Greenwich Group - Syndicate News

Greenwich Managing Agency Ltd

	03 November 2000	Greenwich's Capital Loading Lifted At its meeting on 31 October 2000, the Prudential Supervision Committee of Lloyd's Regulatory Board (PSC) considered that Greenwich Managing Agency Limited had reached the standards of management and control required by Lloyd's. Accordingly, it decided to withdraw the capital loading imposed on 22 June 2000.
	10 November 1999	Acquisition of the management of Syndicates 994, 947/2947 and 923/2923 On the 5th November Lloyd's gave consent to Greenwich Managing Agency Ltd. (GMA) to manage all open and run-off years of account for Syndicates 994, 947/2947 and 923/2923.
	30 September 1999	Chartwell Syndicates 923/947 run-off Syndicates 923 and 947 The Syndicates 1996 Accounts remain open as at 31st December, 1998 owing to the uncertainty surrounding the run-off of the extended warranty account for 1996 and earlier years. The scale of the deterioration in the 1998 actuarial loss projections gave rise to doubts as to whether further significant movements could be expected in the future. Also the number of disputes relating to poor claims handling raised the possibility of substantial recoveries from the administrators of these extended warranty contracts, as well as from other third parties. In each case, the magnitude of uncertainty was sufficient to preclude the Syndicates from establishing an equitable RITC premium to close the 1996 Account. A steering committee has been formed which intends to seek full legal redress against third parties and it is likely that arbitration or litigation will commence in more than once instance.
	21 September 1999	Results of Chartwell Merger Ballots Chartwell Managing Agents Ltd (CMA) held Syndicate meetings on 10th September 1999 for the purpose of considering and voting on the merger proposals. The percentages of the vote by capacity attributable to those voting in favour were: Syndicate 947 - 100% Syndicate 994 - 99.87% The results of the ballots have been confirmed by the recognised auditors of the Syndicates and CMA Ltd has applied to Lloyd's for approval of the proposed Syndicate merger under the Major Syndicate Transactions Byelaw (No.18 of 1997) and for consent to give members of the Syndicate notice of termination of their agency agreements under the terms of the Agency Agreements Byelaw (No.8 of 1998).
	30 July 1999	Proposed acquisition of Syndicates 947 and 994 by Greenwich Insurance Holdings Plc. The Boards of Chartwell Managing Agents Limited ("Chartwell") and Greenwich Insurance Holdings Plc. ("Greenwich") are pleased to announce that they have reached agreement in principle for the acquisition of Syndicates 947 and 994 by Greenwich. Under the proposed agreement, Greenwich Managing Agency Limited ("GMA"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Greenwich, would acquire the right to manage the Syndicates for the 2000 year of account; in addition the current open years of account of Syndicates 923/2923, 947/2947 and 994 will be managed by GMA. This transaction is subject to the approval of Lloyd's and consultation with capital providers. Consideration for the acquisition includes a rebate to Chartwell of a proportion of net profit commissions due to the Managing Agent for the 2000, 2001 and 2002 years of account. Subject to the approval of Lloyd's and capital providers it is proposed to merge the businesses of 994 and 947 for the 2000 year of account. The merged Syndicate will write broadly the classes of business currently written by Syndicates 947 and 994 and will have a capacity in the region of Ł55m for the 2000 year of account. The Active Underwriter will be Cliff Simmonds, MA FCII and the Deputy Underwriter will be Jeremy Walker, BA ACII. Bill Deem, current Active Underwriter of Syndicate 994, will take on a new role as Business Development Consultant whilst also retaining responsibility for the close of the 1997 Account.
	13 July 1999	Chartwell Loading Lloyd's have advised Chartwell Managing Agents Ltd. (CMA) that a loading of 10% has been included in the risk assessment computation used to calculate the minimum capital requirement of those members for whom CMA will act in respect of the 2000 year of account. CMA is working with Lloyd's Regulatory Division with the objective to eliminating the need for this loading prior to the coming-into-line requirements for 2000.
	15 June 1999	Trenwick Group Plc to acquire Chartwell Re Trenwick Group Plc and Chartwell re Corporation have announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for Trenwick to acquire Chartwell. The transaction is subject to the approval of the respective companies' shareholders, expiration of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Chartwell is the ultimate holding company of Chartwell Managing Agents Limited, the managing agent of Syndicates 44, 270, 544, 741, 2741, 839, 947 and 994.
	12 May 1999	Chartwell to merge certain non-life Syndicates for 2000 Year of Account Chartwell have announced that, subject to Lloyd's approval and the consent of capital providers, they propose to merge Syndicates 270, 544, 741, 2741 & 839 for the 2000 year of account. The Active Underwriter of the resulting Syndicate 839 will be David Marshall who is currently the underwriter of Syndicate 839. The focus of the new merged Syndicate will be on its core units. The senior underwriters of each of these units will be: Gerard Knowles - Aviation Peter Wright - Marine Christopher McGinn - Non-Marine Personal Lines Brian Horwell - Non-Marine Casualty Chartwell have also confirmed that, due to the general non-marine business profile of Syndicates 947 and 994 are less consistent with the new direction of Syndicate 839 and therefore they have started negotiations for these Syndicates to be acquired by alternative managing agents.
	06 April 1999	Chartwell to make Cash Calls during 1999 Syndicate 923 / 947 & parallels Following the decision to leave these Syndicates open, the declared deficit on the 1996 year of account of these Syndicates will be called for payment by 30th June 1999. Chartwell have reported that these Syndicates have also been affected by the restrictions of cash flow caused by the US trust fund requirements.
	17 March 1999	Chartwell close 657 but leave open 240 and 923 Chartwell have concluded that they are unable to set a reinsurance to close premium for the1996 year of account of Syndicates 923 & 947.
	08 February 1999	Extended Warranty Update Following the severe deterioration to various contracts advised to the market by Chartwell, they have now formed a Market Steering Group to investigate the reasons for the deterioration and to identify any factors which could mitigate the losses. The Group includes representatives of major participants and legal advisers to the slip. It is likely to be a protracted process, and in the meantime, in the interests of equity between Names on the 1996 and 1997 accounts, Chartwell is considering leaving the 1996 accounts open, and is investigating availability of external reinsurance and will be reporting more fully at the end of February/early March.