American Re Corp. Shakes Up U.S. P-C Structure

American Re spokesperson Thomas H. Walker Jr. said corporate centers includes operations such as human resources, strategic planning and the law department, which until last week was headed by general counsel Robert Burgess who has left the firm.

Mr. Walker said Mahmoud Abdallah the head of international division, who also left American Re last Friday, remains a senior advisor for the firm's parent, Munich Re Group.

Both Mr. Beer and Mr. Engshuber will report to John P. Phelan, who became chairman and chief executive officer of American Re last Saturday.

American Re said, subject to regulatory approval, it was having its international reinsurance operations transfer their business to the appropriate offices of American Re's parent, Munich Reinsurance Company of Munich, Germany.

The changes, American Re said "will provide the company and its clients with better focused, more disciplined marketing and underwriting and the greater efficiencies available through shared resources."

Certain global specialty lines of business, including Surety and Home/Foreign, will continue to be underwritten and managed directly by American Re, the company said.

American Re said because of their specialized nature, the underwriting and marketing operations of HealthCare and Ocean Marine will now operate in closer coordination with their respective centers of competence in Munich.

CEO Phelan announced that American Re will focus its efforts on developing its core businesses in the United States.

The company's "streamlined managerial and organizational structure will ensure much greater agility, consistency and constancy in the manner in which products and services are provided to our clients," he explained.

Clients of American Re's international reinsurance operations, Mr. Phelan said, "will benefit from more direct access to the capital, capacity and extensive global network of the entire Munich Re Group."

Five Strategic Business Units will report to Mr. Beer:

? American Re Direct Treaty, which provides traditional, finite risk and capital markets reinsurance products and services directly to U.S. insurance companies, on a treaty basis.

? American Re Direct Facultative, also providing traditional, finite, and capital markets products directly, but on a facultative basis.

? American Re Broker Market, which provides U.S. ceding companies with traditional treaty reinsurance and finite risk products, through reinsurance intermediaries.

? Munich-American RiskPartners, which provides insurance and reinsurance products and services to large businesses, government agencies, pools and other self-insurers.

? American Re Credit, which provides surety and credit enhancement products to both insurers and non-insurers.

Corporate centers, reporting to Mr. Engshuber, also include Corporate Risk Management, Results Monitoring, Strategic Planning, Financial Services, Claims and Information Technology.

Mr. Engshuber will also oversee American Re's fee income operations, including Am-Re Brokers, Inc., Am-Re Consultants, Inc. and The Becher and Carlson Companies.

Since joining American Re in 1992, Mr. Beer has led, at different times, both Domestic Insurance Company Operations, the predecessor to the current American Re Direct Treaty and American Re Direct Facultative strategic business units, and Munich-American RiskPartners.

Mr. Engshuber has held various executive positions related to finance, investment and risk management since joining American Re in 1998. Previously he served as a member of the executive management of Munich Re responsible for global asset management.