U.K. Insurer Brit Opens Service Operation in Chicago

London-based nonlife insurer and reinsurer Brit Insurance Holdings plc has opened Brit Insurance Services (USA) Inc., which will service business from Chicago on behalf of the group’s Lloyd’s operation.

The new operation, formed in cooperation with broker A.J. Gallagher (UK), will insure and place religious package and public entity business.

David Ross, chief executive officer of A.J. Gallagher (UK), said the deal brings a “foothold” in the United States. He said in a statement that the partnership is backed by “our desire to drive operational efficiency into a program that has been in the London market for over 40 years.”

The new unit will be linked to Lloyd’s Syndicate 2987, which is managed by Brit Insurance Services Ltd. Nicholas Davies, who moves from Western Re Inc., has been named head of the Chicago operation. Davies previously worked at Brit Insurance. Andrew Murnieks will transfer from Brit Insurance’s Global Markets team to the new unit.

Matthew Wilson, CEO of Brit Global Markets, said the move into Chicago follows Brit’s 2008 launch of its North American claims and data management center in Atlanta. The partnership “further demonstrates our desire to work with our London brokers to lower the market’s cost base without the need to disintermediate, and that indeed is a unique combination,” Wilson said in a statement.

Brit Insurance Ltd. has a current Best’s Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent).

(By Robert O'Connor, London editor: [email protected])