gr monte carlo daily - day two
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News from the Monte Carlo Rendez-VousTRANSCRIPT
Solvency II will sap smaller players’ creativity and drive
T O N I G H T
P a g e 7
Solvency II could “drive the energy and creativity” out of the reinsurance market by penalizing smaller players, according to a gathering of reinsurer bosses this morning.
Speaking this morning at a roundtable debate hosted by Global Reinsurance, XL’s group chief executive Mike McGavick warned: “The fundamental fl aw in the thinking with Sol-vency II is that so much of the creativity and energy of the industry has come from smaller players.
“This could drive that out of the market, and that would be a real mistake. If it goes forward as it is, it will result in fewer, larger players and I have never understood how the customer wins in that environment.”
Other participants includ-ing Berkshire Hathaway’s
head of reinsurance Manfred Seitz shared McGavick’s con-cerns over the structure and implementation of Solvency II, particularly over regula-tors’ ability to improve com-panys’ bespoke models for capital allocation.
Continued page 3
Mike McGavick: Solvency II will contract the market to fewer, bigger players
O U T &
A B O U T
RENDEZ-Vous
MONTE CARLO 2011 FROM GLOBAL REINSURANCE MAGAZINE
DAY TWO
”I saw my schedule and said: ‘It’s barking mad to expect someone to go to a meeting every half an hour.’ But it works”XL Re’s Jamie Veghte on his first Rendez-Vous
“I can save you all a lot of time. The market’s not going to harden. Just go and enjoy the city instead” Overheard at Guy Carpenter’s cocktail party
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E L L E N B E N L A U R E N D A N N Y
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GLOBAL REINSURANCE MAGAZINE
T A L K T O U S
How the industry has changed ten years onRemembering 9/11
E I N S U R A N C E C O MG L O B A L R E I N S U R A N C E
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‘History is littered with examples of companies that have found a
nasty pool of toxic liabilities in their new purchase’
Ben Dyson, assistant editor
‘Histof c
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MONTE CARLO 2011 FROM GLOBAL REINSURANCE MAGAZINE
Were you spotted out last night?
GR DAILY day 2.indd 1GR DAILY day 2.indd 1 12/09/2011 12:11:1512/09/2011 12:11:15
RENDEZ-VOUS www.globalreinsureance.com2 M O N T E C A R L O 2 0 1 1
Consolidator Jelf plans to snap up bolt-
“I wish the regulators would take a year off and pat themselves on the back rather than trying to invent a crisis to cure in our sector” Mike McGavick, XL PAGE 7
WHO DID MONTY SEE OUT AND ABOUT LAST NIGHT? PAGE 7
I N S I D E . . .
Barriers to foreign operators raised in Brazil and United
Arab EmiratesPAGE 4
Omega accept 25% off er from Mark Byrne’s HaverfordPAGE 5
COMMENTREAD MORE
STAY INFORMED www.grdaily.com
Follow: @GlobalReins Call: +44 7872 511244
How the industry has changed ten years onRemembering 9/11
G L O B A L R E I N S U R A N C E
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GLOBAL REINSURANCE MAGAZINEis published 10 times a year byNewsquest Specialist Media Ltd30 Cannon Street, London, EC4M
6YJ, UKTel +44 (0)20 7618 3456Fax +44 (0)20 7618 3457
www.globalreinsurance.com
© 2011 Newsquest Specialist Media Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used, reproduced,
stored in an information retrieval system or transmitted in any manner
whatsoever without the express written permission of Newsquest
Specialist Media Ltd. This publication has been prepared wholly upon infor-mation supplied by the contributors
and whilst the publishers trust that its content will be of interest to readers, its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. The publishers are unable to accept,
and hereby expressly disclaim, any liability for the consequences of any inaccuracies, errors or omis-sions in such information whether occurring during the processing of
such information for the publication or otherwise. No representations, whether within the meaning of the
Misrepresentation Act 1967 or other-wise, warranties or endorsements of any information contained herein are given or intended and full verifi cation
of all information appearing in this publication must be sought from the
respected contributor. The publication of the articles contained herein does not necessarily imply that any opin-ions therein are necessarily those of
the publishers.
M O N T E
C A R L O
1 Casino de Monte Carlo
2 Hotel Hermitage
3 Hotel de Paris
4 Fairmont Monte- Carlo
5 Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo
6 Port Palace Hotel
7 Eglise Sainte Devote
8 Gare de Monaco
1
2
3
4
5
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S A Y W H A T ?
“If the models were the same, that would be frightening. There is so much inherent uncertainty in catastrophe risk that if the models said the same thing, that would point to a serious problem”Bill Keogh, EQECAT president
First-half catastrophes turn up heat in run up to renewals
PAGE 6
GR DAILY day 2.indd 2GR DAILY day 2.indd 2 12/09/2011 12:58:3812/09/2011 12:58:38
RENDEZ-VOUS www.globalreinsureance.com2 M O N T E C A R L O 2 0 1 1
Consolidator Jelf plans to snap up bolt-
“I wish the regulators would take a year off and pat themselves on the back rather than trying to invent a crisis to cure in our sector” Mike McGavick, XL PAGE 7
WHO DID MONTY SEE OUT AND ABOUT LAST NIGHT? PAGE 7
I N S I D E . . .
Barriers to foreign operators raised in Brazil and United
Arab EmiratesPAGE 4
Canopius confi rms continued interest in Omega purchasePAGE 5
COMMENTREAD MORE
STAY INFORMED www.grdaily.com
Follow: @GlobalReins Call: +44 7872 511244
How the industry has changed ten years onRemembering 9/11
G L O B A L R E I N S U R A N C E
Sep
tem
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201
1w
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.co
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GLOBAL REINSURANCE MAGAZINEis published 10 times a year byNewsquest Specialist Media Ltd30 Cannon Street, London, EC4M
6YJ, UKTel +44 (0)20 7618 3456Fax +44 (0)20 7618 3457
www.globalreinsurance.com
© 2011 Newsquest Specialist Media Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used, reproduced,
stored in an information retrieval system or transmitted in any manner
whatsoever without the express written permission of Newsquest
Specialist Media Ltd. This publication has been prepared wholly upon infor-mation supplied by the contributors
and whilst the publishers trust that its content will be of interest to readers, its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. The publishers are unable to accept,
and hereby expressly disclaim, any liability for the consequences of any inaccuracies, errors or omis-sions in such information whether occurring during the processing of
such information for the publication or otherwise. No representations, whether within the meaning of the
Misrepresentation Act 1967 or other-wise, warranties or endorsements of any information contained herein are given or intended and full verifi cation
of all information appearing in this publication must be sought from the
respected contributor. The publication of the articles contained herein does not necessarily imply that any opin-ions therein are necessarily those of
the publishers.
M O N T E
C A R L O
1 Casino de Monte Carlo
2 Hotel Hermitage
3 Hotel de Paris
4 Fairmont Monte- Carlo
5 Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo
6 Port Palace Hotel
7 Eglise Sainte Devote
8 Gare de Monaco
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
S A Y W H A T ?
“If the models were the same, that would be frightening. There is so much inherent uncertainty in catastrophe risk that if the models said the same thing, that would point to a serious problem”Bill Keogh, EQECAT president
First-half catastrophes turn up heat in run up to renewals
PAGE 6
GR DAILY day 2.indd 2GR DAILY day 2.indd 2 12/09/2011 12:24:4412/09/2011 12:24:44
RENDEZ-VOUS 3M O N T E C A R L O 2 0 1 1
‘Regulators are yet to solve last battle’
B Y E LL E N B E N N E T T [email protected]
Continued from page 1Seitz said: “There are 600 eli-gible companies in Germany. If two dozen of them went for innovative models, the regu-lator would be kept busy for the next decade or so.
“Then once they have gone through all that expense and eff ort, they fi nd they save maybe 10% over other companies.”
Delegates at this morning’s debate also warned that Solvency II asset rules were not fi t for purpose in the cur-rent economic environment. For example, the rules encour-age insurers to invest in government bonds. Deutsche Bank’s global head of insur-ance asset management, Randy Brown, warned this would have a “negative impact” on insurers.
Endurance chief executive David Cash suggested that global regulators should be focusing on other areas of the insurance business.
He said: “The regulators are still fi ghting the last battle. If there are going to be fail-ures, they will be due to loss
reserves. I’ve not heard any-one talk about that for years.”
McGavick said that, unlike their counterparts in bank-ing, insurance regulators did not have a crisis to solve. He added: “I wish they would take a year off and pat them-selves on the back rather than trying to invent a crisis to cure in our sector.”
B Y D A N N Y WA LK I N S H AW [email protected]
Willis Group deputy chair-man Martin Sullivan has pre-dicted a spike in mergers and acquisition activity in 2012.
Speaking at a PwC briefi ng this morning on the availability of capital and changes to the market cycle, the former AIG chief executive said: “2012 will be a very, very interesting year.
“If we continue to go for-ward in a soft market, the chal-lenge for insurance company CEOs is: ‘How do we continue to grow?.’ [An M&A increase] is something I think will occur.”
Sullivan also warned that unless there is an “Armaged-don event”, hard cycles will only occur across some regions and product types.
M A T C H O F T H E D A Y
With guns drawn at dawn, the dualling catastrophe modelling fi rms battled it out for best European risk modelling data. The war began with both fi rms producing reems of information and complex colour-coded
maps. PERILS took an early lead with shapely pie charts, before AIR whet the market appetite by breaking down each 2011 catastrophe by
cost, taking an easy lead by giving the punters what they want. Low blows were then traded, with each fi rm claiming the other was not nearly as well respected, while pumping their speeches full of
terms such as “reduce basis risk” and “market leader”. AIR pulled ahead once again, with its meeting place overlooking the
harbour, but in the heat of the moment (and day) PERILS stormed home with off ers of ice cream at the Häagen-Dazs stand.
A close victory for PERILS with snappy presentations, easy to un-derstand maps and a well-thought-through meeting place.
PERILS 1, AIR 0
AIR Worldwide vs PERILS
Sullivan: how do we keep growing?
David Cash: ‘If there are going to be failures, they will be due to loss reserves’
$50,000Hole-in-one insurance can be placed for as much as this, and regularly is at
Lloyd’s
$1.5mA car dealership in the US
state of Nebraska took out a $1.5m insurance policy
at Lloyd’s after off ering $10,000 to anyone who brought a car from it dur-
ing December, providing it snowed on Christmas day.
S T A T S
C O R N E R
Sullivan: Only ‘Armageddon’ could harden some product types
S P O T T E D
Pondering the next move?
SCOR lounge, casino or home
to bed …
www.grdaily.com
Innovation is not worth expense and eff ortSolvency II asset rules not fi t for purpose
“We’ve lost how much in catastrophes this year?”
Will you be gracing our pages tomorrow morning?
Twelve brave reinsurers took part in a four-day cycle from Geneva, organised by Tokio Mil-lenium, arriving at the Cafe de Paris in matching outfi ts yesterday at 4pm
GR DAILY day 2.indd 3 12/09/2011 12:26:50
M A T C H O F T H E D A Y
With guns drawn at dawn, the duelling firms battled it out for best European catastrophe risk data. The war began with
both firms producing reams of information and complex colour-coded maps. PERILS took an early lead with shapely pie charts,
before AIR whet the market appetite by breaking down each 2011 catastrophe by cost, taking an easy lead by giving the punters
what they want.Low blows were then traded, with each firm claiming the other wasnot nearly as well respected, while pumping their speeches full of
terms such as “reduce basis risk” and “market leader”.AIR pulled ahead once again, with its meeting place overlooking the
harbour, but in the heat of the moment (and day) PERILS stormedhome with offers of ice cream at the Häagen-Dazs stand.
A close victory for PERILS with snappy presentations, easy to un-derstand maps and a well-thought-through meeting place.
PERILS 1, AIR 0
AIR Worldwide vs PERILS
RENDEZ-VOUS www.globalreinsureance.com4 M O N T E C A R L O 2 0 1 1
New rules for reinsurers in the Middle East and Brazil suggest barriers to foreign operators are going back up.
When the Brazilian reinsur-ance market opened to foreign competition in 2008 there was great excitement. Not only was there huge potential in the rapidly growing BRIC economy, but as a non-catas-trophe exposed market it off ered reinsurers an opportu-nity to diversify risks globally.
The fl ood of reinsurers and service providers into Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro included many big names. Most sought admitted status but Munich, Mapfre, J Malu-celli and XL were awarded
local status. There are now more than 80 reinsurers licenced to trade in Brazil.
Fast forward three years and changes by insurance regulator the Superintendên-cia de Seguros Privados (SUSEP) have led to a big reduction in opportunities.
From 31 March, new reso-lutions mandated the place-ment of 40% of reinsurance business within the local market. Previously, local reinsurers had simply been given the right of fi rst refusal.
SUSEP also tried to stifl e intra-group transactions, banning foreign players with local operations from ceding Brazilian risks back to their
parent. The rules have been relaxed, but only 20% of any treaty can be ceded abroad.
The move was derided by the industry. Risk manage-ment groups said it would limit capacity for commercial risks, raise prices for cover and could harm the viability of large projects such as the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil and 2016 Olympic Games.
Meanwhile, rules are also becoming more stringent for insurers in the Middle East. The UAE has doubled its capi-tal requirements ($27.2m for insurers, $68m for reinsurers) and ruled that at least 75% of the capital of (re)insurers operating in the country must be owned by UAE or GCC-based bodies.
40%LOCAL BUSINESS
New requirement for Brazil’s market make-up
20%BRAZILIAN RISKS
Proportion of business that can be ceded abroad
$68mCAPITAL
Updated requirement for United Arab Emirates
M A R K E T V I E W
F R O M Q F C A
Why the GCC continues to stand out
High growth rates and a relatively under-developed insurance sector
mean the scope for reinsurance services in the GCC is great. Infra-structure and construction spend-
ing continues to drive insurance demand. In Qatar alone more than $75bn of infrastructure projects
began from 2004 to 2010.
Insurance markets mirror the macroeconomics of the region. Total non-life and life premium was more
than $14.3bn in 2010. From 2005 to 2009, GCC premiums expanded fi ve times as fast as the global average,
with Qatar growing 25% a year.
Across the region 43% of non-life premiums are ceded to reinsurers, refl ecting a direct insurance busi-ness model based on commission and investment income. The total
reinsurance market for 2010 is put at $5.5bn.
Data published in the GCC Reinsur-ance Barometer – the Qatar Financial Centre Authority’s twice yearly study of senior managers of 24 companies
– shows strong confi dence in the GCC reinsurance sector. About two
thirds of interviewees expect the ex-pansion of the reinsurance sector to outpace expansion of regional GDP.
There has been a trend for increasing capacity to be deployed to GCC
countries, though Barometer high-lights signs of a slowdown in this. Some 50% of interviewees believe
total reinsurance capacity deployed will rise – as against 64% in March’s
Barometer. The share of those expecting a rise of more than 10%
has dropped from 43% to 8%??.
Growth in GCC insurance markets provides a fi rm basis for the
reinsurance industry. Some 38% of Barometer interviewees believe the share of regional capacity will con-
tinue to rise at the expense of traditional global capacity from
Europe, Bermuda or London.
R E I N S U R A N C E I N T H E
G C C R E GI O N
Regulators tighten up on globalising groups
E M E R G I N G M A R K E T S
40% of Brazilian business must now be localCapacity requirements doubled for UAE
www.grdaily.com
GR DAILY day 2.indd 4GR DAILY day 2.indd 4 12/09/2011 09:49:3312/09/2011 09:49:33
RENDEZ-VOUS 5M O N T E C A R L O 2 0 1 1
Mergers and acquisi-tions are high on the list of hot topics at
this year’s Rendez-Vous. The three-way fi ght for
Transatlantic Re and the continuing uncertainty over Omega have added impetus to what is already a standard subject at gatherings.
But I think reinsurers and brokers should give any so-called transformational transactions a wide berth.
Over the years, there have
Chief execs of the happy couple talk eagerly about synergies” – like the cost savings that can be achieved by running two businesses on one IT platform. But the eff ort and expense of reaching that point must surely cancel out the benefi ts in some cases.
While companies struggle to combine, there is a risk that client considerations are sidelined. Companies focusing on getting their
“Give any transformational merger a wide berth”
house in order will fi nd it more diffi cult. And there is the impact on staff morale. Mergers mean redundancies, and some that keep their jobs will not want to work in an enlarged entity. We can all think of examples where a mega-merger led to a mass exodus of talented staff .
It may be quicker to buy your way to the top, but it may be less painful to climb.
been numerous mega-merg-ers. But it is a struggle to fi nd a single one that was an unquali-fi ed success. History is littered with examples of companies that have found a nasty pool of toxic liabilities in their new purchase, for example.
Then there is the sheer eff ort of combining what were previously bitter rivals. Integration is no mean feat from either a logistical or technological standpoint, and it can take many years.
B E N D YS O N
B Y B E N D YS O N [email protected]
While some believe price rises will be confi ned to loss-aff ected areas, XL Re chief executive Jamie Veghte expects a global hardening of catastrophe rates at the 1 January renewals.
“I expect the short-tail market will be fi rm worldwide at the end of the year,” he says. “We have had a tremen-dous amount of nat cat activ-ity and there’s going to be a reaction as there was at 1 June and 1 July in our US renewals. I expect that momentum to continue.”
Others, such as Guy Car-penter’s EMEA chief executive Nick Frankland, have pre-dicted fl at to falling rates in Europe, but Veghte believes market forces will dictate an increase even there, despite the lack of catastro-phe losses.
Short-tail lines will harden, says Veghte
Even Europe market will see price increaseBut long-tail rates will not be aff ected
“Particularly in a geogra-phy like Europe, which requires a lot of the market’s capacity to complete its programmes, the market is going to resist any push towards price reductions,” he says.
“There will be some geog-raphies that will feel the pinch less than others, but I would expect increases in the major markets that require signifi cant capacity from the entire marketplace to get programmes done.”
However, he does not expect the losses in short-tail lines to prompt any fi rming of long-tail rates. “I think a turn in the casualty market is on the horizon,” he says. “But I don’t believe that a Japanese earthquake is going to cause fi rming of US casualty rates.”
www.grdaily.com
“I expect the short-tail market will be fi rm worldwide at the end of the year. We have had a tremendous amount of nat cat activity and there’s going to be a reaction as there was at June 1 and July 1 in our US renewals. Jamie Veghte, XL Re
B Y B E N D YS O N [email protected]
Bermudian investment fi rm Haverford has agreed to buy 25% of troubled Lloyd’s (re)insurer Omega.
Haverford, chaired by former Flagstone Re chairman Mark Byrne, will buy 60.2m shares of Omega for 83 pence a share.
On completion of the transaction, Byrne will be appointed a director and executive chairman of Omega.
Omega’s current chairman, John Coldman, will step down as chairman on completion of the off er but remain on the Omega board.
Richard Pexton, current chief executive, together with the remaining Omega directors, are to be asked to remain in their respective positions.
Mark Byrne’s father, Jack, will join the Omega board as a non-executive director.
Haverford was competing with Lloyd’s insurer Canopius to take over Omega.
Haverford to buy 25% of Omega
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RENDEZ-VOUS www.globalreinsureance.com6 M O N T E C A R L O 2 0 1 1
A year can make a lot of diff erence, and as reinsurers and reinsurance buyers begin their discussions ahead of the 1 January renewals it is clear that many of the dynamics have changed.
While 2010 had its fair share of natural and man-made catastrophes – the Chile and New Zealand earthquakes and Deepwater Horizon disaster among them – these did little to dent excess capital.
Beyond some short-term spikes in pricing, the overall softening trend continued.
Now, however, with the cost of catastrophes in the fi rst half of the year coming in at around $60bn, very little excess remaining and some reinsurers hurting more than others, it is a very diff erent story.
“Undoubtedly there is pressure on the reinsurance sector to improve returns – and we’ve still got the Gulf of Mexico wind season to go. A loss there will cause
more price correction,” says Chaucer underwriting offi cer Bruce Bartell.
These claims, their impact on reinsurance capital, along with an expected increase in demand for cover as a result of catastrophe model revisions and cat reassessments point to a fi rming of rates ahead of renewals.
How far rates climb will depend on catastrophe
activity during the second half of the year, as well as underwriting discipline and whether capital fl ows back into the industry.
On the casualty side of the business, the direction of pricing is less certain.
While unlikely to experi-ence signifi cant hardening, prices cannot soften much further, particularly given claims infl ation, poor invest-ment returns and the drying up of prior-year reserves. The pressure is on to make an underwriting profi t.
“There has been a long-term soft market in most of the major liability classes,” says Deloitte partner Ian Clark.
“There’s no sign of any material likelihood of a turn in that market, but much of that business has been writ-ten off the ability to earn investment income.
“You’ve got low interest rates and volatile equity returns – that puts the whole pricing model for liability under strain, so something has to give there.”
Jitters after fi rst-half cat costs reach $60bnUncertainty remains over casualty pricing
R E N E W A L S
BRUCE BARTELL, CHAUCER“We haven’t really seen the sort of frequency of major
events – both wind and quake – that we’ve seen in the past year
or so for a considerable time.”
IAN CLARK, DELOITTE“At an industry level, there
was surplus capital in existence. When you look at it around
individual players, there are some losers that
are bigger than others.”
T H E F E N C E
VS
Uncertainty over pricing
OH DEER!Is a yellow tax disc to a deer like a red rag to
a bull?
“A deer headbutted the windscreen of my
car, after being enticed by the
yellow tax disc,” stated an
insurance claim form for Aviva.
DOUBLE TROUBLECouple insures against having
twins. Has twins. Twice
RUBBER DUCKYWhy would you pull the
plug on a bathtub sailing expedition?
A 20-year-old merchant navy offi cer sailing from Dover to Cap Gris Nez, France, in a sea-going bathtub insured it for £100,000
in third-party liabilities, a risk which the underwriter accepted
on condition that the plug remain in position at all times.
Pressure on returns in run-up to renewals
“Low interest rates and volatile equity returns put the whole pricing model for liability under strain, so something has to give.”Ian Clark, Deloitte
www.grdaily.com
A couple in Michigan who insured against multiple births causing higher household
expenditure had twins and received a payout from their insurers. They insured against this
happening again at a higher rate and promptly had twins for the second time.
B Y E LL E N B E N N E T T [email protected]
President and chief executive of Sirius Group Allan Waters has said the company’s rebrand from White Moun-tains and its reorganisation will “drive operational effi ciencies”.
The company has hitherto operated as White Mountains inside the USA and Sirius in the rest of the world. It has now scrapped the White Moun-tains brand, and increased regulatory capital for Sirius International to $2m. White Mountains Re becomes Sirius America and will retain a $600m surplus, with a further $300m of capital and stop loss support from its parent Sirius International.
Waters said: “We’re taking on a form that’s not dissimilar to what some of our peers have already done – taking our US affi liate under our international affi liate. Over the years, it has grown to become the larger of the two organisations.”
He added that the new business would be “more tax effi cient, and over time, achieve operational effi ciencies”.
Asked for examples, he said: “One operating system; a reduction in duplication.”
Rebrand of Sirius brings ‘operational effi ciencies’
S A Y W H A T ?
“The traditional transaction remains important but we want and are work-ing towards getting better access to the C-suite.”Chris Klein, Guy Carpenter head of sales
GR DAILY day 2.indd 6GR DAILY day 2.indd 6 12/09/2011 11:16:5812/09/2011 11:16:58
RENDEZ-VOUS 7M O N T E C A R L O 2 0 1 1
M O N T Y ’ S
R E N D E Z - V O U S
G O T O … The sun is shining and temperatures are scorching. Ditch your afternoon meetings in stifl ing cafes and move to the SCOR lounge to cop a cool breeze.
S E E … Keep your eyes peeled for new Lloyd’s chairman John Nelson at tonight’s Lloyd’s cocktail party. It will be his fi rst Rendez-Vous, but not his last we hope!
D R I N K … Swap hot coff ees for ice cold afternoon cocktails. You are in Monte Carlo after all! A V O I D … The Casino at 2am. You’ll never win your money back from the House.
T O N I G H T
Last seen at Guy Carp’s free bar, Brit’s Reinhard Seitz was
surprisingly fresh as a daisy at this morning’s
Global Reinsurance cedant roundtable.
That’s my boy.
Share the joke with the class, Michael Pickel!
L A S T
N I G H T
S E N D Y O U R P I C S
A N D Q U O T E S T O . . .
Man after my own heart analyst
Peter Hughes turns on the
charm as ever
“Are Canopius and Mark Bryne
waiting for each other to drop out so they can name their price for Omega?”
The fate of Lloyd’s insurer Omega has got a lot of people talking. But as some suitors have apparently walked away
because Omega wanted more than they were willing to pay, many are
questioning the continuing interest of the remaining suitors – Canopius and
former Flagstone Re chairman Mark Byrne. Are they waiting for
each other to drop out so they can name their price?
Axis Capital chief executive John Charman tells me he will have been in the industry 40 years on 1 November.
He says there’s never been a dull moment – or an easy one – during
that time. Now that’s what I call commitment. Yet Axis’s
website says he has over 40 years’ experience.
Were Axis’s webmasters being overzealous, or have a couple of years
blended into one for John?
The tall fi gure of John Berger was notable by his absence at the Guy
Carpenter cocktail party last night. Perhaps he’s too busy with new
venture Third Point Re.
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