Printed from BusinessInsurance.com

GLOBAL BRIEFS

Posted On: Jun. 22, 1997 12:00 AM CST

Willis Corroon Group P.L.C. will sell its wholly owned Lloyd's of London members agent, Willis Faber & Dumas (Agencies) Ltd., to the unit's managers. The sale of the agency, which manages 689 individual Lloyd's names and two corporate capital vehicles, requires Lloyd's approval. . . .Standard & Poor's Corp. has raised its ratings of French reinsurer SCOR S.A. to AA- from A+ for claims-paying ability and senior debt and to A1+ from A1 for commercial paper. It said the upgrades reflect SCOR's increasingly diversified sources of earnings and improved financial flexibility, as well as its position as a leading global reinsurer, its "strong technical expertise, excellent capitalization and good operating performance." . . .Consolidated Financial Insurance, a Brentford, England-based unit of General Electric Co. and a leading European provider of commercial credit payment protection insurance, has named Robert Colvin as director for Asia-Pacific. Mr. Colvin, who will be based in a new Singapore office, will be responsible for devising and implementing a strategy for the region, including possible joint ventures and acquisitions. He was previously with American International Group Inc. . . .A.E. Grant (Underwriting Agencies) Ltd. is setting up a subsidiary, CERES (Central & Eastern European Reinsurance Services), to underwrite reinsurance at Lloyd's of London for Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. David Wansbrough-Jones, a former deputy general manager of Allstate Reinsurance, was named CERES' managing director and also will be responsible for underwriting. Mr. Wansbrough-Jones said that while reinsurance premiums from the 27 countries of Central and Eastern Europe have increased fourfold over the past six years, the London market's share of that business is a quarter of what it was at the beginning of the period. . . . Britain's Health and Safety Executive has commissioned a research project into the scale of work-related stress, which it says is thought to be one of the most serious occupational health challenges in Britain. The study will be undertaken by psychologists and epidemiologists from the University of Bristol in southwest England. They will mainly seek to determine how wide-spread occupational stress is, more clearly define it and assess the effects of stress on health. . . .Mondial Assistance (UK) Ltd., Britain's leading provider of corporate medical assistance, has warned companies sending employees to work abroad of the serious problems they face. It warns of the need to take responsibility for the mental well-being of such employees, who often are unprepared for the problems they may face, including stress and loneliness, which can lead to mental illness. One problem is that there is no legal precedent on the issue of repatriating a mentally ill person against his or her will, it said.