Printed from BusinessInsurance.com

GLOBAL BRIEFS

Posted On: Jul. 26, 1998 12:00 AM CST

Intermediary Swire Blanch Ltd. of London has acquired London-based reinsurance broker Dunn & Carter Ltd. for an undisclosed amount. Swire Blanch, owned by Bloomington, Minn.-based E.W. Blanch Holdings Inc. and Hong Kong-based The Swire Group, has 17 offices worldwide offering marine, non-marine, financial management, risk management and reinsurance brokering services. Dunn & Carter's main focus is London international market non-marine, excess-of-loss reinsurance. Cory Moulton, Swire Blanch president and chief executive officer, said the purchase will add extra capabilities to Swire Blanch's services globally. . . .German insurance and reinsurance companies Munich Reinsurance Co. of Munich, Germany, and ERGO Verisicherungsgruppe A.G., of Dusseldorf, Germany, have announced plans to form a joint asset management company. The new company, tentatively named Munich ERGO Asset Management GmbH, will be based in Munich and manage investments with a market value of more than 200 billion deutsche marks ($111.82 billion). Munich Re and ERGO claim investment profitability is becoming increasingly important in the insurance industry and said the joint venture will enable both companies to enhance earnings through potential synergies in their investment operations. . . .Twelve U.K. financial companies have been taken off the U.K. government's priority list for resolving claims of misleading private pension sales. The companies, which include insurers Royal & SunAlliance P.L.C., Commercial Union P.L.C., Guardian Royal Exchange P.L.C., Norwich Union Insurance Group, Britannic Assurance P.L.C., and Prudential P.L.C., have met government targets for dealing with priority cases. They must now deal with less pressing cases. In total, the U.K. government is monitoring the progress of 41 U.K companies, including insurers, brokers and bankers, involved in the pension sales scandal from 1988 to 1994. . . .To mark the start of its campaign to gain an operating license in China, the Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. this month opened its first

Chinese representative office in the Chongqing, formerly known as Chungking, the main commercial center of southwest Sichuan province. . . .The London P&I Club, a protection and indemnity mutual insurer for shipowners, has announced its sixth consecutive year of stable supplementary calls. The club makes supplementary calls to its member policyholders when it requires additional premium to meet claims. John Lyras, chairman of the London Club, said the insurer continues to focus on a selective, prudent underwriting policy, despite intense competition in the P&I market. . . .German insurance group Aachener und Muenchener Beteiligungs AG has sold Rodutch Holdings B.V. to French insurance group Assurance Generales de France. Rodutch Holding B.V. is a holding company for Dutch Royal Niederland Insurance Group. AGF will pay 1.35 billion deutsche marks ($754.8 million), according to a AMB spokes-woman. . . .Kerry Lockley has been promoted to senior underwriter at St. Paul Reinsurance Co. Ltd., the London market reinsurance operation of the The St, Paul Cos. Inc. of St. Paul, Minn. Ms. Lockley has worked as an underwriter for St. Paul Re for five years and now is the principal broker contact for property reinsurance risks in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Scandinavia.