The reinsurer, in turn, may pass part of its risk along to some other corporate victim.
The world's second-biggest reinsurer will then be led by Jacques Aigrain, Mr Coomber's deputy.
Odyssey RE Holdings (38, ORH), the reinsurer backing a sizable amount of property coverage in the region.
Taisei, a middling Japanese reinsurer that had planned a merger with two others, filed for insolvency in November.
ECONOMIST: Reinsurers are taking on less risk, at a higher price
In 1999 Moore Capital helped create Max Re, and it is now the biggest shareholder in the Nasdaq-listed Bermuda reinsurer.
Inter Ocean Re, a Bermuda reinsurer trafficking mostly in finite deals, announced last month that it was closed for new business.
Validus, based in Pembroke, Bermuda, is a large reinsurer and specialty insurer.
Late Tuesday, Gerova, a Bermuda-based, Cayman Islands-registered firm that describes itself as a reinsurer, announced yet another glitch in its bid to find new leadership.
Yet Martin Kauer, chief financial officer of Converium, a Swiss reinsurer, thinks an over-reliance on bonds might be dangerous too, if interest rates rise again.
He is not well-connected in business and politics, unlike his counterpart at Credit Suisse, Walter Kielholz, who is also vice-chairman of Swiss Re, a big reinsurer.
"It's not a good time to initiate protectionist measures in any shape or form, " said Kurt Karl, head of economic research at Swiss Re, the world's largest reinsurer.
Other particularly weak life companies are Hannoversche Leben, Victoria (owned by Munich Re, a big reinsurer) and the life arm of Gerling, one of Germany's weakest general insurers.
ECONOMIST: Many European life companies are still in dreadful shape
Swiss Reinsurance, the world's second-largest reinsurer, told the BBC News website that economic losses were estimated to be higher than insured losses (expected to be around 500m Swiss Francs).
According to Clarence Wong of Swiss Re, a reinsurer, life-insurance premiums in the first seven months of this year were 39% higher than in the same period in 2002.
Deutsch: AHL VereinslogoWith excellent underwriting results and solid investment portfolio returns , Aspen Insurance ( AHL), a property and casualty insurer and reinsurer has been consistently delivering positive earnings surprises.
Another rub: unwritten and nonbinding agreements common in the reinsurance industry that have the effect of lowering risk to the reinsurer by allowing it to wriggle out of a deal without a loss, in the event claims skyrocket.
The London Stock Exchange is headlining the law among reasons that foreign firms should list stock in the U.K. instead of the U.S. German carmaker Porsche AG and reinsurer Benfield Group are among those scared away by Sarbanes-Oxley from U.S. listings lately, meaning less business for local exchanges and fewer choices for investors.
应用推荐