Risk, Re-/Insurance and Future Thinking
From the monthly archives:
CEO Jacques Aigrain told Swiss daily NZZ that rates in the reinsurance market are picking up again — “We are seeing that the conditions and margins in the actual reinsurance business are improving.” However, “lower returns on investment should be expected” he went on to say, though perhaps that didn’t really need spelling out. Swiss Re [...]
{ 0 comments }
In an article called Can the US Do An IMF On Itself? Hellasious posits the global financial systems in terms of fire brigade HQs. Picture the US as the Global Fire Department (GFD). In the last ten years or so the GFD became extremely irresponsible. It ignored the fire safety of its own firehouse, which became [...]
{ 0 comments }
The City is getting to be a cold and windy place for many nowadays. In homage, here is this Holga-ised shot taken from my office, with that Berlin-in-the-60s feel about it. Brrrr.
{ 0 comments }
This just in on the e-mail: Somali Pirates in Discussions to Acquire Citigroup. November 20 (Bloomberg) — The Somali pirates, renegade Somalis known for hijacking ships for ransom in the Gulf of Aden, are negotiating a purchase of Citigroup. The pirates would buy Citigroup with new debt and their existing cash stockpiles, earned from hijacking numerous [...]
This article from the NYT does not make happy reading for D&O carriers.It’s about a mortgage underwriter at WaMu, and is a telling, salutory tale (like so many that are emerging) of corporate greed and, more to the point, stupidity.“If a loan came from a top loan officer, they didn’t care what the situation was, you [...]
{ 0 comments }
In the recent (24.10.08) case of Markel –v- Gothaer Allgemeine & Kontinentale the Commercial Court considered the nature and role of an agent in a dispute over a Claims Co-operation Clause. It’s an oddly fact-specific case, but there are some wider issues in play. This was a summary judgment application by reinsurers (Markel) to dismiss [...]
{ 0 comments }
There’s an interesting post from Hellasious on Sudden Debt about the fundamental wrongs in the US economy (which shades over into general considerations on the American Way of Life).His 3 facts are these:Fact 1: There is too much debt in the economy to be properly serviced by the earned income generated. Total debt has doubled as a [...]
Well the new FT front page is much better than the old, easier to read, less corrupted by ads, better laid out.Be nice if they would transfer the look to all other pages, too. I should have thought it would be simple enough to redo the CSS sheets for the whole lot, and not just [...]
From the always wonderful PJ O’Rourke comes this simple person’s take on how we got into this mess: Brokerages were saying, “We’re going to sell you a room full of horse s–. And with that much horse s–, you just know there’s a pony in there somewhere.”
In a rather vulgarly titled (”Obama presidency is good new for the legal profession“) article, law marketeer Larry Bodine points to some areas that might cause renewed legal problems in the States under the new regime. In particular: Tort reform has been so effective that there are hardly any trials any more. The National Center for [...]
