News in brief

Kylie kaunched
QBE International Insurance has launched its new internet-based underwriting system, Kylie, into North America, to help it manage Affinity Group's recreational vehicle insurance.

QBE, which underwrites Affinity's recreational vehicle insurance, said Kylie would be used nationwide.

Kylie connects sales, marketing, administration, claims and underwriter through a single system. It also integrates with legacy systems, QBE said.

The system was developed in conjunction with FirstBaseIT, a boutique IT house which focuses entirely on e-business.

Andersen in trouble
Accountancy giant Andersen has been accused of knowing its Australian client HIH Insurance kept misleading financial documents.

The Australian Royal Commission into the collapse of HIH, earlier this week heard Andersen signed accounts that overstated, or incorrectly stated, HIH's financial position at 30 June 2000.

HIH, once Australia's second largest general insurer, entered provisional liquidation on 15 March 2001, after saying it would post a loss of A$800m (£293m) for the fiscal first half of 2000-2001.

Its total losses could be as much as A$5.6bn (£2.04bn).

Andersen issued a statement warning it was too early to jump to conclusions.

Amlin 2001 - A2
Amlin Syndicate 2001 has retained its A2 (good) insurance financial strength rating from Moody's, due to the stability of its WTC loss estimate, the quality of its reinsurance programme and its lack of cash flow.

The outlook on the rating is stable. Syndicate 2001's WTC loss estimate is currently £480m gross, and £90m net of reinsurance.

The syndicate's rating, which had been downgraded by one notch in October, was also helped by its diversified book of business, Moody's said.