Advertise
Resources
Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
LONDON-CNA Insurance Co. is opening a new Lloyd's of London corporate syndicate and managing agency to begin writing this year.
CNA's interest in Lloyd's reflects the continued amalgamation of the London company market and Lloyd's. The group's London operations, CNA International Reinsurance Ltd., is one of the founders of the London International Insurance & Reinsurance Market Assn. which is based at the London Underwriting Centre.
However, there is room in London for more than one underwriting market, said Victor H. Blake, non-executive chairman of CNA's reinsurance operations and one of the founders of LIRMA and the LUC.
CNA decided to become a corporate member of Lloyd's several years ago because "we thought it was a worthwhile thing to do," said Mr. Blake.
But the membership lay dormant until the insurer decided to invest in various Lloyd's syndicates for the 1997 underwriting year, he said.
It was then decided that CNA would set up its own corporate syndicate 1229, which would be managed by CNA Agency Management Ltd. Capital is being invested by two corporate members: CNA Corporate Capital Ltd. for two-thirds of the capacity; and LaSalle Re Ltd. of Bermuda for the other third. Mr. Blake is the chairman and chief executive of LaSalle, whose shareholders include CNA.
CNA and LaSalle will each invest approximately $25 million in capital into the Lloyd's market over the next 12 months, which would provide $50 million each of market capacity, according to Mr. Blake.