39. Underwriter Holdings

The Underwriter Insurance Company

Gross written premiums less treaty (2000): £58.6m

Year established: 1999
Address:
2nd Floor
1 Minster Court
Mincing Lane
London
EC3R 7YN
Tel: 020 7220 8888
Website: www.theunderwriter.co.uk

History: The Underwriter Insurance Company was set up in October 1999 by chairman Robert McCracken and chief executive Keith Rutter, who worked together previously for ten years at Independent Insurance. The company was set up with backing from Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Capital Partners.

Other founders include Peter Wood, non-executive director, who founded and built Direct Line into the major personal lines insurer of the 1990's; and Frank Kirwan, non-executive director, previously a director of Privilege Insurance Company and formerly a director of The Royal Bank of Scotland.
The company operates in the London market and l underwrites a predominantly 'long-tail' book across the broad spectrum of public, products, employers and professional liability insurance. Its focus is on attracting clients from amongst the industrial, commercial and contracting sectors drawn principally from outside the FTSE 100.

Chief officer: Keith Rutter

Main classes of general insurance business: commercial insurance, liability, professional indemnity, construction and financial institutions