hannover Re securitises $1bn of reinsurance recoverables in the first transaction of its kind for the company.

28 February – Munich Re posts a $3.5bn profit for 2006.

28 February – Sidecars will decline predicts Moody’s.

March

2 March – Ace announces Evan Greenberg will replace Brian Dupperault as chairman in May 2007.

2 March – Willis reviews supplemental compensation arrangements and agrees transparency is the way forward.

7 March – III president Robert Hartwig says Florida has created its own Frankenstein with new legislation.

12 March – Aon Re pays Benfield £9.5m after poaching most of Benfield’s facultative reinsurance team in 2006.

12 March – Stephen Byers tells delegates at a GR conference that the industry is in the “front line” against climate change.

13 March – Swiss Re announces it will form three legal entities in Luxembourg ahead of the Reinsurance Directive.

14 March – Lloyd’s receives a formal license from the Chinese regulator for Lloyd’s Reinsurance Company China.

15 March – Hannover Re reveals it has generated its best result in the company’s history in 2006.

19 March – Aquiline, Whittington, Swiss Re and Lehman Brothers back new Lloyd’s syndicate Ark.

22 March – Willis chairman and CEO Joe Plumeri highlights the importance of embracing principles-based regulation.

29 March – Lloyd’s reveals a profit of £3.7bn for 2006 and the lowest combined ratio of any major international market.

April

3 April – Concerns that “Florida Re” could impact catastrophes prices proved unfounded at the 1 April renewals, says Willis Re.

4 April – Max Capital buys a US-based excess and surplus lines company.

4 April – Ron Whyte and Julian Samengo-Turner leave Guy Carpenter’s facultative operations to join Integro.

5 April – Integro announces the formation of an international insurance and reinsurance business unit in London.

10 April – Lloyd’s chooses RI3K and Xchanging for its new China operations.

16 April – Munich Re warns the risk of a global flu pandemic is still very high.

19 April – Bird flu could hit US insurers with a $24bn loss, warns Moody’s.

19 April – Converium triples its first quarter income to $150.9m.

20 April – Swiss Re shareholders approve an ambitious CHF4.2bn buyback of shares at the company’s AGM.

23 April – Standard & Poor’s upgrades Lloyd’s to “A+” reflecting the market’s “unstoppable momentum” and resolution of Equitas.

May

4 May – Munich Re says it will return more than ?8bn to shareholders by the end of 2010.

4 May – Flagstone raises $173m in its IPO.

9 May – Travelers establishes a $500m multi-year catastrophe bond programme through Cayman-based Longpoint Re.

10 May – After numerous rejections, Converium urges its shareholders to accept Scor’s improved offer for the company.

14 May – Marsh & McLennan enters into a $500m accelerated share repurchase.

15 May – Talbot confirms its sale to Class of 2005 start-up reinsurer Validus Re.

17 May – Scottish Re’s CFO Dean Miller resigns.

18 May – Clifford Wagner says he will step down as CEO of Scottish Re’s North American segment later in the year.

21 May – Montpelier Re closes sidecar Blue Ocean Re to new business.

22 May – Lockton sets up new Bermuda-based office.

22 May – Effective enterprise risk management sees S&P revise Hannover Re’s outlook from negative to stable.

24 May – Seven insurers agree to pay $2.5bn to resolve outstanding claims on the World Trade Center.

25 May – Following successful listings from Flagstone and Castlepoint, Greenlight Re goes public, raising $194.8m.

29 May – Paris Re announces its intention to IPO.

31 May – European insurers are behind on Solvency II, warns S&P.

June

5 June – RenaissanceRe forms a new sidecar, Starbound II, for the Florida market.

12 June – IAG reveals more than 9,000 claims following storms on Australia’s east coast.

12 June – Glacier Re launches a $75m wind and quake bond.

13 June – The World Bank, Munich Re and Benfield back the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility which covers 16 Caribbean countries.

19 June – PCI raises concern over mandatory “make available” nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological provisions in TRIA extension plans.

19 June – State Farm places $4bn in cat bonds through Merna Re.

20 June – Montpelier Re opens Syndicate 5151 at Lloyd’s.

22 June – Bermuda premier Ewart Brown is named in an $8m corruption file.

25 June – Marsh testifies before Congress in support of the ten-year extension of TRIA.

25 June – Active underwriter Andrew Carrier leaves Kiln.

26 June – The Florida Commission rejects Risk Management Solutions’ (RMS) near-term view of hurricane risk.

28 June – Swiss Re Capital Markets and S&P launch new cat bond indices.

28 June – Paris Re launches $240m IPO.

29 June – A thwarted car bomb attack in the UK “slipped through the intelligence net”, says RMS.

July

4 July – Ascot establishes renewable energy insurer, Renewco Underwriting.

4 July – Prices remain flat or fall at the mid-year renewals, reveals Willis.

6 July – Tropical Storm Risk lowers its Atlantic hurricane activity forecast but continues to predict an active season.

6 July – Travelers resolves all its current and future asbestos-related coverage claims in a landmark settlement.

10 July – Scor reaches “a very important milestone” as it reveals it owns 86% of Converium.

11 July – Munich Re says the Solvency II framework is “impressive” but not yet perfect.

12 July – The Court of Appeal in London rules that Marsh cannot sue three former GCFac executives in New York.

24 July – Fitch puts the cost of UK summer flooding at £3bn but says the disaster will have a limited impact on UK insurer ratings.

26 July – Tawa raises £20m in AIM listing.

30 July – RMS raises its UK summer flood loss estimate to between £2.25bn and £3.25bn.

August

6 August – AIR reaches a cat bond milestone as it models $3bn worth of bonds in 2007.

6 August – PCI backs a new bill proposing a national US catastrophe pool.

8 August – PXRE and Argonaut merge to form Argo Group.

8 August – The UN’s IPCC says extreme weather events will become more frequent.

8 August – Andrew Carrier is named president of new Bermuda reinsurer Peleus Re.

13 August – New modelling consultancy firm Karen Clark & Company launches.

14 August – A bidding war between AIG and Starr Marine is pushing down marine insurance premiums, discovers Global Reinsurance.

15 August – Subprime exposure sees Scottish Re sidecar Ballantyne Re placed on negative review.

22 August – Swiss Re and Ascendant take part in a catastrophe derivatives trade.

22 August – Hurricane Dean is “most intense Atlantic hurricane to make landfall in two decades”.

23 August – Eqecat estimates losses from Dean to be $2bn.

23 August – PartnerRe consolidates in Dublin under the Reinsurance Directive.

September

7 September – Deutsche Bank backs new Bermuda run-off firm Afinia.

10 September – Terror cover should be compulsory where government pools exist, says Swiss Re in Monte Carlo.

11 September – Flagstone opens a new office in Puerto Rico headed by Rafael Saer.

11 September – The industry should stop talking the market down, says Paris Re CEO Hans-Peter Gerhardt in Monte Carlo.

12 September – Sidecars have served their purpose, says Carvill’s Steve Breen in Monte Carlo.

13 September – Benfield boss Grahame Chilton says cat bonds are here to stay.

13 September – Catastrophe teams are deployed as Hurricane Humberto tears through the Gulf, reveals PCI.

14 September – UK bank Northern Rock is bailed out by the Bank of England as the credit crunch spreads into Europe.

17 September – No reasons are given as Marsh CEO Brian Storms steps down.

19 September – Shanghai braces for Super Typhoon Wipha.

24 September – A Willis market review finds marine rates are unsustainable.

24 September – Bermuda executives say they have considered leaving the island due to the political climate.

25 September – European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes calls broker transparency and co-insurance pricing into question.

October

1 October – Antitrust charges against Marsh originating from Spitzer’s investigations are dismissed.

9 October – Guy Carpenter says “there is no basis” for Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal’s antitrust lawsuit.

11 October – Capital market solutions will transform the industry, predict delegates at GR conference Insuring Climate Change.

15 October – Catlin joins the rush of reinsurers setting up branches in newly-open Brazil.

17 October – Ace opens a new box at Lloyd’s.

17 October – Munich Re launches a Japanese earthquake bond.

17 October – Subprime has not hindered new cat bond issuances, says Swiss Re’s Dan Ozizmir.

18 October – Willis CEO Joe Plumeri applauds the Senate’s vote to extend TRIA for seven years.

23 October – Reinsurers were “lucky” not to have been hit with major cat losses in 2007, says Markel’s Peter Middleton in Baden Baden.

24 October – XL president and CEO Brian O’Hara and chairman Michael Esposito announce they are retiring.

24 October – Despite plans to retire in December 2008, Axis CEO John Charman’s employment agreement is extended.

25 October – Fitch predicts that California wildfires could be costliest in US history.

31 October – “Prepare [for climate change] don’t panic” advise speakers at the annual PCI conference.

31 October – California wildfires could cost as much as $1.6bn according to cat modellers AIR and RMS.

November

5 November – Bermuda premier Ewart Brown chooses YouTube to tell country of his election plans.

5 November – Goldman Sachs forms Lloyd’s Arrow Syndicate 1910 to trade from 1 January 2008 with £65m capacity.

5 November – Hank Greenberg suggests he may look to buy AIG in an SEC statement.

6 November – Tawa reveals plans to buy PXRE for $114m from Argo Group.

7 November – Mark Newman, Hugh Powell and John Trace are named co-leaders of GCFac.

7 November – Allianz launches cat bond notes to cover European windstorm.

8 November – Ex-Converium CEO Inga Beale joins Zurich Financial Services.

9 November – Michael Cherkasky blames Marsh’s “unacceptable financial performance” for MMC’s Q3 profit slump.

13 November – Willis says subprime D&O claims could reach $3bn.

19 November – Swiss Re reveals a massive $1bn subprime-related write-down.

28 November – Catlin reveals it has taken a $75m subprime hit.

29 November – Whittington’s new Lloyd’s syndicate Barbican has capacity of £75m and will write specialty lines.

30 November – A large earthquake is expected to trigger the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility for the first time.

December

3 December – The Florida regulator considers relaxing 100% collateral rules for foreign reinsurers.

3 December – Former AIG Europe MD Dan Glaser is named chairman and CEO of Marsh Inc.

4 December – Lockton forms a facultative reinsurance property team.

4 December – Warren Buffett is called as a witness in the finite case that caused Hank Greenberg to leave AIG.

4 December – Brit renews its Bermuda-based sidecar Norton Re II for 2008.

5 December – Hardy Group reveals it is relocating to Bermuda and establishing Class 3 reinsurer Hardy Re.

Helen Yates is editor of Global Reinsurance.