Günter Geyer, CEO of Austria-based Vienna Insurance Group, has said that European Union rules that require investments to be backed by higher levels of capital could force insurers to lower their levels of investment in equities and property. In an interview reported by Bloomberg, Mr Geyer said that "I'll just sell my shares and my capital need would immediately be lowered drastically". It has warned that in a worst-case scenario Solvency II, scheduled for introduction in October 2012 but now thought likely by several market-watchers to be delayed until January 2013, could cause Vienna to need as much as €1.5bn ($2bn) in additional capital.

UK-listed oil company BP, which had contracted with Transocean for use of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, has said it is responsible for the cost of the clean-up, having no outside insurance for such events. "The oil is ours and we are responsible for the cleanup", said a BP spokesman. The spill has spread to an area of at least 600 sq mi and could reach the Louisiana coast by next weekend. Mary Landry of the US Coast Guard claimed that "if we don't secure the well, this could be one of the most significant spills in US history". The cost of cleaning up the spill is estimated at well over $100m. This would not include the estimated $100m cost of drilling a relief well, the long-term solution to the problem.

French reinsurer Scor has reported gross written premiums of €1.613bn ($2.13bn) for the first quarter of 2010, up 3.3% year on year. Net income declined to €36m from €93m in Q1 2009, but investment income swung from a loss of €4m to a gain of €172m. The non-life combined ratio increased to 108.6% from 99.4%. The basic earnings-per-share declined to €0.20 from €0.52. Scor said that its non-life loss ratio included 20.2pp of natural catastrophe claims. Scor CEO and chairman Denis Kessler said that "the first quarter of 2010 confirms the Group's ability to deliver positive results thanks to its twin-engine strategy and its capacity to absorb large shocks". Scor claimed that the outcome of its April renewals, mainly in Asia, were "very satisfactory". It noted that "the combination of the increasingly favourable perception of Scor in the industry and the Group's momentum has enabled [Scor Global P&C's] teams to achieve a growth of 14%". It said that the new business had been achieved "in a selective way", and that the business that had been renewed or acquired had shown "an expected level of profitability that is still improving, but at a slower pace compared to the January renewals due to stability in Japan". The company claimed that, on the catastrophe side, "there is an underlying movement towards reduced pressure on reinsurance pricing in the Americas". Scor Global P&C premiums were €909m for Q1, up 4.7% year on year. Meanwhile on the life side, which now makes up about half of Scor's business, gross written premiums were mainly flat at €704m, compared with €693m in Q1 2009. The operating margin improved to 6.0% from 4.5%, attributed to underlying technical gains and improved investment results. Finally at Scor Global Investments there was a reported net realized gain of €54m.