business due to continued heavy losses sustained on the 1989/91 underwriting years.

A loss of $9.39 million for fiscal 1992 left Bristol Re with capital and surplus of just $1.125 million at December 31, 1992.

"This left us with no choice but to cease writing,'' said Mrs. Marilyn Feldman, the company's president.

Bristol Re is owned by Greek shipping magnate Mr. Stavros Niarchos, a former Tucker's Town resident whose 22-ship operation is based in London and Athens.

Like other Greek ship owners, he made his fortune after World War Two by buying American warships and converting them for commercial use.

Bristol Re was a stand-alone entity within the Niarchos group and was not involved in any of its insurance placements.

Bristol Re ran into financial problems soon after it began writing business in 1989.

Heavy losses were incurred as a result of Hurricane Hugo, the great European storm of 1990 and the crash of a Chinese Airlines plane on December 29, 1991, for which it had no reinsurance cover.

"In hindsight, it was probably the worst possible time to start this type of business,'' said Mrs. Feldman.

Bristol Re's start-up capital of $25 million had dwindled to $10.3 million by December 31, 1990, increased marginally to $10.5 million a year later before slumping again due to the heavy loss of 1992.

The company's problems are believed to stem from the period when it was managed by Bermuda-based Stockholm Management.

Unhappy at its reinsurance cover, Bristol Re sacked Stockholm Management, in October, 1991, and replaced it with International Advisory Services (IAS), Bermuda's largest independent management group.

Bristol Re is projected to make a marginal profit for 1992 but cannot cope with continued losses from earlier years.

Mrs. Feldman said: "What's going on at Bristol Re is indicative of what's happening in London.

"Nobody realised the losses were going to be as big as they were and they have continued to deteriorate.'' She added: "At the moment, we're basically in limbo while we are reviewing our reserves and we're asking brokers and producers to bear with us while we conduct this review.'' Although the company is still solvent, Mrs. Feldman said that the payment of claims had been temporarily suspended "in order to reassess our position''.

In a letter to Bristol Re's clients, she said: "We apologise for the inconvenience this action will cause to many who have supported Bristol over the years but believe it is necessary in order to ensure that each one of our creditors is treated equally.

"We have set a deadline of November 15, 1993, to complete the assessment of Bristol's reserves.

"During this time, we expect to continue our circularisation of brokers in order to assess the accuracy of our major outstanding loss reserves, many of which were notified to Bristol some time ago and have seen no movement since.

"Once this exercise is completed, we will be in a position to more accurately assess Bristol's developed reserves and the financial position of the company.'' Mrs. Feldman said she expected the company to be in run-off for between seven and ten years.

Mrs. Feldman was the chief underwriter for Bristol Re and its only direct employee.

Seven IAS employees who worked on the Bristol Re account will remain in the employment of IAS.