Europe Intelligence Wire articles from March 2004

Europe Intelligence Wire archives from March 2004

Exports to the rescue.
March 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Dennis Turner is chief economist at HSBC. Most economic forecasts this year have been upbeat. Even February's increase in base rates can be interpreted in a positive light since it reflected the...

Editor's letter - The institute's stewardship enquiry.
March 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Readers who have graced our mailing list for a few years will know all too well that the cliche, 'the changing role of the finance director' is a tough one to escape. We cradle our heads in our hands when public...

On the move - Ins and outs of top brass at Selfridges.
March 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) BSkyB chief financial officer Martin Stewart has quit the role to pursue other interests, but will continue in his post until 4 August 2004, unless a successor is appointed before that date. Stewart joined the...

Williams departs from Selfridges.
March 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Selfridges chief executive Peter Williams has departed from the role, barely a year after stepping up from finance director and just nine months after Canadian tycoon Galen Weston bought the business for $628m...

Insight - Only one cook.
March 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Peter Williams. Allan Cook's departure as technical director of the Accounting Standards Board marks the end of an era for standards setting in the UK. Along with the more outgoing one-time chairman...

Insight - FDs' New Focus.
March 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Andrew Sawers. You can come out of your bunker now. The ICAEW says so. FDs who have been weighed down by the corporate governance agenda for the past couple of years are now being encouraged to get...

All hail the power of the Panel.
March 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Peter Williams is a chartered accountant and freelance journalist. Financial directors who assume that financial reporting is only being played on the international stage should check out the UK's...

Back to the bad old days.
March 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Robert Bruce is a leading commentator on accountancy issues. Where better for a love affair to flourish, and where better for it to turn to bitterness as it hits the seven-year itch. Paris, of course....

Positively negative.
March 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) The ongoing dispute between luxury goods group LMVH and Morgan Stanley will have a chilling effect on the investment research market, according to the Association for Investment Management and Research. It argues...

A second chance for CRM.
March 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Tom Berry is deputy editor of Financial Director. "We want this! And that! We demand a share in this, and most of that, some of this, and all of that! Less of that, and more of this, and plenty of...

Cover story - Bullet Points.
March 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Mario Puzo's The Godfather is one of the most unexpected books on management practice and corporate governance to be published. In between the violence, murder and decapitated horses, it describes the...

Extraordinary items - A sight for four eyes.
March 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Exactly three years ago, we reported that high street optical chain Specsavers was advertising to recruit a group finance director with "a focus on delivery", according to the job ad. Not surprising, given that...

Extraordinary items - Bucking the market.
March 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) It's nostalgia hour. With dollar/sterling heading for $2.00, we thought we'd remind you of the good old days when 'cable' (as our forex chums call it) was last at that level. It was 1992, Norman Lamont was the...

Extraordinary items - Horse sense.
March 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Here's a cost-cutting challenge for the new finance director of Lloyds TSB - whomever it turns out to be. A member of our team recently received a letter from the consumer credit arm Black Horse. With the deeply...

Extraordinary items - Why IT scores C++.
March 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) We've talked a lot over the past couple of years about how finance and IT departments get on with each other. In short, they seem to have a failure to communicate. Now more evidence of the problems between the two...

Extraordinary items - Get to the point.
March 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Pesky thing, those decimal points. Our friends at Accountancy, the journal that the ICAEW makes its members read to prevent them getting invited to parties, recently published a correction in which they apologised...

News Analysis - Finite possibilities.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Adrian Leonard. Listed companies in the European Union will not be required to follow International Accounting Standards (IAS) until 2005, but already their impact is being felt in the reinsurance sector....

News Analysis - Discipline challenge for 2004.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Mary Burnett. From the outset of the negotiations season for 2004 renewals, the impression was of a market that was going to keep itself in check. But with deals being finalised even later than usual, there...

Reweb - XL Capital reports loss.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) XL Capital has reported that it made a loss of $314.8m in the last quarter of 2003, down substantially on the $214.1m profit made over the same period of 2002. The company said the fourth quarter result included the...

News Analysis - Reaching their limits.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Adrian Leonard. For years canny underwriters and actuaries have been calculating the likely largest loss that could arise under property insurance policies. Assessing the probable maximum loss allows...

News round-up - Financial Strength - Moody's hits at US under-reserving.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) US property and casualty (P&C) and reinsurance companies are still "significantly" under-reserved, according to a new report by Moody's Investors Services. In US P&C insurance reserves - still deficient but...

News round-up - WTC - Insurance trial starts.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The first trial to decide how much money will be paid out for the destruction of the World Trade Centre (WTC) on 11 September 2001 has begun in New York. At the heart of the trial is the issue of whether or not the...

News round-up - Asbestos Liability - New decisions in Halliburton case.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Equitas and US company Halliburton have announced that they have reached an agreement on Halliburton's asbestos-related insurance claims. The settlement will resolve all asbestos-related claims made against Lloyd's...

Reweb - Converium reports mixed results.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Converium has reported mixed results for 2003, although it still made a substantial profit. The company's fourth quarter 2003 profits were down slightly on the previous year's figures, with net income of $56.2m, compared...

News round-up - Nigeria - NAICOM warns on recapitalisation.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Nigeria's National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) is urging (re)insurance companies in the country to make sure that they comply with new recapitalisation provisions. Companies in Nigeria have to make sure that their...

News round-up - Capital - Hannover Re issues more hybrid capital.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Hannover Re has successfully placed a subordinated bond debt issue of EUR750m in the European capital markets. The bond, which was issued via its subsidiary Hannover Finance, was oversubscribed several times. The...

News round-up - World view - Aon releases 2004 political risk map.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Aon has unveiled its latest political and economic risk map of the world. The 2004 map gives Aon's view of the countries in the developed and emerging world that are at the most risk of potential political or...

Re-ratings - Moody's places credit ratings on review.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Moody's has placed the credit ratings of UnumProvident Corporation and the insurance financial strength ratings of Unum Life Insurance Company of America and its insurance subsidiaries on review for a possible...

Technology - Storm modelling - AIR seminar stresses need to model European windstorms.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) European extratropical cyclones are a unique phenomenon that require a great deal of modelling to predict their possible paths, according to risk modelling firm AIR. Speaking at a seminar on improving detailed loss...

Comment - Get the most out of change.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Isobel McCalman, Editor. The significance of long-term relationships comes through in any conversation with players in the reinsurance market. The continuing globalisation of the sector and the advancing use...

News round-up - Office move - Swiss Re goes to DC.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Swiss Re has opened a new office in Washington DC, in an effort to get closer to policymakers in the US capital. The office is headed by government and industry relations senior manager Cosette Simon, who is also a...

Re-ratings - AM Best revises its review.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) AM Best has revised its review of the financial strength and debt ratings of The St Paul Companies from positive to developing. The decision follows The St Paul's announcement that it recorded a $350m pre-tax charge in...

Comment - Looking good.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Henry Keeling, chief executive of reinsurance operations, XL Capital. As those of you brave enough to step out in EC3 in February may already be aware, I was recently asked to address the Insurance Institute...

Technical Report: Aviation and space - Satellite insurance exits black hole.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Marc Jones. At some point in the distant future our sun will expand massively and then shrink to a fraction of its former size. Companies in the satellite insurance market can be forgiven for thinking that...

Interview - No Limit to potential.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Isobel McCalman. Peter Grove has little sympathy with the view that underwriting discipline and profit have re-emerged as the priority for the (re)insurance sector. "I think the priority should always be to...

Market Report: Europe - European insurers facing EUR100bn capital deficit.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The European life sector is facing a EUR100bn capital shortfall, according to a report from strategy consultants Mercer Oliver Wyman. The report - Life at the end of the tunnel? The capital crisis in the European...

Market Report: Asia/Pacific/Middle East - China offers marine draw.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Jeremy Golden. The world's major marine (re)insurers and brokers, including the Lloyd's syndicates, have long enjoyed a significant presence in Asian markets, particularly in Hong Kong and Singapore - so much...

Comment - Enjoying the ride.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Geoffrey Bromley, president of Guy Carpenter International (ex Following the events of 11 September 2001, several (re)insurers and Lloyd's syndicates were formed in anticipation of the market upturn that was...

Broker Review - Ahead of the game.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Isobel McCalman. The role of the reinsurance broker has developed to be a complex, multi-faceted service with a few large global players becoming 'mega brokers'. But even the biggest intermediaries still...

Business Interruption - A measure of stability.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Vic Wyman. The key people in the reinsurer Converium are probably well aware that they are not indispensable; the company has identified immediate and future successors for their jobs and formed development...

Claims - Earthquake records - 2003 marks decade-high for tremors.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) 2003 was the deadliest year for earthquakes since 1990 and was almost 20 times as bad as 2002, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). More than 33,000 people died as the result of earthquakes over the year,...

Regulation - European Standards - IFRS to challenge insurers.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) will bring both opportunities and challenges for European insurance companies, according to a new report from rating agency Moody's. The...

Regulation - Compliance - IUA adds compliance advice service.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The International Underwriting Association (IUA) of London has made compliance advice part of its service to members. The move comes in response to the new initiatives that have emerged from both the Financial...

Claims - Geology - BGS helps insurers on shaky ground.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The British Geological Society (BGS) has launched GeoSure, a new ground stability advice service that has been designed to help reduce the risks associated with development on potentially unstable land. Thanks to new...

Claims - Terrorism - Disaster cover loopholes.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Companies that have insured the lives of their employees may find that they are not covered in the event of an 11 September 2001-style terrorist attack, according to new research from Watson Wyatt. In the wake of the...

Claims - Earthquake insurance - Californian quake coverage too low, says IIN.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The number of Californians who are properly insured for earthquake damage is far too low, according to the Insurance Information Network (IIN) of California. The IIN claims that less than 15% of homeowners in the...

Risk - A dream location?
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Richard Radevsky. Picture the archetypal dream holiday location: a palm-fringed beach on a tropical island; the hotel sits at the edge of the beach or on the cliff top above, with huge windows taking full...

Business - Crime doesn't pay.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The legal profession in England is expressing grave concern about the implications of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 - and the (re)insurance sector would do well to take heed of the warnings. The logic of stopping...

Legal - Watch out for slip-ups.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Simon Kilgour. Some reinsurers believe the recent downgrades are a reaction to concerns that are industry-wide rather than about individual companies. It has also been suggested that they are an attempt...

Regulation - Legal - WLF calls for insurer broker probe.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) has called on the attorney generals and insurance departments of New York and California to investigate "potentially damaging" practices being engaged in by some in the insurance...

Legal - Flying the flag for change.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Richard Spiller, head of corporate at Kendall Freeman. The European Commission's (EC) only directive applying specifically to the regulation of reinsurance in the European Union (EU) was in February 1964 -...

News round-up - London Market - LMP slips into place.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) New research has revealed that only 5% of open market business will be exempt from the requirement to use London Market Principle (LMP) slips. A study of around 100 brokers carried out by the LMP programme office...

Technical Report: Aviation and space - Conventional wisdom.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Byline: Adrian Leonard. International agreements governing airlines' liability to passengers and their families are in a state of flux. A new regime has come into place in more than 30 countries, including the US...

Market Report: US - A new direction - Channel Re's buoyant launch.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Renaissance Re, Koch Financial (through its affiliates Koch Financial Re), PartnerRe and MBIA, have launched Channel Reinsurance, a financial guarantee reinsurer based in Bermuda. It will be capitalised with equity...

Market Report: Latin America - A fair trade - Costa Rican market opens up.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) Costa Rica's insurance market will be opened up to US insurers once the country's congress ratifies its entry to the Central American Free Trade Agreement (Cafta). Cafta was set up in December 2003, and is made up of...

Risk - The building blocks of US risk management.
March 1, 2004... (From Reinsurance) The risks inherent in the built environment have traditionally been assessed and priced by the (re)insurance sector while public regulation has taken the control of the acceptable risk levels in the physical environment....

Gallagher UK buys out joint venture.
March 1, 2004... (From Insurance Day) Byline: Richard Banks GROWING US broker Arthur Gallagher & Co revealed at the end of last week that its subsidiary, Arthur J Gallagher (UK) Ltd had bought the remaining 50% of its British joint venture, Risk...

Australian liability laws reform continues.
March 1, 2004... (From Insurance Day) Byline: Mike Hanley A MEETING of Australian federal and state insurance ministers on Friday announced a raft of continuing reforms to Australian liability laws and said that the government would formally market the...

Gloves off for tort reform.
March 1, 2004... (From Insurance Day) IT SEEMS the gloves are coming off in the US over the issue of tort reform. Groups of plaintiff lawyers have reacted angrily to the description by Maurice Greenberg of lawyers who oppose tort reform as...

Economy fails to stop HK premium lift.
March 1, 2004... (From Insurance Day) Byline: Edward Ion HONG Kong's insurance industry generated slightly higher premiums in 2003 despite a sluggish economy, the territory's industry regulator said on Friday. Gross premiums in general insurance edged...

Germans unravel share holdings.
March 1, 2004... (From Insurance Day) Byline: Adrian Ladbury THE unravelling of cross-shareholdings between the German insurance and banking sectors continued last week as Munich Re reduced its stake in Germany's second largest bank HypoVereinsbank...

Byrne leaves board of White Mountains.
March 1, 2004... (From Insurance Day) Byline: Scott Vincent REINSURANCE holding company White Mountains, which last week confirmed a $1-per-share annual dividend, has announced the retirement of Mark Byrne from its board of directors, writes Scott...

Legal & General insurance arm sees a leap in new business.
March 1, 2004... (From Insurance Day) Byline: Jon Guy WHILE pressure on investment returns and continued, faltering consumer confidence hit the global sales of insurance group Legal & General (L&G), its general insurance arm saw a leap in new business....

Kiln syndicate report casts positive outlook.
March 1, 2004... (From Insurance Day) Byline: Jon Guy LLOYD'S insurer RJ Kiln & Co has published the results for its managed syndicates for the 2001 year of account and forecasts for the 2002 and 2003 years of account as its chief executive said rates...

ITI signs up as Newstead member.
March 1, 2004... (From Insurance Day) Byline: Edward Ion SINGAPORE specialist broker ITI has become the latest outfit to join the Newstead Group International (NGI), the expanding global network of political risk and trade credit insurance brokers. ...

Onshore losses confuse energy sector.
March 1, 2004... (From Insurance Day) Byline: Three big onshore losses valued at about $850m have thrown the energy insurance market into a state of confusion WHEN Insurance Day last analysed the state of the global energy insurance market just before...

News in Brief.
March 1, 2004... (From Insurance Day) Mississippi turning MISSISSIPPI'S senate judiciary committee and the full senate have approved a comprehensive tort reform bill addressing the worst abuses of the state's litigation system, according to the...

Taking on challenging multinational risks can pay off for the broker.
March 1, 2004... (From Insurance Day) Byline: Matt Pasterfield FOR many brokers even some of those working for the major international players the prospect of becoming involved with a multinational risk can seem daunting. At first glance, these...

WTC case continues as first attack remembered.
March 1, 2004... (From Insurance Day) Byline: Richard Banks AS New Yorkers last week marked the 11th anniversary of the first World Trade Center attack, there was no let-up in the legal argument between complex leaseholder Larry Silverstein and his...

TSA fails to shift Piers' shock 1.3% Pacific box trade growth estimate.
March 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Janet Porter THE Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement, which represents 14 of the world's largest lines, has so far failed to stare down Piers over its prediction that there will just be 1.3% growth this year...

Ville de Bordeaux set for Airbus debut.
March 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Andrew Spurrier in Paris THE ship which promises to bring a new dimension to the term aircraft carrier is to start operating for Airbus in June. The 5,200 dwt ro-ro ship, Ville de Bordeaux,which has been...

Taca presses on with rate increases.
March 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) EUROPEAN container exports to the US remain healthy despite the dollar's slide, with leading carriers pressing ahead with rate increases, writes Janet Porter. The seven members of the Trans-Atlantic Conference...

Beleaguered Royal Olympic wins six months' breathing space.
March 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) ROYAL Olympic Cruises has won a lifeline from a Greek bankruptcy court, writes Nigel Lowry in Athen s. The court on Friday arrived at a decision giving the ailing operator six months of breathing space to hatch an...

NOL shuts out cargo as shipper demand soars.
March 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Transpacific has 3,000 teu waiting, writes Julian Bray in Singapore NEPTUNE Orient Line of Singapore is shutting out cargo from full ships on both the transpacific and Europe-Asia trades in the face of...

Revenues and profits up for busy Technip.
March 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) IMPROVEMENTS in offshore contracts boosted Technip's revenues and profits, while increasing its backlog of work by 25%, writes Martyn Wingrove . The French oil and gas contractor saw its revenues climb 6% to E...

Future may not totally belong to 'mega' ships.
March 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Shippers want transit speed, writes Katrin Berkenkopf GERMAN owners and KG managers are divided over the future prospects for the so-called super post-panamax ships in the 7,500 plus teu range, a ship finance...

Talbot takes up Goshawk contingency account.
March 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Denzil Stuart TALBOT Underwriting's Syndicate 1183 at Lloyd's has broadened its range of operations by taking up the contingency account previously written by Goshawk Syndicate 102. In the process Talbot...

BusinessBriefing.
March 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Seacor profits hit by fourth quarter loss OFFSHORE support vessel company Seacor Smit posted a $1.7m loss for the fourth quarter, compared with earnings of $1.6m in the same 2002 period, and attributed the negative...

Slow start to year for Star Reefers.
March 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Janet Porter THIS year's high season for the refrigerated cargo trades has started slowly, with a late harvest in the southern hemisphere weighing on the spot market, Star Reefers said Friday when publishing...

Bigger tanker fleet brings Tsakos record revenues.
March 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Nigel Lowry in Athens NEW York-listed Tsakos Energy Navigation has declared record profits for last year after its expanded tanker fleet reaped a huge increase in revenues. TEN reported net income of...

Teekay president Moller predicts 'super cycle'.
March 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Four factors are listed pointing to strong markets, writes Tony Gray THE tanker market is in the middle of a 'super cycle' which will yield several more years of strong freight rates, a leading owner...

PIL's Teo lashes out at 'cost obsessed' main lines.
March 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Feeder operators unable to recover increased costs, says Pacific International boss, writes Marcus Hand COST obsessed main lines are putting the squeeze on feeder lines, the boss of Singapore's Pacific...

Felixstowe 'ready' to court Maersk Sealand.
March 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Janet Porter FELIXSTOWE, the UK's largest container port, is prepared to drop its opposition to dedicated facilities. Maersk Sealand, which wants an exclusive terminal in the UK, is understood to have...

Soaring rates help Jinhui rebound.
March 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Dry bulk company returns to black on turnover entirely based on chartering, writes Keith Wallis in Hong Kong JINHUI Shipping and Transportation, the Oslo-listed, Hong Kong-headquartered dry bulk company,...