Even as Bermuda executives chatted up the Jan. 1, 2012 reinsurance pricing upside of catastrophe events and model changes recently, midyear 2011 renewal strategies varied widely along with opinions about where to bet reinsurance capital.

After re-emphasizing that Standard & Poors rating action on U.S. long-term sovereign debt will have little, if any, effect on the insurance industry, Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, says there are some underlying economic conditions today that need to be looked at.

Validus Groups ongoing hostile takeover bid with Transatlantic Holdings took on heightened acrimony this week as Validus says it would open its books to Transatlantic and sued the carrier for breach of fiduciary duty.

With $60 million in equity capital supporting them, two veteran insurance industry executives, Pat Kilkenny and Bob Kimmel, have formed K2 Insurance Services, LLC, a managing general agency that seeks to acquire other MGAs.