QBE Announces UK Regional Restructure

LONDON, June 1 -- QBE Group issued the following news release:

QBE, the business insurance specialist, has announced changes to the structure of its regional UK & Ireland operations. This follows the successful acquisition by QBE of the renewal rights to Brit UK's regional operations in a deal that concluded on 13 April 2012.

Ray Cox has been appointed Chairman of UK & Ireland National and Elliot Miller has been appointed General Manager of UK & Ireland National. At the same time, the company has reorganised its UK & Ireland operations into five regions, headed by:

* Scotland and Northern Ireland: Andy Fitzgerald

* North (Leeds & Manchester): Antony Broome

* Midlands and West (Birmingham & Bristol): Tim Clarke

* London and South (London and Reading): Richard Beaumont

* Ireland: Matt Rafferty

David Kelly will head QBE's office in Leeds, reporting to Antony Broome; Chris Bevan will head the Bristol team, reporting to Tim Clarke; and Paul Scott in Reading will report to Richard Beaumont. While the business is being regionalised, each of the company's UK offices will continue to operate under strong local leadership and a high level of empowerment.

QBE's Stafford office will become a centre of excellence for its Fastflow proposition, providing support and capability to its UK regional network to deliver cost effective, efficient and market-leading products for smaller SMEs.

Commenting on the new structure, Ash Bathia, Chief Underwriting Officer for QBE's Property Casualty & Motor business said:

"We are making excellent progress in our integration plans, setting us well on the way to achieving a scalable model to drive our ambition to be a leading player in the UK national market. An important early milestone was to define the ongoing structure of our National operations, which have doubled in size following our acquisition of the Brit UK business. We are determined to deliver cost and operational efficiencies and better deployment of our highly skilled underwriting resource, while providing for greater local empowerment. This will ensure that we continue to offer our specialist expertise and excellent service to brokers and clients around the UK and Ireland."

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