In an article ("Testing the waters?") published in last week's edition of Insurance Times, we stated that Markel International Limited had advised brokers it would not be taking on any new business and that all policies were to be cancelled and could be re-negotiated if market conditions changed.
This was incorrect. No such advice has been given to brokers and Markel is continuing to write new business.
Markel International Limited is not a Lloyd's managing agency, but the UK subsidiary of established US insurer Markel Corporation, whose gross premium income for last year exceeded $1bn (£704.8m). Syndicates 702, 1228, 1239 and 1009 are managed by Markel Syndicate Management Limited.
Two weeks ago, notices of cancellation were issued in respect of certain policies written by one of the managed syndicates, 1009. However, no other policies have been cancelled and Markel is most certainly continuing to accept new business. Indeed, it has just submitted a business plan to Lloyd's confirming its intention to write its existing lines of business under its new composite syndicate 3000 for the year 2002. That plan envisages underwriting capacity of £200m.
We apologise for our error, which was also published on the Insurance Times website.
