Insurer Chubb and broker Aon have warned directors and officer in the Isle of Man that there could be gaps in their cover. Speaking at an Institute of Directors' seminar on the island, Aon associate director Gwyneth McShane said that the changing Financial Services Commission regulations on insurance were "acting as a catalyst for directors in the Isle of Man to review the adequacy of their insurance cover". Chub Specialty's development underwriter Antony Statham said that "directors are facing an increasingly risky world with new legislation, more litigation and broader geographical jurisdictions". He also noted that even directors who had left or retired needed to be aware that they could still be held liable for events that took place when they were at the company concerned.

The majority of syndicates monitored by Argenta Research have reported an improvement in their expected profit percentage for underwriting Year of Account 2007. Between June and September, 21 syndicates improved their forecasts, while only three reported a deterioration. Seven left their prediction unchanged. QBE syndicate 386 reported a 15-point improvement on its range, but KGM's motor syndicate 260 reported a six-point deterioration

The Walker Review on corporate governance, an attempt to make UK financial services companies run themselves more efficiently and more transparently, has accepted that non-life insurers are a different financial beast from banks. Recommendation 7, which covers the time that a chairman should commit to a company, said that it "should be proportionately less" for an insurer than for a major bank. Another recommendation is that only FTSE-100 banks and life assurers be required to "establish a board risk committee separately from the audit committee". Sean McGovern, Lloyd's director and general counsel, told Insurance Day that the report had also been kinder on insurers in the field of non-executive directors. "(The Walker Review) said non-executive directors should spend 30 to 36 days a year, but this only applies to FTSE 100 banks and life assurers. He is not recommending this applies to the general insurance sector". Mr McGovern added that "our message seems to have been heard and the proposals were properly targeted", Mr McGovern said.

The loss burden from weather-related catastrophes is on an upward trend and a relatively benign 2009 does not contradict this, according to Torsten Jeworrek, head of reinsurance business at Munich Re. Speaking ahead of the forthcoming Copenhagen climate summit, running from December 7 to December 18, he said that this made it all-important that "even if an all-embracing agreement does not seem feasible in Copenhagen, at the very least fundamental framework conditions should be established. We cannot afford a delay at the expense of future generations". Munich Re head of Geo Risks Research Peter Hoppe said that "even conservative estimates show that we are talking here about climate change costs already running into billions per year. The insurance industry is able to adapt but, in the end, each individual has to bear the cost". Mr Hoppe said that "a binding commitment" was needed to limit global warming and that this would necessitate a 50% in carbon emissions from 1990 levels by 2050. This in turn would require an 80% cut in industrial countries.