...Swung to 2009 net income of $246.2m from a year-earlier net loss of $175.3m as net realized and unrealized investment results rebounded to a gain of $81.8m from losses of $235m. Max Capital also posted a 2.6% increase in earned premiums to $834.3m, while incurred losses and outlays for policy benefits fell 14% to $594.6m. Its combined ratio improved to 88.1% from 91.9%.

Andrew Horton, CEO of Ireland-domiciled Lloyd's insurer Beazley, has joined the chorus of UK financial leaders who are warning that more companies will quit the UK if  its 28% corporation tax rate is retained. Mr Horton said that Beazley's move to Ireland, with its 12.5% corporation tax rate, had lowered the insurer's total tax rate by 10 percentage points. "One of the reasons we did it is that insurance is a global marketplace and we need to be able to compete", he said yesterday, as Beazley revealed a 15% hike in pre-tax gains for 2009. The lower tax rate in Ireland is thought to have boosted Beazley's bottom line by some £14m. Meanwhile, investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut the rating of Beazley to Market Perform from Outperform, although the company was termed "the best value in our Lloyd's universe". The target price was cut to 135p from 160p, partly because of the impact of Beazley's extreme de-risking of its investment portfolio, which restricted returns last year to 2.5%. KBW noted that "although Beazley signalled the de-risking of its investment stance clearly at the 1H09 results, we had assumed that this would be a temporary change until markets settled down".

Lloyd's Corporation has reshuffled its management to coincide with the release of its Strategic Plan for 2010 to 2012. General Counsel Sean McGovern is to take responsibility for Lloyd's North America. Sue Langley will now focus on modernization. Ms Langley will also take on responsibility for all market-facing initiatives at the Corporation. This will include the claims infrastructure review and the co-ordination of coverholder projects. North American operational projects will remain within the market operations team. Tom Bolt, who recently replaced Rolf Tolle as head of the Franchise Performance Directorate, will now be heading the Performance Management Directorate — reflecting the new Strategy's focus on performance management. Lloyd's will also move its broker relations division into the international markets directorate.

Bermudian re/insurer Aspen Insurance Holdings has posted 2009 net income of $473.9m, nearly four times the prior-year $103.8m, largely reflecting the near four-fold rise in underwriting income to $288.4m from $74.8m. The group's earned premiums increased 7.1% to $1.82bn, while claims losses fell 15% to $948.1, improving the combined ratio to 84.1% from 95.6%. On the investment side of the ledger, Aspen posted a 79% rise in investment income to $248.5m and swung to $11.4m in net realized and unrealized investment gains from prior-year losses of $47.9m. Chief executive Chris O'Kane said that the group has an operating return on equity of 18% "against a challenging pricing environment and historically low interest rates. We have entered 2010 in a very strong position, and our $200m share buyback in early January demonstrated our continued commitment to active capital management".