chief financial officer, Mr. Michael Watson, will succeed company president and chief executive officer Mr. Ian Dean in the new year.

Mr. Watson joined Sphere Drake as CFO in January 1995.

He was formerly senior vice president and CFO of the international division of the Prudential Insurance Company of America.

Sphere Drake Holdings underwrites specialty lines of international property and casualty insurance and reinsurance through its operating subsidiaries, Sphere Drake Insurance (Bermuda) Ltd. and Sphere Drake Insurance Plc.

It was also announced that vice president and chief underwriting officer Mr.

Paul Philo, who joined Sphere Drake in 1976, will become executive vice president of the company as well as chairman of the group's two insurance companies. These appointments are subject to regulatory requirements.

"Mr. Dean resigns from the board and intends, for personal reasons, to live abroad,'' said Sphere Drake Holdings.

He led the management team which acquired the Sphere Drake Insurance Group in 1987.

This was followed by an initial public offering in 1993.

"Ian Dean has made a major contribution to the establishment and development of the group and we wish him well,'' said Sphere Drake Holdings chairman Mr.

Michael Stoddard.

"At the same time, we are delighted to welcome Michael Watson and Paul Philo to the board.

"Michael has spent this year familiarising himself with our operations and strengthening our organisations in the UK and Bermuda,'' he said.

Mr. Stoddard also said that: "Paul Philo has been a key member of our management group for a number of years and in his wider role will form, with Michael, a team focused on meeting the needs of the insurance market in the second half of the 1990s.'' The company's business consists of a wide range of marine and aviation and non-marine insurance and reinsurance risks worldwide, and alternative risk transfer business, with an emphasis on US-based clients.