The week's winners
Royal & SunAlliance up 17.7%
AIG up 6.1%
Zurich Financial Services up 5.8%
The week's losers
Hardy down 2.7%
Amlin down 2.6%
Who would be a reinsurer?
The dispute between Lloyd's and its reinsurers overshadowed surging business which buoyed the market back to its first profit in six years.
Instead of Lloyd's being seen as the sick man of insurance - a view that won't readily stick to an organisation forecasting a £1.5bn profit on its 2003 year - doubts are cast on the once-mighty reinsurers.
Warren Buffett's remarks about a major reinsurer not paying claims are still reverberating around the market with each new week bringing a new candidate.
No names are sacred - a fact that speaks eloquently for the fragility of confidence in reinsurance.
It is another reason why Lloyd's is probably right to be looking at its use of qualifying quota share. The market has made solid progress topping up its central fund and would be foolish to risk it by allowing syndicates to overstretch their capacity.
Munich Re was downgraded by Moody's, its second knock in a week, but underwriters are still keen to get into reinsurance while rates appear set to stay high.
The confidence is obvious at Cathedral, and Goshawk went to its bankers to boost its Bermudian reinsurance operation's capital to more than £240m.
Goshawk fulfilled plans reported in Insurance Times last month, syndicating its Barclays loan, taking $25m from Credit Lyonnais, bringing the total facility to $65m and its gearing to 30.6%.
