Levene and Tolle's tough talk shakes up the marke
The tensions began to show at Lloyd's this month, with a number of underwriters showing they were prepared to stand up to tough-talking, heavy hitters Lord Levene and Rolf Tolle.
The market trembled when Tolle suggested that unprofitable lines of business would be forced to quit Lloyd's - leaving marine underwriters feeling distinctly nervous. This was followed up by the warning that those who tried to "duck and hide" would be "smoked out".
Lord Levene delivered a body blow in his lecture at Airmic, when he said that underwriters would be forced to "abide by a range of standards and agreements" to "protect the Lloyd's brand".
But underwriters fought back, possibly buoyed by David Shipley's election to the Council of Lloyd's - a man described as "not afraid to upset the establishment". A challenge was issued: we may quit the market if the franchise board's operation is unacceptable.
And some Lloyd's operators did more than posture. Zenith moved its household book of business to Gibraltar to join its motor book. And motor insurer Cox Retail chief executive Neil Utley refused to rule out a similar move, given the number of rivals who are already there enjoying a more flexible regulatory regime.
Asbestos once again caused problems for insurers. Royal & SunAlliance has become embroiled in a court battle, accused of "wriggling out" of paying compensation to dying asbestos victims.
The insurer is relying on an exclusion clause. Claimants argue that it is seeking to retrospectively change the policy to exclude previously covered claims - a defence described as "just ridiculous" by the claimants' barrister.
Markel, Trenwick and ACE have also had to increase their asbestos reserves by a total of almost £2.3bn.
The government's review of the liability crisis rumbled on. Insurers received a list of 44 questions from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) covering topics such as distribution, competition, rates and claims. But controversial topics such as the performance of liability accounts in recent years and the impact of rising personal injury claims costs were bypassed.
In the meantime, the employers' liability (EL) crisis has had more parliamentary airtime.
Liberal Democrat MP Brian Cotter tabled an early day motion calling for a solution. Members of all political parties gave their support.
The Motor Insurance Database (MID) was dogged by technical difficulties, preventing policyholders from uploading vehicle information before the deadline of 19 January.
The body in charge of the MID had to begin talks with the government over ambiguities in the enabling legislation. With brokers estimating that only about 20% of vehicles are registered, can the MID carry on?
Pity loss adjusters and claims handlers. Research by the Society of Claims Technicians (SCT) claimed aggressive consumers are causing them severe stress because.
The SCT blamed programmes like the BBC's Watchdog for fuelling a demanding the consumer environment.
