QBE European Operations has announced the restructure of QBE Re (Europe) Limited which will take effect on 30 September 2012. This follows the formation of QBE Re that was announced on 7 March 2012, which brought together QBE Insurance Group’s treaty reinsurance operations under a single global division.
Under the restructure, which received UK court approval on 7 September 2012, QBE Reinsurance (Europe) Limited in Dublin and Secura N.V. in Belgium, will become branch offices of QBE Re (Europe) and will benefit from its consolidated capital base of €536million.
QBE Re will now operate across three underwriting platforms: QBE Re (Europe); Syndicate 566 and QBE Reinsurance Corporation (Americas). Syndicate 566 and QBE Reinsurance Corporation (Americas) are unaffected by this restructure.
At the same time, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has confirmed it will assign an A+ financial strength rating to QBE Re (Europe) once the newly merged operation becomes effective.
Jonathan Parry, Chief Underwriting Officer, QBE Re commented: “With the simplified operating structure in place and with confirmation that excellent financial strength ratings extend across all three of our underwriting platforms, QBE Re is well positioned to deliver the anticipated benefits of our global platform to brokers and clients. Clients of our Dublin and Secura operations will now benefit from the enhanced capital strength of QBE Re (Europe) and the A+ Standard & Poor’s rating. All clients worldwide will enjoy a consistent underwriting approach from expert underwriters who are empowered to make local underwriting decisions and who are backed by the strength of each of our three operating platforms.”
