OMEGA POSITIVE ON TRADING SO FAR THIS YEAR

Omega Insurance Holdings, which redomiciled to Bermuda from London last year, has said that trading for 2007 so far has been positive. “Rates, terms and conditions in our key areas of business remain at attractive levels affording good margins. Income levels are currently in line with expectations”, the insurer said. US cat reinsurance business was currently at the levels achieved at the start of last year. Omega claimed that the increased competition in the property account was “almost exclusively targeted at business larger than the small business on which Omega's account is focused”. The company said that it was not experiencing any material reduction in income from Florida, where a restructuring of the insurance system has led to a greater retention of risk within the state system. “The impact of their insurance legislation earlier in 2007 appears to have been generally over-estimated and pricing on Omega's account is holding firm”, the company said. In non-US cat business, pricing was being weakened, Omega said, by “by the quest for diversification by many reinsurers”. The insurer said that it had already cut back exposures in areas where pricing was weakest. At Lloyd’s syndicate 958, for which Omega is the managing agent, the company said that the development of the offshore energy account was proving “very satisfactory”, “with good rates achieved on exposures”.