James Stanard, chairman and chief executive of RenaissanceRe, has resigned in response to the ongoing investigation into the company's restatement of its financial results earlier this year.

Neill Currie has been named as new chief executive and James MacGinnitie as non-executive chairman, with immediate effect.

Currie was a co-founder of RenRe in 1993 and served as a senior vice president until 1997. He rejoined the company in July 2005 as executive vice president.

MacGinnitie has served as a member of the company's board since February 2000 and is an independent actuary and consultant.

RenRe also confirmed that chief operating officer and chief finance officer John Lummis plans to retire at the end of his contract term on 30 June 2006. In addition, Marty Merritt, who served as controller until April 2005, has left the company.

MacGinnitie, said: "The board has been monitoring this situation very closely and has concluded that at this point it is best for our company, our people and our shareholders to begin to put this matter behind us."