Bermuda Insurance Market

  • Home
  • Bermuda Insurance Market

SHOWING:

251 to 300 of 432 results
  

Sort By:

Search

Filter By:

Topics

show more show less

Jurisdictions

show more show less

Allegations

Willis Group enters Odyssey Re-Stirling Cooke lawsuit

July 31, 2001
Bermuda-registered broker/risk manager Willis Group Holdings has applied to intervene in a civil lawsuit filed by Odyssey Re against Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings and others at the High Court in London. Willis, which is effectively seeking to become a defendant, is also believed to have filed a separate lawsuit against Stirling Cooke, apparently in order to cover all liability scenarios.

UPS and Overseas Partners celebrate tax court decision

June 30, 2001
A US appeals court has overturned a 1999 decision that a reinsurance program operated by UPS and Bermuda-based Overseas Partners Ltd. amounted to tax evasion.The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals said the reinsurance program, which covered extra package insurance for UPS clients, was not a "sham transaction", as determined by the IRS and Tax Court.

Stirling Cooke shareholders approve name change

June 30, 2001
Stirling Cooke Brown's shareholders voted at its AGM on May 23 to approve changing the firm's name to Atlantic Star Insurance Company Ltd. - a move which was disclosed two months ago in InsideBermuda. The make-over is part of a continuing attempt by the company to rid itself of the stench of its founders Nicholas Brown and Mark Cooke.

XL Capital controls 18.5% of Mutual Risk Management following deal

June 30, 2001
XL Capital is now by far the biggest shareholder in Mutual Risk Management following an XL-led $112 million financing deal that saved the troubled firm from having its ratings lowered.As of June 15, 2001, XL Capital was the beneficial shareholder of 18.5 per cent of MRM's common, according to a recent filing with the SEC.

International Risk Management Group fighting $200 m lawsuit

June 30, 2001
Captive manager International Risk Management (Bermuda) Ltd. is fighting a $200 million lawsuit filed in the United States by British-based minerals giant Rio Tinto PLC.In the lawsuit, IRMBL has been accused of mismanaging Rio Tinto's Bermuda-registered captive, Three Crowns Insurance Company Ltd., by failing to obtain adequate reinsurance coverage.Other defendants are Three Crown's reinsurance brokers: Minet Ltd., Alexander & Alexander of California Inc., Jardine Insurance Brokers Inc., Emett & Chandler Inc., Aon Risk Services Inc. of Northern California Insurance Services and Aon Corporation.

Would-be investor in Resource Underwriters accused of fraud

June 30, 2001
The potential embarrassment that Bermuda avoided by not granting a license to Robin Spencer-Arscott's Resource Underwriters in 1997 has been hammered home by an SEC lawsuit filed in the United States.The man whom Spencer-Arscott claimed was providing Resource's $30 million start-up capital, New York State-based Steven Blumhagen, has been accused of masterminding a $12 million investment fraud.Steven D. Blumhagen and his wife, Susan, who are both 50, are defendants in a civil lawsuit filed last year at the United States District Court for the Western District of New York.

Stirling Cooke plans name change to ‘Atlantic Star Insurance’

April 30, 2001
Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings plans to change its name to Atlantic Star Insurance Group Limited as part a re-branding of the beleaguered broker. Shareholders will vote on the name change at the company's annual general meeting on May 23, according to the company's recent Proxy filing with the SEC.

ESG Re shareholder seeks voluntary liquidation of the firm

April 30, 2001
A major shareholder in beleaguered Bermuda-based reinsurer ESG Re has called on directors to liquidate the firm or resign their seats on the board at the AGM on May 8. Peter M. Collery, President of New York-based investment advisor SC Fundamental LLC, believes the time has come to pull the plug on John C. Head III's latest reinsurance flop.

Suspicious trading patterns of MRM stock

April 19, 2001
News of Mutual Risk Management's infusion of $112.5 million from a consortium of XL Capital Ltd, First Union Capital Partners, High Ridge Capital and Century Capital Partners II seems to have leaked out yesterday before the deal was officially announced, judging by trading patterns on the New York Stock Exchange.

Mutual Risk Management shares continue to plummet

April 17, 2001
The collapse of the share price of Mutual Risk Management is continuing today, with the price down by 24 per cent to just $3.75 per share on heavy volume of 285,000 in the first two hours of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Bermuda regulators act against Sentinel Insurance

February 28, 2001
Bermuda's Registrar of Companies has exercised its statutory powers to order an inspection of Sentinel Insurance Company Ltd., which is represented on the island by Bott and Associates.The inspection began after a successful application to the Bermuda Supreme Court on December 11, 2000 under Section 30 of The Insurance Act 1978 and Section 132 of The Companies Act 1981.

Two new lawsuits filed in Platinum Indemnity $60 m reinsurance dispute

February 28, 2001
A $60 million reinsurance dispute that could lead to the collapse of Bermuda-based rent-a-captive Platinum Indemnity Ltd. escalated recently with the filing of two new lawsuits in New York.In one action, Bank of America N. A. and Platinum Indemnity Ltd. are seeking $29,335,032 against Pennsylvania-based Diamond State Insurance Company.In the other lawsuit, Bank of America and Palladium Insurance, which is affiliated with Platinum, are seeking $26,995,000 against UK-based Terra Nova Insurance Company Ltd.

MRM insider trades

February 28, 2001
The collapse of Mutual Risk Management's stock price shows the wisdom of several insiders who reported last November that they had exercised options and sold shares for a profit, rather than hang on to them.Records filed with the SEC shows that insiders made a combined profit of $533,133 on the stock market by exercising options at $15.14 per share and selling them for between $17.82 and $18.73.

MRM share price plummets after $46.1M charge

February 28, 2001
Mutual Risk Management's share price fell by more than 25 per cent in one day after the firm reported a net loss of $37.7 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2000. The loss was primarily due to MRM taking an after-tax charge of $46.1 million or $1.11 per share to establish a reserve to settle reinsurance disputes relating to its Program Business.

Fidelity Low-Priced Fund becomes big investor in Stirling Cooke

February 28, 2001
A mutual fund that has accumulated a ten per cent stake in financially distressed Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings has one of the best reputations in its peer group. The Fidelity Low-Priced Stock Fund (Ticker: FLPSX) returned 25.74 per cent over the 12 months ended February 23, 2001, greatly outperforming the S&P500, which lost 7.37 per cent.

MRM fights for reinsurance payments

January 31, 2001
Mutual Risk Management boss Robert Mulderig says the group's multi-million dollar disputes with reinsurers is the single biggest factor holding back its share price on NYSE.At September 30, 2000, MRM was involved in litigation and arbitration to reclaim $47 million from its reinsurers, putting a strain on its cash-flow and share price, which is currently at about $13.50.

Troubled ESG Re settles Radix Health lawsuit in Wisconsin

January 31, 2001
A lawsuit filed in the United States against subsidiaries of the troubled Bermuda-based ESG Re group was settled in early January.Plaintiff Radix Health Connection LLC, which is registered in Wisconsin and based in Chicago, had filed a lawsuit against European Specialty Reinsurance (Ireland) Ltd. and European Specialty Reinsurance (North America) Ltd. on June 14, 2000 at the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Break out the vodka: MRM buys Valmet Group

December 31, 2000
Mutual Risk Management is due to complete the purchase of Bermuda-registered financial services firm Valmet Group by January 2, 2001. In acquiring Valmet, MRM is taking over an entity that has received much international publicity over the last few years due to its ties with Russia.

Everest Re buys secretive Bermuda reinsurer AFC Re

December 31, 2000
One of the most secretive commercial reinsurers in Bermuda has been sold after three years in business, about two-thirds of which it appears to have been up for sale. AFC Re, which was capitalized at $100 million when it formed in October, 1997, was bought for $17 million in cash by Everest Re (Bermuda) in a deal that was announced on December 22, 2000.

ACE sues CIGNA for $170 million, alleges accounting and tax errors

December 31, 2000
ACE Ltd. filed a civil complaint against CIGNA on December 11, 2000 alleging breach of contract stemming from its $3.45 billion acquisition of CIGNA's property and casualty business in July, 1999. ACE is seeking compensatory damages of $218 million, comprising $170 million in alleged over-valuation of the acquired business and $48 million under a Tax Sharing Agreement. ACE is also asking for a declaration that it is not liable to CIGNA for any additional tax liabilities.

International Risk Management Group split up between Aon and management

December 31, 2000
Three months after being officially denied to Inside Bermuda, it was announced on December 7 that Aon had bought the global captive management and risk finance consulting operations of the International Risk Management Group. The rest of IRMG, i.e. its property loss control consulting business, Global Risk Consultants Corp., is being sold to existing senior management in a Management Buy Out.

Mutual Risk to buy Valmet Group

December 22, 2000
Mutual Risk Management, whose share price has been in the doldrums for several months on the New York Stock Exchange (Ticker - 'MM'), is in the process of completing the purchase of the Valmet Group, a financial services group with operations in eight different locations.

Martin Hoffman Interview: Part Three

November 30, 2000
InsideBermuda continues this month with the third installment of our in-depth interview with New York-based businessman Martin Hoffman, who has attracted his fair share of publicity since he entered the insurance industry in the 1960s and has been an active participant in the Bermuda market.

Losses mount at Stirling Cooke

November 30, 2000
Faced with mounting legal bills and no longer earning brokerage commissions and underwriting fees by spinning premiums around in a circle, Stirling Cooke has reported another heavy quarterly loss. The company lost $2.6 million or 27 cents per share for the quarter ended September 30, almost identical to the corresponding period of 1999.

James Kelly cashes in MRM shares

September 30, 2000
Mutual Risk Management's Chief Financial Officer, James Kelly, received $2.76 million in August from the sale of 150,000 of the company's common shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

Q&A with Stirling Cooke over potential liabilities from Transamerica arbitration rulings

June 30, 2000
Inside Bermuda recently carried out a question and answer session with Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings about its potential liability as a result of last year's Transamerica arbitration rulings, the departure of long-standing associate Reg Billyard, who was portrayed extremely negatively in both arbitration rulings and a new lawsuit filed against it by AXA Re in relation to Hollywood movies.

Reg Billyard retires, leaves behind carnage

June 30, 2000
Bermuda-based broker Reg Billyard, whose alleged malpractice has contributed to chaos in world reinsurance markets, appears to have left the industry. Billyard retired as President of JEH Re Underwriting Management (Bermuda) Ltd. in May and moved from Bermuda to his native England.

AXA Re sues over Hollywood movie financing fiasco

June 30, 2000
Paris-based AXA Re, which faces massive losses from reinsuring Hollywood movies, has filed a lawsuit against Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings, which brokered a small portion of the business. Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings Ltd., Stirling Cooke Brown Reinsurance Brokers Ltd. and one of the group's former brokers, Sawtantar Sharma, are defendants with Chase Manhattan Bank and George Litto Pictures Inc., of Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, California, in a lawsuit filed on May 2, 2000 at the Supreme Court for the State of New York.

Transamerica wins second ‘spiral’ arbitration

January 31, 2000
California-based Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Co. has won a second arbitration over its refusal to pay multi-million dollar reinsurance claims on coverage brokered by Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings. The losing party was Alan R. Bird, on his own behalf and representing all members of Lloyd's Syndicate 103 for the 1993/94 years of account.

Alternative Risk Reinsurance Company Ltd.: An Analysis

January 31, 2000
Inside Bermuda can today disclose further details about a Cayman Islands-registered company that Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings has been so reluctant to discuss. The reason might be because Alternative Risk Reinsurance Company Limited is a joint venture between Stirling Cooke and the individuals behind New Jersey-based Unicover Managers.

BF&M settlement: A breakdown of who pays what

December 31, 1999
One of Bermuda's longest-running farces came to an end this month when the Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company trial ended with an out-of-court settlement. Seven months into the trial, the corporate and individual defendants threw in the towel and appear to have given the liquidators of BFMIC virtually everything they were seeking.

Opinion Piece: Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance settlement

December 31, 1999
The cave-in by the defendants in the Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company trial brings to an end one of the most disgraceful episodes in the history of the island's offshore business sector. Although the standard 'nobody admits any wrongdoing' clause was built into the settlement, it does not take a genius to figure out who won the lawsuit and who lost it.

MRM directors file to sell shares

November 30, 1999
Two directors of Mutual Risk Management - Jerry Rosenbloom and Allan Fulkerson - gave separate notice to the SEC on September 23 that they intended to each sell 20,000 of the company's shares. There has been no notification to the SEC that the shares have been sold which may indicate that the that the price dropped too steeply to meet their sell criteria.

Annuity & Life Re/Scottish Annuity & Life comaprison

November 30, 1999
One decided to incorporate in Bermuda, the other chose the Cayman Islands. Both offer annuity and life insurance products, both opened for business in 1998 and both immediately went public. The similarities end there, though, as Annuity & Life Re, which is based in Bermuda and raised $370 million of start-up capital, and Scottish Annuity & Life Re Holdings, which is based in the Cayman Islands and raised $250 million, have enjoyed contrasting fortunes on NASDAQ since opening for business.

Q&A with Don Schuster, Stirling Cooke’s PR spokesman

November 30, 1999
Don Schuster, of The Torrenzano Group, of New York, was hired by Stirling Cooke earlier this year to improve its public relations, which, until that point, included a policy of not taking Inside Bermuda's telephone calls. However, as you should gather from a question and answer session below, the main change from the 'No Comment' days of Mark Cooke and Nicholas Brown, who have both been fired as officers in recent months, is that the company now takes more words to say not very much at all.

Stirling Cooke: Where did the $1.4 million go?

November 30, 1999
Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings has refused to explain a mysterious $1.4 million investment write-down that was disclosed in its latest 10Q filing with the SEC. The company is being so secretive about the write-down that it has created an irresistible impression that it has something to hide.

MRM and insiders snap up the company’s stock

October 31, 1999
Mutual Risk Management and its officers and directors have taken advantage of the recent massive collapse in the company's stock price by aggressively snapping up shares on the open market.

KPMG resigns as LaSalle Re auditor over independence issue

October 31, 1999
KPMG has resigned as auditor of LaSalle Re due to a conflict of interest.The accounting firm cited "a potential independence issue arising from a personal relationship between an officer of LaSalle Re and a member of the firm of KPMG not working on the LaSalle Re audit", stated a press release issued by the reinsurer.

Stirling Cooke applies to dismiss Odyssey Re’s amended complaint

October 31, 1999
Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings Ltd. has filed a motion to dismiss an amended RICO complaint filed against it by Odyssey Re at federal court in New York.The Bermuda-based broker/reinsurer claims that the amended complaint "contains no new causes of action against Stirling Cooke".

New-look Clarendon ends Eton Management contract

October 31, 1999
The Clarendon Insurance Group has terminated a substantial business production agreement with New York-based Eton Management, which is run by notorious businessman Martin Hoffman.

American Re claims ‘deception’ regarding coverage for Business Insurance Group

October 31, 1999
American Re has claimed it was duped into providing $175 million of workers' compensation reinsurance coverage for Superior National Insurance Company subsidiary Business Insurance Group.The allegation is contained in American Re's answer to a lawsuit brought against it and Bermuda-based Inter-Ocean Reinsurance Company by Superior National Insurance Company in the Superior Court of California.

Superior National’s aggressive tactics in dispute with Inter-Ocean Re

September 30, 1999
Industry watchers have been taken aback by the aggressive strategy adopted by Superior National Insurance Group Inc. in its $175 million contract dispute with Inter-Ocean Re and Inter-Ocean's principal shareholder, American Re-Insurance Company.Not content to wait for the outcome of arbitration proceedings that are due to be held soon in New York, Superior National filed a lawsuit against both parties in Los Angeles County Superior Court on September 7 in which they seek $200 million.

Inter-Ocean refutes Superior National’s ‘false’ allegations

September 30, 1999
Inside Bermuda has received a letter from Inter-Ocean President Mervin Holland in response to allegations made to the media about his company by Superior National Insurance Company President Chris Seaman.Holland was particularly upset at an article that appeared in The Royal Gazette newspaper on September 23 headlined: "Inter-Ocean tried to mug us - US insurer."

Stirling Cooke’s little-known Cayman affiliate

September 30, 1999
The Bermuda-based Stirling Cooke insurance group is a shareholder in a little-known reinsurer called Alternative Risk Reinsurance Company Limited that is registered in the Cayman Islands and managed by Mutual Risk Management (Cayman) Limited.