Brit Insurance To Establish Offshore Underwriting Team

by Stewart Douglas

Story link: Brit Insurance To Establish Offshore Underwriting Team

Insurer Brit Insurance has today announced it is establishing a small underwriting division within Gibraltar as a facilitator to insurance operations in the UK and reinsurance companies dealing with external claims.

The team is to be located in Gibraltar mainly for tax efficiency reasons, as well as to gain access to offshore markets, and will be set up in competition with other reinsurance on the same basis for in-house insurance policy protection.

The underwriting team will most prominently feature in the development and enhancement of the reinsurance line of Rockhampton Insurance, a protected cell company located in Gibraltar, which will see it act in reinsurance of policies within the company’s main two insurance arms on a similar basis to current external reinsurance services.

The move will see Rockhampton service the overall claims and risk management infrastructure within Brit Insurance and its sister operation Syndicate 2987 as of 2008, as complimentary to its outward insurance divisions in both companies respectively.

The company will form part of the purchased quota share reinsurance programme on similar terms to those currently involved on an external basis in the reinsurance of Brit Insure coverage, which will begin full implementation over the course of this year and through to the end 2008, when it is expected to fully participate alongside other firms.

Rockhampton is expected to increase in profitability over the coming months as part of an ongoing commitment to developing and scaling the operation, alongside the appointment of potentially high profile underwriters in senior positions within the division. Brit Insurance has also suggested that it expects to see a strong increase in earnings per share as the operation begins to grow in the short to medium term.

Gibraltar is also thought to be a particularly advantageous location for its beneficial licensing laws, as well as good connections to access markets in London, whilst still falling within the parameters of EU regulation.