Phoenix--GE Insurance Solutions made news when it was sold to Swiss Re for $6.8 billion last year, and now a company representative says they want to publicize that the change in ownership is not slowing them down.

In the coming year the company plan is to grow new business by $35 million, said Lois Massa, vice president of sales for the program division of GE Insurance Solutions in its Warren, R.I. office.

Ms. Massa, who spoke here at the midyear conference of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines, Ltd., was spreading the message that "we are open for business and doing things more aggressively."

To meet their new business target, she said, company management thinks it will require three programs, each generating about $10 million. Since the Swiss Re takeover, Ms. Massa said GE Insurance Solutions has been able to react more quickly in pursuing new business because a simplified chain of command has speeded up the process.

She said the company currently has nine programs that generate $200 million in gross written premiums, and would like to write more surplus lines as well as admitted business.

Among the surplus lines the company writes, she said, is protection for bed and breakfasts--the kind of business that doesn't fit neatly into the standard language of an Insurance Services Office contract.

Ms. Massa remarked that in her pursuit of business for the company she has learned to ignore standard wisdom that once a customer opts to use a captive insurer for coverage they are lost to the standard market. She noted that as captives mature they may require significant capitalization, which could make the operation less attractive.

Special Reports /

Despite Sale, GE Insurance Solutions Keeps On Truckin'

Related Stories

Recommended For You