Europe Intelligence Wire articles from February 2004

Europe Intelligence Wire archives from February 2004

Editor's letter - The fortunes made and lost in the FTSE.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) February marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of the FTSE-100 index - and there's a lot of fun to be had looking back at the list of the original constituents. About two-dozen or so companies have been in the...

Insight - Good Hard Look.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) The conduct of US accounting firms is about to go under the microscope. An independent body, set up to tighten accounting standards as well as restore confidence following the string of corporate scandals that...

Careers - On The Up.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Kevin Reed. For many FDs, progression to chief executive is the next step on their career ladder. But such a move is not necessarily a smooth process. Headhunters are looking for a broad range of...

Accounting - When danger looms large.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Peter Williams. Basic accounting and bookkeeping is too often treated with contempt by company directors who should take their stewardship duties more seriously. You don't have to be an expert on...

Corporate governance - Do things better: do nothing.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Robert Bruce. At the outset of this year, the Governor of the Bank of England announced a few changes of direction. They were nothing to do with, for example, interest rates. The currency markets...

IT strategy - Say no to those in-the-know.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Tom Berry. Here is a warning to all finance directors: the latest cutting-edge thinking about corporate IT strategy is going to come as a shock. Gartner, the IT industry's largest analyst, has...

Spend, spend, spend.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Investment in IT is back on the boardroom agenda after four years of budget cutbacks, says a new report by the Economist Intelligence Unit for Telewest. More than half of respondents are planning to increase IT...

Economics - Consumer lending a helping hand.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Dennis Turner. The future's bright, the future's Brown - or it is if the Chancellor's forecasts for 2004 are taken at face value. Not only is he expecting GDP to grow by at least 3%, up on last year's...

The Financial Director interview - Making New Friends.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Tom Berry. Friends Provident, the life, pensions and asset management company, has not been making the great strides it had hoped since its demutualisation and flotation on the London Stock Exchange in...

Cover story - Slow and Painful Death.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) "I wish you and your families a slow and painful death." Fausto Tonna, the charming, long-serving former CFO of Parmalat, had few kind words for the assembled journalists as he entered the Italian public...

IT integration - Merging of the minds.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Anthony Harrington. A recent IBM survey of chief financial officers in large listed companies found that more than 70% of CFOs felt their IT systems could not deliver a comprehensive real-time view of...

Financial directions - IAS changeover an internal affair.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Only one-half of listed European companies have an internal project team in place to help with the impending conversion to international accounting standards. UK companies have let the conversion process slip...

Financial directions - Dispute resolution should suit companies.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Large UK companies are ill-equipped to deal with the litigation cases brought against them, according to the Dispute Resolution Survey, a study conducted by TNS Professional Services on behalf of law firm DLA....

Financial directions - Recovery a certainty for UK equities and IPOs.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Foreign investment Direct investment abroad by UK companies fell to GBP23.5bn in 2002 - a decrease of GBP17.4bn on the amount invested in 2001, according to National Statistics. The reduction on 2002 reflects...

Financial directions - Financial bites.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) "I wish you and your families a slow and painful death." Former Parmalat CFO Fausto Tonna addressing the press outside the Parma public prosecutors' office, Evening Standard, 5 January 2004. "Hit the...

Financial directions - Glass half-full for global economic recovery.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Economic background The one thing threatening to spoil the feast of economic data for equity investors has been the spectre of higher interest rates - financial markets have been quick to assume that economic...

Extraordinary items - Marks out of 100 for FTSE.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) As you'll have seen in our graphic feature on page 34, the FTSE-100 index is 20 years old this month. Officially announced on 13 February 1984, it was calibrated so as to start the year at 1,000. Its first...

Extraordinary items - No track record.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) We've heard all kinds of theories and rules of thumb for investors, from 'Sell in May and go away, buy again on Derby Day', to some truly ridiculous notions about bull markets and American football teams. Now...

Extraordinary items - Following Gladstone.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) The ICAEW recently hosted a very genial breakfast get-together with Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats, and his numbers expert, shadow chancellor Vince Cable. The Lib Dems were there to set out...

Extraordinary items - Nice words, awful deeds.
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) "A culture of greed and deception" was revealed a few weeks ago at Swedish insurer Skandia, which is now suing the ex-CEO and FD to recover huge bonuses and perks paid to them during the late 1990s. But one's...

Extraordinary items - Hedging or fudging?
February 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Not exactly sure what a hedge fund is but too afraid to ask? You're not alone. Fortunately, the highly respected City paper, Financial News, approached an SEC regulator, a hedge fund industry organisation and...

News Analysis - Testing times for the franchise.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Robert CB Miller. The creation of the Lloyd's franchise at the beginning of 2003 can be seen as the last piece in the jigsaw of reform that began with R&R in 1996. Lloyd's response to the phenomenal losses of the...

News Analysis - Raising Australian standards.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Peter Falush. The collapse of the Australian non-life insurer HIH Insurance in March 2001, which has already resulted in the re-writing of the country's insurance law, is causing further ripples in regulatory...

News - Reweb - XL Capital announces fourth-quarter 2003 results.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Bermuda-based (re)insurer XL Capital has announced that the company's fourth-quarter 2003 results will be hit by a $694m pre-tax reserve charge following a claims audit review. Brian O'Hara, president and chief executive...

News - P&C - Aspen expands its US P&C arm.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Bermuda-based Aspen Insurance Holdings is expanding its US property reinsurance arm with the creation of a new property reinsurance team. The team, which will be five-strong and based in Connecticut, will be led by...

News - Reweb - Swiss Re sponsors coverage for insurance-linked security.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Swiss Re has sponsored $400m of coverage for its first insurance-linked security relating to life insurance risk. The company has linked up with Vita Capital to provide $400m of payments to Swiss Re in certain extreme...

News - Products - RJ Kiln goes to war.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Lloyd's managing agent RJ Kiln has added long-term and domestic war on land insurance to the specialist products underwritten by Syndicate 510. The category combines international war on land and domestic war on...

News - Workers' Compensation - Californian insurers hit by losses.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Insurers providing workers' compensation coverage in California had their seventh straight year of losses, according to the American Insurance Association (AIA). The AIA claimed that new profitability data provided...

News - Exemptions - IUA publishes FET list.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The International Underwriting Association (IUA) has published an online list of the London company market (re)insurers which have proved they are exempt from federal excise tax (FET). Foreign companies that wish to...

News - P&I - Shipping splash for London Club.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The London P&I Club has announced that its members are ordering an increasing amount of new tonnage and that the shipping industry is in robust health. Over the past year an estimated 25% of the vessels registered...

Technology - Compliance - Getronics launches new compliance framework tool.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) London-based Getronics has introduced a new information technology solution to help companies with the new compliance procedures laid down by the Financial Services Authority. Getronics teamed up with enterprise...

Comment - Making progress.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Edmund Megna, vice-chairman of Guy Carpenter. Never before in the history of reinsurance has the role of the reinsurance intermediary been tested as it has over the last several years. In the 1990s, the...

Comment - Sampling the local goods.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Isobel McCalman, Editor. It is always going to be a struggle to convince anyone who doesn't ever get to do it, that international travel for business is a chore. And fair enough in many respects. The...

Comment - Best foot forward.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Belatedly, but totally sincerely and with every intention of sticking to them, I have made my New Year's resolutions and am ready to share them with you. In a slight break with tradition, I have decided to attach...

Technology - Risk Analysis - RMS looks at windstorm risk.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Risk Management Solutions (RMS) has carried out the risk analysis for a EUR190m securitisation by Pylon covering damage from windstorm for an unnamed European electricity supplier. The placement was co-managed with...

Interview - Making history.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Isobel McCalman. When Udo Krueger became chief executive of Arab Insurance Group (Arig) in June 2000 the company was already in the middle of a very difficult chapter in its history. Group results had deteriorated...

Technical Report: Environmental risk - The climate change challenge.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Marc Jones. Mention global warming to different people and you will get different reactions. Some think of the film Waterworld and scoff. Others think of the worst-case scenarios and panic. Scientists and...

Technology - Outsourcing - CSC signs 10-year outsourcing deal with Swiss Re Life & Health.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) has signed a 10-year business process outsourcing deal with Swiss Re Life & Health worth $700m over the period. Under the agreement CSC will provide life and health insurance...

Market Report: Asia/Pacific/Middle East - Off to a good start.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Isobel McCalman. $1.12bn for Sompo Sompo Japan Insurance has been awarded $1.12bn for claims related to the 11 September 2001 attack and the November 2001 crash of an American Airlines plane, by an...

Technical Report: Environmental risk - Profit generator.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Jeremy Golden. Alternative or renewable energy (RE) - defined as wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and wave/tidal power - so far accounts for a small proportion of total electricity generated. In Europe, easily the...

Market Report: Latin America - Favourable forecast.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Marc Jones. No sign of El Nino The El Nino/La Nina weather phenomenon that hit the Pacific region twice from 1997 to 2003 shows no signs of returning, according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)....

Gulf report - Strong foundations to build on.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Isobel McCalman. Egypt As a member of the World Trade Organisation, Egypt has been liberalising its insurance market and eliminating barriers to foreign investment. The market now has 20 players, of which 13...

Gulf report - Making its mark.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Isobel McCalman. Whenever there is any discussion about the potential of the insurance sector in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia is held up as an example of the massive possibilities in the region. Up to now the country...

Market Report: US - Under close scrutiny.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Isobel McCalman. Times have changed and so has the reinsurers' approach to ceding companies, according to Roderick Thaler, executive vice-president and national director of Willis Reinsurance - property &...

Ratings - Survival of the fittest.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Knut Schaefer. For people outside Germany it is hard to appreciate quite what an impact the current row over reinsurance ratings is having on its insurance industry. To say that it is the big talking point in the...

Regulation - Guidelines - IAIS creates core principles compilation.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) has published a compilation of documents detailing corporate governance requirements for insurers. With increased international attention on the need to...

Emerging risk - Behind the mask.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Isobel McCalman. The World Health Organisation (WHO) believes the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak from November 2002-May 2003 resulted in 2702 cases and 435 deaths worldwide. When compared with...

Regulation - London Market - Magnus calls for London wake-up.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) London is in danger of being left behind by other (re)insurance centres, according to Sir Laurie Magnus, vice-chairman of Lexicon Partners. Speaking exclusively to Reinsurance Sir Laurie said that new management...

Claims - Space Activity - Solar threat to satellites studied.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The Benfield Hazard Research Centre is studying the effects of increased solar activity after an unprecedented display of flares last year. The flares, which were erupted from a group of sunspots in October and...

Claims - Weather - Atlantic to see a stormy 2004, says TSR.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Hurricane activity in the Atlantic will be above average in 2004, according to the latest forecast from the Tropical Storm Risk (TSR) service at the Benfield Hazard Research Centre. TSR claims that activity will be...

Claims - Earthquake - California tremor fails to shake market.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The earthquake that hit San Simeon in December last year will result in a fairly small insurance bill, ranging from $28-80m, according to modelling company AIR. With its epicentre on the San Simeon fault line, the...

Claims - BSE - BSE preys on the minds of US insurers.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The US insurance market is starting to look at the possible ramifications of the discovery of the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the US state of Washington. Although the economic costs could...

Regulation - Standards - NAIC calls for streamlined regulation.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The Interstate Compact National Standards Working Group, part of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has adopted new national standards for term-life insurance and variable annuities products. ...

Regulation - Standards - CEA welcomes first draft IASB rules.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The Comite Europeen des Assurances (CEA) has issued a cautious welcome to the draft regulations proposed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) but has stressed that important issues remain outstanding...

Diary - Reinsurance diary.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) February 2004 2-3 Risk & Probability in the Insurance Industry London, UK Royal Institute of International Affairs +44 207 957 5754 www.riia.org 12-13 P&C Joint Insurance Forum New York,...

People - Appointment at the Institute of Actuaries.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Michael Pomery will be the next president of the Institute of Actuaries. Mr Pomery became an actuary in 1966 and qualified as a fellow of the Institute in 1970. He was a member of the Council of the Institute of...

Technology - Modelling - Ace Tempest Re brings in AIR software.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Ace Tempest Re has announced that it is using US-based modelling firm AIR Worldwide Corporation's CATools software. The reinsurer will use the software for its underwriting and risk management systems, as CATools...

News Analysis - Made in heaven?
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Adrian Leonard. Surprise greeted the 17 November merger announcement which outlined the creation of The St Paul Travelers Companies. No-one loudly predicted the marriage of the eponymous US insurers, but one key...

Market Report: Europe - European market needs discipline.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Marc Jones. The European reinsurance market is still struggling with legacy issues and must maintain underwriting discipline, according to a new report from brokers Benfield. The report - the first of a new...

Gulf report - A glut of opportunity.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Isobel McCalman. The (re)insurance market is understandably keen to tap into any areas of growth potential. The competitiveness of most western markets and the increasing development of areas that used to be...

Business - Flying the flag for change.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By Isobel McCalman. The tort system has long been problematic in the US but the insurance industry is becoming increasingly concerned about the way it impacts its business. Unpredictable liability costs, coupled with...

UK Legal - No room for get-out clauses.
February 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) By John Butler. Eagle Star v JN Cresswell & others [2003] EWHC 2224 (Comm), a trial of preliminary issues before Mr Justice Morison, arose out of a dispute between the claimants and the defendants, (a group of...

CONFIDENCE IMPROVES AS ITALIAN RECESSION ENDS.
February 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) During the second half of 2003, Italy pulled out of recession and entered a pattern of slow and segmental recovery that should persist through 2004 and 2005. Throughout the first half of 2004, growth in household...

IRISH CONSUMER SENTIMENT IMPROVES.
February 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) Consumer confidence began to rebound during the third quarter of 2003 and the generalized improvement should persist through at least the first quarter of this year. At the outset of the fourth quarter of 2003,...

GERMANY EMERGES FROM SPENDING SLUMP.
February 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) During the third quarter of 2003, Germany pulled out of its second recession in two years and rising export sales should be enough to sustain the anemic growth pattern that has emerged since then The recovery in...

SALES OF FRENCH FINISHED GOODS TO RISE.
February 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) French industrial activity showed early signs of recovery in the third quarter of 2003 and moderate upward momentum will prevail through the first half of this year. France escaped recession thanks to increased...

HUNGARIAN PUBLICITY UNDER THE EU.
February 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) Hungary's accession to the EU is likely to boost publicity spending in some sectors as a growing number of international suppliers of goods and services vie for market share Sectors that will place the greatest...

SLOW EU REFORMS HURT COMPETITIVENESS.
February 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) Early in this decade, the EU set the goal of overtaking the United States in competitiveness by 2010. The slow pace of structural reforms and the dearth of entrepreneurs make it increasingly unlikely that the EU will...

SLOW GROWTH FOR UK PRIVATE SPENDING.
February 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) The outlook for commercial growth in the UK looks good, but not spectacular. Retail sales dipped during the first half of 2003 before rebounding in the third quarter GDP grew 2 percent in 2003, easily outpacing...

SLOVAKIA- A CONSUMER BASE ON THE RISE.
February 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) Domestic demand for Slovakian goods dropped off sharply during the first half of 2003 and that will contribute to healthy year-on-year sales gains by the second quarter of 2004. However, when Slovakia joins the EU in...

SPAIN'S CONSUMPTION PANORAMA BRIGHTENS.
February 1, 2004... (From Market - Europe) Spain evaded the prolonged economic downturn that plagued most of the rest of the EU over the past two years, and commercial activity is positioned for moderate but sustainable growth throughout the remainder of 2004...

A WIDER FUTURE FOR SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS PARTNERS.
February 1, 2004... (From InsuranceNewslink.com) It is almost two years since Computer Sciences Corporation sold most of its UK broking systems business to a new company formed by four of its former managers. Insurance Newslink met up recently in London with...

BUX gains 2.78pc over week in lively trading.
February 1, 2004... (From Hungarian News Agency (MTI)) Budapest, February 1 (MTI) - Turnover on the Budapest Stock Exchange this week was HUF 7bn higher than last week's HUF 24bn and the BUX gained 2.78pc to 10,064.01. On Wednesday, the BUX crossed the 10,000...

Hungary-US joint committee to review US visa practice.
February 1, 2004... (From Hungarian News Agency (MTI)) Budapest, February 1 (MTI) - A Hungarian-American joint committee will be set up to review the practice of issuing US visas in Hungary, Interior Minister Monika Lamperth said after she returned from a...

SZDSZ urges more liberal drug policy.
February 1, 2004... (From Hungarian News Agency (MTI)) Budapest, February 1 (MTI) - The Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) will press for legislation to decriminalise drug abuse involving marginal quantities of drugs, a senior MP of the liberal SZDSZ party...

European Jewish Congress executives meet in Jerusalem.
February 1, 2004... (From Hungarian News Agency (MTI)) Jerusalem, February 1 (MTI) - Israeli President Moshe Katzav on Sunday met Gusztav Zoltai, a member of the executive committee of the European Jewish Congress (EJC), and Hungarian Jewish Alliance...

RMDSZ leader says breakaway group doomed to fail.
February 1, 2004... (From Hungarian News Agency (MTI)) Bucharest, February 1 (MTI) - The president of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (RMDSZ) said the breakaway political group Hungarian Civic Alliance's (MPSZ) effort to divide Transylvania...

Fencing: Men's sabre World Cup tournament.
February 1, 2004... (From Hungarian News Agency (MTI)) Budapest, February 1 (MTI) - Results of the men's sabre World Cup tournament "Gerevich-Kovacs-Karpati", held in Budapest on Sunday: Quarterfinals: Domonkos Ferjancsik (HUN) - Balazs Lengyel (HUN)...

Columbia tragedy remembered.
February 1, 2004... (From Hungarian News Agency (MTI)) Budapest, February 1 (MTI) - Israeli and US diplomats in Budapest on Sunday commemorated the disaster of the Columbia space shuttle, the crew of which included Israel's first astronaut Ilan Ramon. The...

MTI's News Schedule for February 2-8.
February 1, 2004... (From Hungarian News Agency (MTI)) Budapest, February 1 (MTI) - MTI's daily news service in English expects to include coverage of the following events during the week February 2-8: Monday, February 2 - German Foreign Minister...

Further lowering sickness benefits inadmissible - Skromach.
February 1, 2004... (From Czech News Agency) PRAGUE, Feb 1 (CTK) - Further lowering of the amount of sickness benefits is "inadmissible" because they are on the minimal level already, Labour and Social Affairs Minister Zdenek Skromach (Social Democrat, CSSD)...

Three bidders to launch due diligence in Unipetrol on Mon--press.
February 1, 2004... (From Czech News Agency) PRAGUE, Feb 1 (CTK) - Three shortlisted bidders for Czech petrochemical holding company Unipetrol will launch due diligence in the group on Monday, daily Lidove noviny wrote on Saturday. Unipetrol expects that...

Czech power consumption grows to record 54.8 TWh in 2003 -- ERU.
February 1, 2004... (From Czech News Agency) PRAGUE, Feb 1 (CTK) - Electricity consumption in the Czech Republic increased by more than two per cent to a record 54.8 terawatt hours (TWh) last year, the Energy Regulation Office (ERU) said. Total...

Building nuclear waste repository rejected in local referendums.
February 1, 2004... (From Czech News Agency) CESKE BUDEJOVICE, South Bohemia/JIHLAVA, South Moravia, Feb 1 (CTK) - Residents of four villages which have been singled out as probable sites for the building of a nuclear waste repository rejected the...