QBE Insurance Group announced it had rationalised the management structure in Europe and appointed Steven Burns as chief executive for European operations.
Steven Burns is currently chief executive of QBE's Lloyd's division. He is a Lloyd's Council member and a member of the Lloyd's franchise board.
QBE has had two divisional structures in place in London since the purchase of Limit in August 2000. The unified senior management structure is intended to provide a more focused strategic overview and management of underwriting in London.
In addition to the establishment of a single management structure, QBE's two marine syndicates 1036 and 2724 will be merged for the 2005 underwriting year, with Colin O'Farrell being the active underwriter of the merged syndicates.
The merger of these two marine and energy syndicates, which would operate as sub-syndicate 1036 within 100% owned Syndicate 2999, would result in further synergies and a substantial reduction over time in QBE's maximum event retention from a major catastrophe, the company said.
The new management structure will operate through a newly-formed European operations board, chaired by Frank O'Halloran, chief executive of QBE Group.
