Allied World Assurance Holdings Opens Irish Subsidiary in Dublin

Bermuda-based Allied World Assurance Holdings, Ltd. announced that the company has been granted a license to operate in Ireland and has commenced business with the opening of a new office in Dublin.

The bulletin explained that Dublin will serve as the European head office of Allied World Assurance Holdings (Ireland) Ltd., which in turn will operate through its wholly owned subsidiary, Allied World Assurance Company (Europe) Limited. The Irish company is a subsidiary of Allied World Assurance Holdings, Ltd. which, “through its wholly- owned Bermuda incorporated subsidiary, Allied World Assurance Company, Ltd. (AWAC), underwrites property and casualty insurance and reinsurance business world-wide.”

AWAC commenced business on November 13, 2001, with approximately US$1.5 billion in equity capital with investments led by AIG, Chubb Corp. and GS Capital Partners 2000, L.P., an investment fund managed by Goldman Sachs. It currently employs 57 staff based in Bermuda and, through a subsidiary, maintains a contact office with seven staff members in London.

Michael Morrison, President and C.E.O. of Allied World Assurance Holdings, Ltd., announced that John Redmond has been elected President of AWAC (Europe) Limited. “Prior to joining Allied World Assurance Company (Europe) Limited, John spent twenty-three years with the Chubb Corporation. During this period he held various senior underwriting and administrative positions in Ireland, Belgium, Scandinavia and the U.K. Most recently he was responsible for Chubb’s Commercial Insurance Division in Southern Europe,” said the announcement.

Redmond commented that he was committed to “Continuing AWAC’s strategy for evolving into a leading, geographically- diverse multi-line insurer we will be providing a product and specialty base for moderate to high hazard risk exposures. Our client base is expected to be the larger E.U. companies seeking to add or replace capacity in the current hard market environment. The same criteria will apply for indigenous Irish business.”

AWAC’s move into Europe follows the acquisition of two reinsurance operations from Swiss Re in the U.S. and indicates that the new company, which hasn’t even had its first birthday yet, will be an aggressive competitor in property, casualty and financial lines coverage. The bulletin noted that AWAC was willing to “write on lower layers of an account,” and that its “long-term strategy is to remain flexible and cover a growing number of specialty lines as need and business demand develops.”