COMMENT In a stream of agreements over the past year, a series of mainly US companies has settled billions of dollars worth of claims with Equitas, the company set up in 1996 to save the Lloyd's of London insurance market from meltdown. Lloyd's nearly collapsed under claims from the US on policies written before 1993 stemming mainly from asbestos and other pollution-related illnesses. It established Equitas to reinsure these liabilities and give Lloyd's a new start.
Equitas has now secured agreements with some of the world's biggest companies, including Exxon, Ford, General Electric and Halliburton. It has resolved roughly two-thirds of the liabilities it was born with, says Scott Moser, Equitas's chief executive. Most of the companies declare themselves "pleased" with their agreements - as did Halliburton this year after Equitas agreed to pay it £575m ($1.1bn) to resolve all outstanding claims.
