Bermuda Stock Exchange ready to launch insurance index
The Bermuda Stock Exchange will next month launch an index and mutual fund that will track the performance of ten publicly-listed insurers and reinsurers based in Bermuda.
Stirling Cooke – profit up but what lies around the corner?
Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings, a publicly-listed company over which there are several question marks, has reported a profit of $4 million for the three months ended March 31, 1998 - a 41 per cent increase on the same period a year earlier.
The company reported that revenues went up by 39 per cent to $19.9 million, while reporting that expenses also increased by 39 per cent to $15 million.
Bermuda Insurance Market Ownership Review: 21 officers worth over $10 million
RenaissanceRe president and CEO James Stanard has topped a survey valuing the shareholdings held by the top officers of Bermuda-registered publicly-listed insurers in their own companies, with a stake valued at $48.7 million on March 16, 1998.
Stirling Cooke accountant Brian Hynes has conviction for fraud
An accountant who participated in one of the world's best-known insurance frauds is currently working for Bermuda-based insurance group Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings as a financial accountant, we can disclose.
Brian J. Hynes, former managing director of Carlos Miro-owned Anglo-American International Reinsurance Co., is employed by Stirling Cooke at its London office.
MRM’s millionaire insurance bosses
Mutual Risk Management chairman and CEO Robert Mulderig received a financial package worth $2.67 million for fiscal 1997, according to the company's latest Proxy Statement filing with the SEC. Mulderig received a salary of $452,250, a bonus of $486,842, pension contributions of $11,309 and a profit of $1.72 million from exercising stock options.
His right-hand man, John Kessock, who is president of the company, received a package valued at $2.64 million, comprising a salary of $452,504, a bonus of $486,842, pension contributions of $4,000 and a stock option profit of $1.7 million.
Mystery over Clarendon’s dubious producer
Anyone doing business with the Clarendon Insurance Group should take a close look at further evidence we have obtained which clearly shows that either a senior officer of the group is lying about its relationship with a dubious business producer or the producer is submitting fraudulent documents to the London insurance market.
Either way, the Clarendon officer who may have lied to us, Thomas Corteville, vice president/financial operations of Clarendon National Insurance Company, seemed more concerned with attacking this newsletter than analyzing the facts.
Mid Ocean’s Michael Butt receives $7 million package for fiscal 1997
Michael Butt, the 55-year-old president and CEO of Bermuda-based reinsurer Mid Ocean Limited, received a financial package worth $7 million in fiscal 1997, according to the company's latest Proxy Statement filing with the SEC.Butt's remuneration comprised $485,000 in salary, $500,000 as a performance bonus, $209,800 in travel and housing allowances, $53,100 in contributions to his pension plan, a profit of $5.31 million from share options he exercised during the year and a further $417,600 in restricted stock awards that were granted in previous years but which vested during fiscal 1997.
EMLICO battle goes to Privy Council
The complicated legal battle over whether General Electric-subsidiary Electric Mutual Liability Insurance Company Limited should be liquidated in Massachusetts or Bermuda is scheduled to be heard by the Privy Council in London - the highest court in Bermuda's judicial system - next month.In an added twist to a drama whose circumstances change on a regular basis, Kemper Re brought, on February 20, its second lawsuit at Bermuda Supreme Court challenging the decision to allow EMLICO to redomicile to Bermuda.
John Deuss forms Bermuda rent-a-captive
One of the better kept secrets in Bermuda over the last few years has been the entry into the insurance market of Bermuda-based Dutch oil billionaire John Deuss.Not one for publicizing his business interests, Deuss quietly formed Transglobal Insurance (Holdings) Limited and its operating subsidiary, Transglobal Insurance Limited, in Bermuda on February 22, 1996.
Mutual Risk Management is best-performing Bermuda insurance stock, Mid Ocean is worst
Mutual Risk Management, which derives almost all of its income from fees and retains little or no risk, had the best performing shares of any Bermuda-based, publicly-listed insurer for the last eleven months of 1997.
Marsh & McLennan steps into punitive damages coverage row in Bermuda
Marsh & McLennan, the world's largest insurance broker, has raised eyebrows in Bermuda by setting up an offshore facility to circumvent laws in sixteen US states that discourage companies from buying insurance against punitive damages awards.The broker's actions have drawn attention to the controversial but increasingly popular practice of American insurance companies using offshore structures they ultimately own to write politically sensitive punitive damages coverage they are not allowed to provide in the US.
Mark Hardy applies for bankruptcy discharge
Businessman Mark Hardy, who ran the Bermuda-based Focus/Forum group of insurance companies that went bust in 1990, is seeking to be discharged as a bankrupt in his native United Kingdom.
Stirling Cooke – What you won’t find in its prospectus
Investors contemplating taking part in the $50 million IPO of Bermuda-based insurance broker/risk manager Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings Limited, which is 24 per cent owned by Goldman Sachs, may be interested in a few details they will not find in the company's share prospectus.
Perhaps the most noteworthy is the involvement of its subsidiary Raydon Underwriting Management in one of the world's largest insurance frauds.
Raydon, which shares offices with Stirling Cooke at Victoria Hall, Hamilton, had the dubious distinction of managing reinsurer North American Fidelity & Guarantee.
Resource Underwriters appears to have been turned down by Bermuda’s regulators
An application to incorporate Resource Underwriters, the proposed $300 million reinsurer fronted by Robin Spencer-Arscott, appears to have been turned down by Bermuda's regulators.The Admissions Committee of the Insurance Advisory Committee met on November 7 to determine the fate of the company, said sources.
Credibility concerns hold up Resource Underwriters
Concerns about the credibility of some of the people involved are holding up the formation in Bermuda of Resource Underwriters, a new $300 million reinsurer whose front-man is Robin Spencer-Arscott.
MRM boss Robert Mulderig on the IRS, IPC and his recent sale of company shares
Robert Mulderig is chairman and CEO of Mutual Risk Management, one of Bermuda's best-performing alternative risk companies for several years. Here Mulderig discusses the company's business affairs with Inside Bermuda.
Robin Spencer-Arscott attempts to set up new Bermuda insurer
Robin Spencer-Arscott, who lost his position as chairman of Aon Re and Aon Risk Services in Bermuda after Aon's acquisition of Alexander & Alexander, is believed to be close to setting up a new $300-$400 million reinsurer in Bermuda.Details of the new reinsurer have not been announced but Spencer-Arscott has been telling insurance people that he hopes to have the company up and running by the Rendezvous de Septembre gathering in Monte Carlo next month.
Black and Cascio resign from Stockton Re
The ability of finite risk reinsurer Stockton Re to continue its impressive growth since it was formed three years ago is in question following the resignations last month of chief underwriters Richard Black and Michael Cascio, who effectively ran the insurance side of the company.Their departures followed differences with senior management over the future direction of the firm following the recent sale of its investment manager and sister company, Commodities Corporation, to Goldman Sachs.
Centre Re facing legal action over Anglo American
Bermuda-based Centre Reinsurance Holdings is facing legal action following the recent provisional liquidation of UK firm Anglo American Insurance Company, which Centre Re both owned and reinsured.Inside Bermuda has been told that creditors are going to sue Centre Re, alleging that Centre Re and its parent, Swiss-based Zurich Insurance Company, have misled Anglo creditors and acted in its own interests to the detriment of creditors through a series of actions since 1992.
Compensation review of officers of publicly-listed insurers based in Bermuda
Brian O' Hara, chairman and chief executive officer of both excess liability carrier Exel Ltd. and its main operating subsidiary X. L., was by far the best paid officer in 1996 of all the executives of Bermuda-based insurers that are publicly-listed in the United States, according to a salaries survey conducted by Offshore Business News & Research.The review shows that O'Hara took home a financial package worth $5.52 million for fiscal 1996, more than $2 million greater than the next highest-paid officer, Michael Butt, president and CEO of property catastrophe reinsurer Mid Ocean Ltd.
North American Fidelity & Guarantee – a Bermuda tragedy
A British television programme claiming that a "mysterious Irishman" called Steven Baker was being sought in connection with the worldwide insurance fraud that goes by the name of Dai Ichi Kyoto Re caused a lot of interest in Bermuda.
One of Dai Ichi's sister companies, North American Fidelity & Guarantee, had a brief but extremely profitable and very fraudulent one-year trading spell in Bermuda in 1992/1993.
The company began life as a shelf company set up in October, 1989, by ambitious Bermuda lawyer Lynda Milligan-Whyte.
Scheme of arrangement for Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance
A scheme of arrangement has been selected as a way to liquidate the assets of Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company, which is estimated to have liabilities of $500 million to $700 million. Details of the scheme are expected later this year but the process is expected to last at least 20 years.
Charles Collis accused of altering Bermuda Fire & Marine minutes
One of Bermuda's most influential businessmen, lawyer Charles Collis, has been accused of doctoring the minutes of a crucial committee meeting to hide evidence that directors of Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance knew the firm was in financial trouble before they stripped it of $40 million in assets.
Mutual Risk Management fires auditor
Bermuda-based Mutual Risk Management, whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, has dismissed its auditor of 18 years, KPMG Peat Marwick, and replaced it with Ernst & Young - but will not officially say why.
Wall Street stock analyst heaps praise on Bermuda
Norman Rosenthal, a senior securities analyst with Wall Street investment firm Morgan Stanley, heaped praise on the Bermuda insurance and reinsurance market yesterday.Mr. Rosenthal, whom the press had been notified in advance was a hard-hitting talker, didn't have a bad word to say about the island's industry during an address yesterday at a lunch organised by Bermuda Insurance Institute.
Park International buys HJF International
Bermuda-based Park International Ltd., the insurance brokerage subsidiary of Mutual Risk Management, has bought rival broker HJF International Ltd. and taken on all six of its staff, including HJF's former owners, Michael Jenkins and Mike Foulger.The acquisition has arguably made Park the "leading independent brokerage firm in Bermuda, if you consider an independent broker to be one not connected with another broker", Park's president, Paul Scope, said.
EXEL forms reinsurer
Bermuda-based EXEL Ltd. has announced it intends to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary, XL Reinsurance Company Ltd., to provide specialty reinsurance coverage for captives, commercial insurance reinsurance companies, with a start-up capital of $250 million. It is expected to be operational by December 1, 1995.In addition, another EXEL subsidiary, XL Insurance Company Ltd., will increase the maximum limits offered to general liability clients to $150 million from $100 million. Individual directors and officers liability insurance limits for "Side A" coverage only are being raised to $50 million from $25 million.
Mutual Risk Management acquires CFM Insurance
Mutual Risk Management has agreed to acquire CFM Insurance Managers, a Bermuda company which provides risk management services to captive insurance firms based on the island. Several CFM clients are subsidiaries of European companies and many are involved in the international marine insurance market, a release announcing the deal stated.
Palladium Insurance – plans to securitize risk
Efforts are being made to raise $100 million for a joint Bermudian/American catastrophe insurer/reinsurer called Palladium Insurance Ltd that intends to securitise insurance products for trading purposes.Palladium Insurance, which has been formed in Bermuda, is being sponsored by Powerscourt Group Ltd., of Bermuda, and The Chicago Corporation, of the United States.
OIL increases per occurrence limit to $225 m
Bermuda-based mutual insurer Oil Insurance Ltd. intends to increase its basic per occurrence limit from $200 million to $225 million, the firm has announced.It is one of several initiatives that the firm's president and chief executive officer, Doyle Stephens, said "are intended to make OIL more attractive to a broader market, increase its flexibility and its value to the existing customer base".
Bermuda reinsurers fund private study of what causes catastrophes
Bermuda's reinsurance bosses are being asked to rely less on the past and more on the future in the way they assess catastrophic risks around the world. If they listen, it could help them avoid a hit and lead to big buck savings.By learning more about the science behind hurricanes, tornadoes, hail and flooding, they are hoping to revolutionize the way they do business.
US lawyer says Bermuda’s insurance laws fail to protect rights of policholders
Outspoken American lawyer Eugene Anderson, who represents policyholders in actions against insurance firms, has attacked the ability of Bermuda's new insurance laws to protect clients who have claims against the island's insurers.Mr. Anderson, in his second attack on Bermuda's insurance industry over the last 13 months, said Bermuda's laws failed to protect the rights of policyholders.
Court hearing scheduled in ‘Belvedere Insurance v. Vanessa Thomas’ dispute
The latest round in a long-running battle between reinsurer Belvedere Insurance Company Ltd. and its former vice-president and treasurer, Vanessa Thomas, will be heard in chambers at Bermuda Supreme Court on Monday.
Hopewell Intl Insurance awarded $1 million against NAF&G
Bermuda-based Hopewell International Insurance Ltd has been awarded $1 million against North American Fidelity & Guarantee, a reinsurance company that was kicked out of Bermuda by government for failing to prove it had the $100 million of assets the firm claimed it had.
Fourth legal action brought against NAF&G
A fourth legal action has been brought against controversial reinsurer North American Fidelity & Guarantee, which moved to Belgium in 1993 after being kicked out of Bermuda by the government.London-based CRM Insurance Services Ltd is suing NAF&G and two related companies, Kobe Reinsurance and Dai Ichi Kyoto Reinsurance Company, for $2.89 million in the High Court of the United Kingdom. The action was filed on February 28.
Shoreline Mutual moves away from mutual insurance
Bermuda-based Shoreline Mutual, which issues certificates of financial guarantee for vessels entering US waters, has arranged further reinsurance for all its members to protect them against supplemental cash calls being made in the event of substantial claims.The policy, which has been placed by Willis Faber & Dumas and Sedgwick Marine & Cargo and is underwritten 100 per cent at Lloyd's, is expected to strengthen Shoreline's product in the battle for business with its main rival, First Line, which is also based in Bermuda.
Hopewell International Insurance sues North American Fidelity & Guarantee
Former head of Bermuda National Bank John Grant Marshall is facing more financial anguish stemming from his spell as a director of controversial reinsurer North American Fidelity & Guarantee.NAF&G, which is already being sued for $3.7 million at Bermuda Supreme Court in a claim last year, has had a new $1 million action brought against it by Bermuda-based Hopewell International Insurance Ltd, which is a reinsurance pool for captive insurance firms.
Application to wind up Stockholm Re (Bermuda)
An application to compulsorily wind up Stockholm Re (Bermuda) Ltd was made yesterday - ten months after the company went into run off.The company said that "until very recently" the financial position of Stockholm Re indicated that "the reserves would be sufficient to satisfy known claims".
Zurich Reinsurance Centre Holdings to buy Re Capital of Connecticut
Zurich Reinsurance Centre Holdings to buy Re Capital.
Business Insurance publisher talks in Bermuda
Bermuda still has a lot of hard work to do before it convinces many foreign insurance industry professionals that it is a serious market, local bosses were told yesterday.In a speech to about 170 people at the Bermuda Insurance Institute's monthly luncheon, Kathryn McIntyre, publisher of US insurance magazine Business Insurance, warned the Bermuda market about becoming complacent.
London insurers expected to take up Bermuda presence
More London companies are likely set up offices in Bermuda as the British insurance industry increasingly realises the long-term importance of the island's market.And more Bermuda-based insurers and reinsurers may also start having their assets managed from the island instead of having them handled overseas.These are some of the views of Bill Bailey, chairman of Bermuda's newest insurance firm, Terra Nova (Bermuda) Holdings Ltd.
United Security Life Insurance Company issues final dividend of 27 cents on the dollar
Creditors of United Security Life Insurance Company Ltd will receive a first and final dividend in the region of 27 cents on the dollar sometime early in the New Year, the firm's provisional liquidator, Gil Tucker, announced yesterday.
Bermuda firms battle for share of COFR market
Insurance executives aligned to two groups in Bermuda have been working frantically over the last few weeks to provide the first certificates of financial responsibility now required of shipowners whose vessels will enter US waters. Up for grabs are tens of millions of dollars in annual premiums. David Marchant looks at Bermuda's newest reinsurance product and assesses the winners and losers.
Bermuda Fire directors stay silent despite allegations of fraud at Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance
Despite the strong criticisms of the collapse of Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance, the company's vice-chairman, lawyer and former UBP MP William Cox, yesterday maintained his year-long public silence on the affair."I have no comment," said Mr Cox, who is the senior partner in law firm Cox & Wilkinson.Bermuda Fire's chairman, former government Senate leader Charles Collis, the senior partner in law firm Conyers, Dill & Pearman, was not available for comment.Other directors who voted to approve the controversial split-up of the company in 1991 have steadfastly refused to comment publicly on their actions since Bermuda Fire went into provisional liquidation in November, 1993.
Bermuda attacked by US politicians over Bermuda Fire ‘fraud’
A powerful political body in the US has launched a blistering attack on Bermuda over its handling of the collapse of Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance.Over $40 million in assets that were dividended out to the insurer's shareholders in 1991 has been described as "a prime example of outrageous irresponsibility by an offshore insurance company".The matter was "exacerbated by a cavalier disregard for the consequences on people living elsewhere", said a report released this week entitled ‘Wishful Thinking: A World view of Insurance Solvency Regulation.'
Bermuda’s new insurance laws – key provisions
Key provisions of Bermuda's proposed new insurance laws.
ACE shares fall due to extra reserving for implant claims
Shares in excess liability insurer ACE Ltd. fell by $2 per share on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday in unusually heavy trading after the firm announced it was setting aside another $200 million to meet breast-implant litigation claims.
NAF&G had no capital, say sources
Reinsurer North American Fidelity & Guarantee, which is being sued for $4 million in Bermuda, moved its operations from Bermuda to Belgium in 1993 not long after failing to comply with a request to show proof of its capital, we have been told.And some insurance observers believe the company, which offered property, marine, aviation and mortgage guarantee coverage and claimed to have capital of $100 million, may have actually had very few funds available to meet claims during the year it operated in Bermuda.
Trident Partnership receives $660 m in capital commitments
The Trident Partnership LP, whose sponsors include property catastrophe reinsurer Mid Ocean, has received $660 million of capital commitments to invest in the global insurance and reinsurance industry.Although no announcement has been made on where the funds will be distributed, observers believe that some of it will come to Bermuda.
NAF&G sued for $4 million
Reinsurer North American Fidelity & Guarantee is being sued for almost $4 million in Bermuda, where it operated for only about a year before moving to Belgium last October.A lawsuit has been filed against the company by Bermuda-based Raydon Underwriting Management Company, which operated from the same building in Hamilton.
