Robin Spencer-Arscott's insurance consultancy, RSA Ltd., has landed a top account with Bermuda-based Venton Holdings Ltd. (VHL), whose principal operating subsidiaries operate at Lloyd's.

VHL was established as a Bermuda holding company in 1994 for the Lloyd's operations that have been profitably active for the last ten years.

Venton, which manages capacity of about $550 million of annual gross premium income, was just acquired in October for $190 million by Underwriters Reinsurance Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Alleghany Corp.

Mr. Spencer-Arscott, the former chairman of Aon's Bermuda operations, has confirmed that he is providing services to Venton, which has now set up a branch office, Venton Underwriters (Bermuda) Ltd., in Wessex House on Reid Street.

He said, "Venton is a relatively new company in Bermuda. But Venton in London has been going for many years.

"I was asked as a consultant to come on board for an initial period of six months, to help build the image of the company. I am also helping to identify and put in place local staff and building the company.

"We have a great team in London and California, including some people who previously worked in the Bermuda market.'' Venton, which has a sterling record of underwriting profitability, is recruiting for the Bermuda office. Underwriting responsibilities here are being handled by the Venton founder and former Lloyd's underwriter, Jeremy Venton. Now the president and CEO of Venton Underwriters (Bermuda) Ltd., Mr.

Venton said, "We have a modest plan to write $50 million worth of income over the next 12 months from the Bermuda office.

"Our main aim here is to capture the lower northeast coast reinsurance market. Right now, some of that business goes to London, but not a lot of it goes to California where Underwriters Re is.'' Blessed with the A paper of Underwriters Re, Venton stands out against the crowded landscape that is the Bermuda market.

But in affirming that rating five weeks ago, rating agency A.M. Best observed concern "with Venton's aggressive near term growth plans, which combined with the use of short-term debt, could cause capitalisation to fall below A.M.

Best's standards for a superior-rated company.'' "Of course,'' said Mr. Venton, "Underwriters Re is owned by Alleghany Corp.

which has $4.1 billion in cash. Should it ever be necessary -- and Best didn't say it was -- then the parent company would have no problem putting in more money to alleviate any problem.

"We have developed a significant property account in the London market. We have seen opportunities where our competitors have seen none.

"Our results over the last few years at Lloyd's would demonstrate that we've taken the right stance. They've been extremely profitable years.

"There has been a lot of re-focusing of business in Lloyd's, where some syndicates have faltered. We made a bigger effort with our clients than a lot of them and as a result we've been shown a lot of business.

"There is a significant shift of emphasis in the Lloyd's market between what were the old leaders and the new leaders.

"We now control a lot more of our business, and we believe that to be the right strategy, going forward. We have, as a result, had significant growth in a very good marketplace. If the market turns dramatically, we would have no problem reducing our estimates and cutting our business back accordingly.'' A lot of the growth came from the company's establishment of a new corporate vehicle, Alec Sharp's non-marine syndicate 1207. Venton also has in London consortium arrangements which were reinsured into XL Insurance Co. in Bermuda, when Exel Ltd. was part owners of Venton.

Mr. Venton said, "We are thinking that Bermuda might be a good place for the control of aggregations, because we are central. We have the offices in London, and Underwriters Re's home office is in California.

"We might get an expert team here to do the `cat' modelling.'' Mr. Venton said that events this year had led to loss activity that is finally arresting the yearly decline in rates.

"There is a general understanding that enough is enough,'' he said. "People are out there losing money. I suspect that 1998 will not be a good year for some people, and then next year will be slightly better. I see an improvement in the industry, after years of rate decline.

"But there will be a shake-out of some companies because of the way they've written business.

"I think Australia will have a bit of a time. They appear to be suffering, somewhat. Lloyd's and Bermuda are in a very good position.

"The direct boys worldwide will have some trouble and they won't get a great break off their reinsurers, because we've given as much as we possibly can. So the pricing, next year or the year after, should be relatively sensible.

"We pick our clients sensibly. We only pick people who we think will still be trading in two or three years time.'' Venton has aggressively acquired control of its underwriting capacity, growing managed capacity at a 14.2 percent compound annual rate from 182.4 million in 1995 to 271.5 million in 1998, during which dedicated corporate participation increased from 13.4 percent to 62.3 percent.

The company has maintained underwriting discipline in the competitive market averaging a GAAP loss ratio of 60.1 percent over the last three years.

Robin Spencer-Arscott Jeremy Venton