and reinsurer, Exel Ltd., is changing its name to XL Capital Ltd.

An indication of this first became obvious with the advance material for February's Bermuda Insurance Symposium IV, released last week.

A company spokesman confirmed the proposed change was subject to shareholder approval. The fact the symposium literature already contained the changes was an indication that the firm hope to have that approval before February. A special general meeting can be expected soon after the new year.

The move follows branding changes made by another Bermuda-based insurer and reinsurer, ACE Ltd. in recent weeks.

But Exel's changes may be more easily digested by the market. Proposed changes to the logo, for example will not be as dramatic a departure as it was for ACE.

And the name change, the company said, came after an extensive review of its operations, and reflects the increased role of the holding company.

Exel president and CEO Brian O'Hara commented: "Exel has grown significantly over the last few years and broadened its scope considerably.

"We believe the name `XL Capital Ltd.' has several important advantages over the company's current name, including better communicating that our organisation applies intellectual and financial capital to assure its customers' vitality and competitiveness.'' "In addition, the new name will eliminate duplication of names within the organisation and allow for closer identification between the company and its operating subsidiaries which use `XL' as the prefix in their corporate name.

"It will also facilitate the development of a global brand name under which all products and services offered by the company's subsidiaries can be marketed.'' The change also reduces minor auditory confusion over the parent name `Exel' and operating subsidiaries that begin with `X.L.' And it is simplified even further by dropping the periods following the two letters to create the easily recognisable XL.

The move is designed to help the company in its global branding efforts, although a similar exercise by ACE left some in the market more than a little confused.

ACE said recently they would remove their block-lettered logo that simply includes the three letters ACE, followed by an easily recognisable, circular depiction of a globe.

Part of the rationale was that touting its global presence was redundant, in that everyone recognised that they had to be global to be in the game.

Unlike Exel, ACE sought a completely new look. But they replaced the logo with a triangulated version of the three letters, which confusingly never seemed to place the three symbols in their proper sequence to read `ACE'.

Maybe that was their intention, but many people looked puzzled as they read it left to right as `CAE'. The subconscious association with the well-respected, global solution provider that ACE is, was not easy to make.

The much thought out symbolism, part of what was estimated to be a million dollar re-packaging effort, seemed universally lost on industry executives outside the company. One broker said he thought it resembled his baby's toy alphabet blocks.

Exels changes, on the other hand, are more of a refinement for a company with assets of about $10 billion. The logo will remain the same, although there will be refinements.

Observers say they will more easily be accepted as virtually transparent when it comes to identifying the new designation with the excellence and strength of Exel.

Brian O'Hara