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David Margrett, chief executive of broker Lambert Fenchurch Group P.L.C., formed by the February merger of Lowndes Lambert Group Holdings P.L.C. and Fenchurch P.L.C., said he does not foresee any hardening of rates this year. Despite the soft market pressures, Mr. Margrett said the enlarged broker has added new specialist staff and attracted "significant new business, which largely offsets these difficult market conditions." He was speaking as the broker reported its six-month results as of Sept. 30. Pretax profits were 7.1 million pounds ($11.5 million), up 42% from the Lowndes Lambert's six-month results a year earlier. Gross revenues were 57.7 million pounds ($93.4 million), also up 42% over the same period a year earlier. Mr. Margrett also said expense reduction from the merger would exceed the 5 million pounds ($8.5 million) originally estimated. . . .Broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group P.L.C. is acquiring London-based Colburn French & Keen Holdings Ltd. and its subsidiaries, including specialist marine insurance broker Colburn French & Keen Ltd. It is paying 5.25 million pounds ($8.9 million) for CF&K, which generates gross revenues of about 2.5 million pounds ($4.2 million) annually. JLT said there is "excellent potential synergy" between its marine portfolio and CF&K's mainly retail business. . . .Finland is considering creating a new financial supervision authority to oversee its banking, insurance and financial services industries. This comes after the Finnish finance ministry commissioned a four-month study that recommended a central financial regulator to prevent "uncovered blackspots in supervision" as well as deregulation of the insurance and pension industry. . . .Lloyd's of London broker Windsor P.L.C. has acquired Rasmarine P&I Ltd., a newly formed protection and indemnity insurance broker formed by Robin Laurence, who recently left Lambert Fenchurch Group P.L.C. The price paid by Windsor will depend on Rasmarine's profitability over two years, but will be less than 1 million pounds ($1.7 million). Rasmarine will be renamed Windsor Protection & Indemnity Ltd. . . .Aon Corp. has the most commercial clients among insurance brokers in the United Kingdom, according to a new study by consultant Datamonitor P.L.C. Aon has 621 commercial clients, well ahead of second-place Willis Corroon Group P.L.C., which has 279 clients. J&H Marsh & McLennan Inc. has 238 clients, and Sedgwick Group P.L.C. has 235. Datamonitor analyst Justin Bates predicted that consolidation will continue as "brokers will endeavor to maximize the potential for further cost reduc-tion." . . .The founding members of the WIN computer network for insurance transactions -- Aon Group Inc., J&H Marsh & McLennan Inc., Sedgwick Group P.L.C. and Willis Corroon Group P.L.C. -- each have committed to having 30,000 directory entries within WIN's WINconnect electronic mail system during 1998. The directory entries contain company listings, names of individuals and contact numbers. The founding members have also committed to collectively connecting more than 1,200 offices located in more than 80 countries. Some of the founding members will be channeling all lines of business through WINconnect, while others initially will use the network only for specific lines. . . .Neil Smith has been appointed president and CEO of CIGNA Insurance Co. of Canada and CIGNA Life Insurance Co. of Canada. He will relocate to Toronto in January, and in his new role he will have executive management responsibility for all of CIGNA's insurance operations in Canada. Mr. Smith succeeds Samuel B. Cupp, formerly the president of the CIGNA companies in Canada, who recently was appointed senior vp of the North America region of CIGNA International.