International Group (AIG) of Bermuda-based SELIC Holdings Ltd., the parent to Starr Excess Liability Insurance Co., Ltd.

Starr Excess Senior vice president, marketing, Clinton N. Greene, is no longer with the firm.

It is a signal that the company could be embarking on a new marketing direction especially after a period when Starr Excess' premiums contracted in a competitive and difficult market.

It also came as Bermuda's more high profile excess liability carriers, ACE Ltd. and EXEL Ltd. forged ahead with new relationships and new acquisitions, facilitating more diversified classes of business and top line growth.

This week, a press statement issued by Starr Excess to The Royal Gazette February 2, but dated January 30, said Mr. Greene "will retire effective February 1, 1998.'' Mr. Greene, 61, said from his Bermuda home yesterday that he and his wife would retire to Albany, New York to be closer to family. After a career spanning more than 40 years in the insurance industry, he has no immediate plans for any insurance ventures.

He said, "I don't expect to be involved in very much at all. I have a couple of children and grandchildren who live in the Albany area and I'm looking forward to that.'' Complete AIG control could also mean changes to Starr's small board of directors, perhaps to reflect the departure of individuals connected to the non-AIG entities that have now divested their holdings, and perhaps to reflect its new direction.

AIG said last week that they had bought some 76 percent of the equity of privately-held SELIC Holdings, Ltd. for an undisclosed sum from shareholders.

Shareholders included another significant insurer, General Re, which owned about ten percent of Starr. Financial institutions and a small number of private investors owned the remaining 66 percent.

Until that time, AIG had maintained its 23.9 percent founding stake of the company. Starr mainly operates out of AIG's Bermuda offices on Richmond Road.

Starr Excess president and CEO, Joseph C.H. Johnson, said, "We thank Clint for his contributions to the development of Starr's business and we extend our best wishes to him on his retirement.'' Mr. Greene was hired by Starr Excess in April 1996, after the retirement of Joe Wiedemann.

Most of his career has been with Aetna Life & Casualty and prior to joining Starr Excess, he had been president of American Excess Insurance Association (AEIA), an Aetna Group subsidiary.

Five months after he joined Starr Excess, cross town rival EXEL Ltd. bought the business of AEIA. AIG is the leading US-based international insurance organisation and among the largest underwriters of commercial and industrial insurance in the US.

Its member companies write property, casualty, marine, life and financial services insurance in approximately 130 countries and jurisdictions, and are engaged in a range of financial services businesses.

Joe Johnson