Re Assn. Opens Membership To Cedants

NU Online News Service, Jan. 20, 12:41 p.m.EST?The Intermediaries and Reinsurance UnderwritersAssociation has for the first time in its 35-year history openedits membership to ceding companies.

The first ceding company to take advantage of the new membershiprules is Nationwide Insurance and Ohio Casualty Insurance Company,according to the Branchburg, N.J.-based IRU.

Expanded eligibility rules now permit ceding companies, inaddition to reinsurance intermediaries and underwriting companies,to enjoy the benefits of membership. Benefits include biannualunderwriting conferences, claims workshops, the Journal ofReinsurance, a summer internship program for college students,sponsorship of credit-bearing courses, and joint-venture interestswith other industry groups, the IRU said.

IRU includes among its membership 58 firms actively engaged inunderwriting, brokering and, with the addition of NationwideInsurance and Ohio Casualty Insurance Company, ceding treatyreinsurance business.

The IRU is a not-for-profit corporation organized for thepurposes of reinsurance education and research, and thedissemination of information relevant to the reinsuranceindustry.

The association's Spring conference will be held from March9-11, 2003, at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm BeachGardens, Fla.