Former insurance executive banned

JOHN BYRNE, a former executive of Warren Buffett’s Cologne Re Dublin unit, was banned from managing insurance companies in Australia and Britain for his role in “sham” reinsurance transactions, regulators said.

Mr Byrne was banned for five years by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the British Financial Services Authority.

He has agreed to help Australian regulators with continuing investigations into the role of others involved in the transactions, the Australian authority said.