Reliance wins court approval for scheme of arrangement

LONDON—Reliance National Insurance Co. (Europe) Ltd. has entered into a solvent scheme of arrangement, having recently received approval from the English High Court.

RNICE was the London-based European subsidiary of Philadelphia-based Reliance Insurance Co., which went into runoff in 2001 when the company was subject to a rehabilitation order by the Pennsylvania insurance commissioner. That move came nearly one year after Reliance Insurance lost its A rating and following various unsuccessful attempts to keep the insurer's operations going.

In spite of opposition from some policyholders, the majority of creditors of RNICE approved the proposed scheme of arrangement at a meeting in February. The Court approval went through unopposed, as several policyholders had either withdrawn their opposition or had since commutated their policies with RNICE.

With the final hurdle now overcome, the scheme became effective as of Oct. 20.

Under the scheme of arrangement, no more claims will be paid to policyholders until they have submitted the relevant forms and due process is completed, according to Richard Whatton, chairman of RNICE.

Policyholders have until May 21, 2007 to pursue unpaid claims and incurred-but-not-reported claims.

RNICE was acquired by Whittington Investments (Guernsey) Ltd., part of Singapore-based Whittington Group Pte. in October 2003.