Europe Intelligence Wire articles from February 2005

Europe Intelligence Wire archives from February 2005

Editor's letter - Taking stock of the market.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) When BBC Breakfast runs its morning 'City' slot, it cuts from the studio to go live to the London Stock Exchange. As if that mattered. There's no trading floor, of course - hasn't been for more than 15 years - and...

Insight - Year of the FD.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) What are the biggest challenges you face this year? David Grigson: Maintaining cost discipline as the top line returns to growth, Sarbanes-Oxley section 404 compliance, reducing process complexity and...

On the move - Stewart dances to a new tune at EMI.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) EMI Group has appointed Martin Stewart as its new chief financial officer. The former CFO of BSkyB and finance director of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment succeeds Roger Faxon, who joins EMI Music Publishing in New...

Insight - Finance teams deliver the aid.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) Byline: Neil Hodge. The tsunami that hit East Asia shortly after Christmas has tested the contingency plans that relief providers have in place to cope with disasters. So far, such plans have risen to the...

Insight - In the line of fire.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) Byline: Cath Everett. The controversial issue of ageism has reared its ugly head again, following a recent class-action lawsuit in the US against electronics retailer Best Buy. The lawsuit was filed in...

Insight - Over the hedge.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) Byline: Richard Willsher. There are about 8,000 hedge funds worldwide managing in excess of $1 trillion (GBP555bn) worth of assets. This is before adding in the leveraging raised on the back of core holdings....

Accounting - The next wave of convergence.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) Byline: Peter Williams, a chartered accountant and freelance journalist. At the start of 2005, what should have been a moment of triumph - the introduction of international financial reporting standards into...

Corporate governance - A view to review.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) Byline: Robert Bruce, a leading commentator on accountancy issues. If there were ever a place where responsibilities are passed swiftly on to someone else, it is in remuneration committees. Yet remuneration,...

IT strategy - I, as in, I will survive.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) Byline: Tom Berry, deputy editor of Financial Director. There won't be many fingernails left unchewed in the IT departments of UK businesses in 2005. During the year, international financial reporting...

Economics - An American tail.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) Byline: Dennis Turner, chief economist at HSBC. Global economic growth accelerated for the third successive year in 2004, with world GDP rising by 4.6%. This was the best year since 2000, and it is tempting to...

The Financial Director interview - Mission: control.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) Byline: Tom Berry. Tony Oliver says his hair started going grey in 2004. Given he is the UK finance director of recruitment company Adecco, you can understand why stress has left its mark: the Swiss group,...

Cover story - Buyers' market.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) Byline: Andrew Sawers. "More buyers than sellers." That's the cliche used by market traders to explain away an otherwise unexplained rise in a share price. Now the London Stock Exchange itself has more buyers,...

Supply chain demand for supply.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) Byline: Malcolm Wheatley. The nature of business competition is changing, according to Martin Christopher, director of Cranfield University's Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management. A world in which...

Technology - 3D's company.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) Byline: Anthony Harrington. Does business ever really need photo-realistic, highly compelling 3D graphics? After all, how relevant are the huge advances in graphics technology - aimed at providing an ever-more...

Extra ordinary items - No profit, no matter.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) We're sure readers are already aware that this year marks the centenary of the publication of Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity - the most influential theory of the universe since Copernicus said that the...

Extra ordinary items - Shorts. Tony Oliver, FD of Adecco, has a dark secret. No, he doesn't exercise right of first refusal over any of the finance jobs that come in to be advertised (typical salary, GBP17,000 - and you get to work in Runcorn). Rather, we.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) Communications consultancy Canning says that business people risk being misunderstood by people whose mother tongue isn't English when they use phrases such as "When the chips were down, we really pulled out the...

Extra ordinary items - Web of intrigue.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) It's usually pretty easy to guess what any organisation's web address is going to be, but when you get it wrong the results can be a little surprising. PricewaterhouseCoopers is fine as www.pwc.com, but...

Extra ordinary items - Stuck on a stock.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) A survey by share trading website ADVFN reveals investors' most common trading errors, and it's perhaps not surprising to discover that greed is the number-one reason why people lose money on the markets....

Extra ordinary items - A model chairman.
February 1, 2005... (From Financial Director) Trust the retailers to bring us a little bit of Christmas cheer - even if it is January. Fashion chain New Look has just appointed one-time BAE Systems FD Richard Lapthorne (pictured) as its chairman, prompting...

News Analysis - Pricing risk in the wake of the Asian tsunami.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Mairi Mallon. On Boxing Day 2004, a massive earthquake in the Indian Ocean unleashed tsunamis that hit coastlines several hours later without warning. On top of the appalling death toll of more than...

News Analysis - Reinsurance renewals weather storms.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Marc Jones. The last few months of 2004 saw a series of storms hit the US and Japan. Four hurricanes wreaked havoc on Florida and the southern US, as Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne killed 117 people,...

News Analysis - Insurers and the insured in bad shape over obesity.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Symon Ross. As Morgan Spurlock's film 'Super Size Me' and Eric Schlosser's book 'Fast Food Nation' have tried to show, the fast food on which many Americans base their diets can have a shocking effect on...

Reweb - Lloyd's estimates 2005 capacity.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) The Lloyd's market expects to have the capacity to underwrite GBP13.7bn of business in 2005, according to chief executive Nick Prettejohn, a drop of around 9% on 2004's capacity, reflecting the market's disciplined...

News - Glacier Re launched.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Glacier Reinsurance, a Swiss start-up reinsurance company, has been launched, having successfully raised CHF347.5m ($300m) in equity capital. Subject to receiving its reinsurance licence from the Swiss Federal Office of...

Reweb - US personal lines 'stable', claims Moody's.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) The ratings outlook for the US personal lines sector remains stable, reflecting the industry's ability to generate robust profits and improvements to the homeowners' line and the strength of balance sheets, says Moody's...

News - AIR issues white paper on preparing for multiple catastrophes.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) The 2004 hurricane season demonstrated the financially destructive potential of several moderate hurricanes occurring within a single year. To help insurers and reinsurers analyse and prepare for similar years in the...

News - US Senate may move on asbestos bill.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) The new head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Arlen Specter, has announced that he intends to get the stalled asbestos-compensation bill moving again. Senator Specter started hearings on 11 January...

News - Aon launches Latin American subsidiary.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Aon Corporation has announced the formation of Aon Affinity Latin America. The organisation will be headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where Aon has an established presence in the affinity marketplace through Aon...

News - Wilton Re set up.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Wilton Re US Holdings has announced that its Bermuda-based parent company, Wilton Re Holdings, has raised more than $600m in capital commitments through a private placement of its common stock. The Wilton Re group...

News - PCS expands services.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) ISO's Property Claim Services (PCS) unit has expanded its services to include loss estimates for potential catastrophic terrorism losses. PCS announced it will assign catastrophe serial numbers to potential terrorism...

News - Benfield researches risk measurement.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Benfield has produced a new research paper, 'Risk Measurement in Insurance', which aims to provide a simplified guide through the numerous approaches to risk measurement. Aimed at actuaries and other insurance...

Re-ratings - Moody's flags up Hannover Re for possible upgrade.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Moody's Investors Service has placed the financial-strength and subordinated-debt ratings on Hannover Re Group members on review for possible upgrade. Hannover Re is currently rated Baa1 for insurance financial...

Re-ratings - AM Best confirms Singapore Re ratings.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) AM Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of A- (excellent) and the issuer credit rating of "a-" (ICR) of Singapore Reinsurance. The outlook on both ratings is stable. The ratings agency said that the...

Technology - Alex Letts, chief executive of ri3k assesses the renewal season.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Were you expecting a battle to move people from paper to electronic trading for this renewal season? We were expecting it to be pretty brutal and we weren't disappointed. But because this year the cedant...

Comment - The Indian Ocean tsunami: lessons for the future.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Geoffrey Bromley, chairman of European and Asian operations at Guy The tsunami of December 26 2004 is one of the worst disasters in human history. While our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and...

Comment - Market needs a steady hand.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Isobel McCalman, Editor. The new year finds the reinsurance market wearing a poker face, waiting to see which of the many factors that decide its fortune will fold first. The Benfield review of the...

Comment - The long-term strategy is still key.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Henry Keeling, chief executive of reinsurance operations, XL Capital. Again, it is the 'catastrophe' element of our world that has grabbed the headlines. And, once again, this is a field that seems to have...

Technical report: Earthquake risk - When the earth moves.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) If the world needed a reminder of the awesome power of earthquakes, then the magnitude 9.0 tremor that occurred off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra on 26 December 2004 proved an unwelcome addition to...

Middle East - Bridging the Gulf.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Symon Ross. Insurance is considered as a sector with lot of potential in the Middle East due to current low penetration levels, high growth in population and very supportive economies. This holds true for the...

Technical report: Volcanic risk - Overlooking disaster.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Volcanic disasters have been few and far between in the news over the past decades, and, as a result, have slipped beneath many (re)insurers' radar. Unfortunately, there is no reason to suppose that state of affairs will...

Middle East - Terrorism and oil - a bad combination.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Mention the Middle East to most people and one of the first things that comes to mind is the regions' incredibly rich oil sector. The second thing that many people then think of is often terrorism. Sadly, the two are now...

Middle East - Worse things happen at sea.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) The IUMI Facts and Figures Committee has revealed that global premiums for marine insurance in 2002 reached $13.3bn rising to $15.bn (excluding P&I from mutual P&I clubs) in 2003. Although the marine insurance business...

Market report: Brazil - Brazil yet to deliver on promise to open market.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Mairi Mallon. It was all supposed to happen back in 1999. The financial world rubbed its hands together at the prospect of such a lucrative market being opened up. More than $15m (GBP8m) of foreign...

Market Report: Europe - CEA welcomes motor liability vote.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) On 12 January, the European Parliament voted in favour of the draft fifth motor liability directive. This outcome was supported by the member states the same day and is now pending its formal adoption by the European...

Market Report: US - US to tackle tort costs from both sides.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) US tort costs reached a record $246bn in 2003, or approximately $845 per person, according to 'US Tort Costs: 2004 Update' from Tillinghast. This, it argues, represents a 5.4% increase in tort costs from 2002 -...

Run-off - Bringing finality to underwriting pools.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Scot Ramsay, chief financial officer at Ruxley Ventures. The advent of solvent schemes of arrangement as a recognised technique for dealing with risk carriers' discontinued books of business has led to real...

Run-off - Old business presents new challenges.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Mairi Mallon. Schemes of arrangement are becoming so popular that not only have they crossed the Atlantic to the US, but insurers and reinsurers are starting to see their benefit in central Europe. The...

Regulation - Insurance industry unready for FSA regulations, claims survey.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) On 14 January, new Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulations governing the general insurance industry came into effect. However, 96% of senior management within the industry believe "many firms" were unable to...

Regulation - Oversight - NCOIL unveils new priorities.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) The newly elected president of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) in the US has revealed NCOIL's priorities for 2005. Craig Eiland said these were to defend and modernise the state system of...

Legal - Insurers' legal arsenal expands.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Elspeth Talbot. The recent decision of Bristow Helicopters Ltd v Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation [2004] 2 Lloyds Rep 150 has confirmed the availability of a useful new weapon in the armoury of insurers, on the...

Regulation - Quake reinsurance to rise.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) The Japanese government is planning to raise its limit for earthquake reinsurance payments by 11.11% to Y5trn from the fiscal year 2005 to better prepare for a large-scale disaster. Under the current earthquake...

Recruitment - Homegrown agency plays to Bermuda's strengths.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) The Bermudian (re)insurance market has seen nothing but growth since the early nineties and the issues of recruitment have always been challenging. The island wants to provide employment opportunities for its own...

Recruitment - Appoitment at PartnerRe.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) PartnerRe has announced that Judith Hanratty, OBE, has been appointed to its board of directors. Ms Hanratty recently retired as company secretary and counsel to the board of BP. During her 29-year career with the...

Recruitment - Appoitment at Carvill.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Reinsurance intermediary Carvill has appointed Patrick Figorito as senior vice-president for business production. Mr Figorito joins Carvill's US Operations with over 30 years' experience in all phases of property &...

Recruitment - Appoitment at Q.Know Technologies.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Information management software provider Q.Know Technologies has announced that Nicholas Brown has joined its board of directors. Mr Brown is the retired executive vice-president of XL Capital, where he also served...

Recruitment - Appoitment at eg Solutions.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) David Blain is joining operations management provider eg Solutions as financial director and company secretary. His previous role was financial director and company secretary of Drew Scientific Group. Employed at...

Recruitment - Appoitment at Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group has announced that Dominic Burke and Mike Hammond have joined the group's board. Mr Burke, who joined the group in 2000, is responsible for the group's UK insurance broking and employee...

Recruitment - Appoitment at Brit Insurance Holdings.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) Mike Sibthorpe, underwriting director of Brit Insurance Holdings' London market division, has been appointed to the group's executive management committee. Mr Sibthorpe has been with Brit since 1998, when he joined...

Diary - Reinsurance Diary.
February 1, 2005... (From Reinsurance) FEBRURARY 2005 28 Reinsurance Arbitration New York, US www.AmericanConference.com/rearb MARCH 2005 3-4 D&O Liability Insurance London, England www.C5-Online.com/directors 8-9...

Andreas K barred from Paris MoU ports.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Byline: David Osler EIGHT foreign-flagged ships were detained in British ports last December, according to statistics from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. A further two vessels were still in detention from...

AMA sets sights on other forms of transport this year.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Byline: New look, new premises for merchant bank, writes Rajesh Joshi in New York A DIVERSIFICATION into transport sectors such as aviation, railways and US domestic logistics is a cornerstone of American Marine...

Marsh will pay $850m and seek share value restoration after Spitzer investigation.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) MARSH ' McLennan Cos, the financial services group that includes the world's largest insurance brokerage, is to pay $850m to settle an investigation into charges it sought money from insurance companies to steer clients...

US gas terminal to supply Tractebel.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Tony Gray Belgian power group Tractebel has agreed to buy up to one-third of the capacity of a new liquefied natural gas terminal in the US Gulf. Tractebel has signed a heads of agreement with Sempra LNG...

Britain unveils places of refuge list.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Brian Reyes in Gibraltar THE British Maritime and Coastguard Agency has made public the inventory of UK ports and anchorages used by its counter-pollution experts when determining suitable places of refuge...

Bisco begins Vietnam's liner fight-back.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) By Tony Gillotte in Bangkok FOR years foreign shipping lines have sailed away with the lion's share of Vietnam's exports (over 90%), along with two joint stock companies (Gemartrans and APM-Saigon). But the...

Brostrom takes bigger holding in its fleet.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) BROSTRoM has made further progress on the company's strategy of tidying up the ownership of its fleet by increasing its holding in three vessels, writes Tony Gray. The leading Swedish product and chemical tanker...

Heath Lambert sees clarity and fairness as Spitzer fallout.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Broker predicts a fairer system following Marsh lawsuit, writes James Brewer A MORE transparent marketplace and a more level playing field are developing in insurance broking in the wake of the Spitzer...

Yang Ming beats its own targets.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Sam Chambers in Hong Kong YANG Ming Marine Transport Corp comfortably surpassed its own revised annual target to register successive back-to-back record financial years. The Taiwanese line's unaudited...

CMA CGM buys into Naxco containers.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Andrew Spurrier in Paris CMA CGM has bought into the container logistics business of French shipping services group Naxco. The Marseilles-based liner shipping group has taken an unquantified stake in a...

Warning of new wave of stowaways to North America.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Fines likely even if companies are not complicit, writes James Brewer A NEW and highly organised wave of stowaways from China on ships bound for North America is in prospect, the maritime world has been...

IHC Caland optimistic after shipyard disposal.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Maritime and energy supplier unveils better than expected net profit due to buoyant demand, writes Helen Hill in Amsterdam MARITIME and energy supply company IHC Caland has announced a preliminary net profit...

STX Pan Ocean signs order.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Sam Chambers in Hong Kong THE former Pan Ocean has signed its first shipbuilding contract with its affiliate, the first of many such orders expected. STX Pan Ocean, as the Korean line is now called since...

SNCM seafarers to strike over threat to dismantle company.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Seafarers at state-owned French ferry company SNCM are to hold a 24-hour strike on Thursday as the first stage of an effort to dissuade the French government from breaking up the company, writes Andrew Spurrier. ...

St Vincent tops UK detention league.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) ST VINCENT ' Grenadines topped the league table for detentions in the UK last year, with one in every five of its vessels that were inspected being held, writes David Osler. And in a setback to efforts by its current...

UK support for wave and tidal power.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Martyn Wingrove BRITAIN'S Department of Trade and Industry has launched a GBP42m ($79m) fund to support the development of large-scale wave and tidal power generation projects. Companies with plans for...

Low value cargo rates must rise, say operators.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Warning of frequent rate rises to make eastbound trade viable, writes Janet Porter CONFERENCE lines operating services between Europe and Asia are not prepared to carry low value cargo at current freight...

Aegis energy syndicate is rated with the Best.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) AEGIS Managing Agency has welcomed the decision of rating agency AM Best to award its syndicate 1225 its first financial security rating, of A (excellent), reports James Brewer. The syndicate, with a capacity for...

ISC cashes in on US tax changes.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Byline: John McLaughlin NEW tax law changes for US shipping companies had an immediate impact on New Orleans-based International Shipholding Corp, which last week posted earnings of $7.8m for the fourth quarter of...

Spain and Mexico propose changes to oil transfer rules.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Brian Reyes in Gibraltar SPAIN and Mexico have submitted a joint proposal to the International Maritime Organization to amend the Marpol 73'78 convention with a new chapter regulating ship-to-ship transfers...

Capesize owners head for the bank.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Iron ore projections equal dollar signs, writes Sam Chambers CAPESIZE owners are rubbing their already dollar- strewn palms with glee at the latest iron ore import projections for China this year. ...

Tanker Fixtures.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) CLEAN Kuwait to UK Continent Fotini Lady, 55,000t, $1,975,000 lumpsum Feb 6. (Basf) Japan to Singapore Pacific Serenity , 30,000t, $430,000 lumpsum Feb 8. (MBK) Dampier to Mossel Bay Pacific Onyx, 30,000t,...

Dry Bulk Fixtures.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) COAL La Cienaga to Gijon vessel to be nominated, 150,000t, $17.50 per tonne, fio 25,000t sc'25,000t sc, (Hydro Cantabrico) Obeliks (170,454 dwt, 15.5'56L 14'56B, 2000-built) delivery Shanghai Feb 10-12,...

VLCC rates harden as Opec holds quotas.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Andrew Spurrier in Paris Tankers VLCC rates hardened significantly yesterday as the market registered the expected decision of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries over the weekend to...

Yo-yo panamax rates lead to uncertainty.
February 1, 2005... (From Lloyds List) Dry Trade RATES on the Pacific panamax market have begun to move up again but uncertainty continues to prevail as to their likely performance in the medium term, writes Andrew Spurrier in Paris. It is not yet...