ABIR Elects 2010-11 Officers

NU Online News Service, Dec. 04, 1:40 p.m. EST

The Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR) announced its new slate of elected officers for a 2010-11 term.

The association represents 23 Class 4 property and casualty insurers and reinsurers based in Bermuda.

Members of the Hamilton, Bermuda-based ABIR wrote collectively $61 billion in global gross written premiums in 2008. Attesting to the global nature of the business, premium income was collected from business in more than 200 countries. The members of the association employ 31,000 globally, including 1,800 people in Bermuda.

At the beginning of the New Year, Michael Butt, chairman of the board of Axis Capital Holdings, will step down, having served a two-year term as chairman of the ABIR board. He will be succeeded as ABIR board chair by Patrick Thiele, president and chief executive officer of Partner Re Ltd. Constantine (Dinos) Iordanou, president and CEO of Arch Capital Group Ltd., will become deputy chair of the ABIR board. In addition, Michael McGavick, CEO of XL Capital Ltd., will become second deputy chair.

Brad Kading, ABIR president and executive director, said in a statement that Mr. Butt led the ABIR board during a period with public policy challenges in many areas, including U.S. solvency regulation, tax, property catastrophe, and European and international solvency regulatory standards.

Mr. Kading noted that ABIR has an excellent leadership team "composed of talented business executives with many years experience running global insurance groups."