GULF INSURANCE GROUP RESTRUCTURES REINSURANCE PROGRAMME

The Gulf Insurance Group has restructured its reinsurance programme via a deal brokered through reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter. The six companies involved are: Gulf Insurance Company of Kuwait; Bahrain Kuwait Insurance Company of Bahrain; Arab Orient Insurance Company of Jordan; Arab Misr Insurance Group of Egypt; Syrian Kuwaiti Insurance Company of Syria and Fajr Al Gulf Insurance Company of Lebanon. Their individual reinsurance programmes will be combined into a single programme in what Guy Carpenter called "an innovative structure" which could "take advantage of the critical mass and geographic spread of the portfolio". Gulf Insurance Group has also switched part of its reinsurance programme to an excess-of-loss bases "in order to benefit from the size of its premium income and the very low loss ratios of the companies involved". The new structure, devised and placed by a dedicated Guy Carpenter team in London, has its proportional treaty component led by Munich Re. The excess-of-loss programme leaders are Munich Re, Odyssey Re, PartnerRe and a Lloyd's syndicate. Guy Carpenter said that the new structure was deigned to be flexible, so that Gulf Insurance Co could change the blend of proportional and excess-of-loss protection.