Lancashire Holdings has confirmed that it made a number of redundancies in its London office due to its decision to shut down its property, facultative and onshore energy businesses.But there were no lay-offs in the Bermuda office, which Lancashire said continues to employ nearly 40 people, half of whom are Bermudian.Separately, and unrelated to the closure of the businesses, the company confirmed two veteran Bermudian re/insurance executives in the Hamilton office were stepping down.Lancashire Insurance Company Ltd CEO and chief operating officer Dan Soares along with group general counsel and company secretary Greg Lunn are both leaving the company for personal reasons.Mr Soares has been with Lancashire since 2006, having risen through the ranks in the Island’s re/insurance industry, serving in the role of reinsurance operations deputy manager at Montpelier Re as well as senior roles at Novus Management and Mutual Risk Management (see separate story).A Lancashire spokesman said: “Lancashire Insurance Company Ltd CEO Dan Soares, will be vacating his current role later this year and moving to a non-executive role as chairman on the LICL board of directors with effect from 28 February 2013. LICL’s next CEO will be appointed shortly and a further announcement will be made in due course.”Mr Soares told The Royal Gazette: “I can confirm for you that the Bermuda office remains a significant presence with 38 staff with half of those Bermudian, although soon to be one less next year when I move from my executive role as the Bermuda office CEO into a non-executive chairman’s role for the Bermuda Company.“I’m delighted to have been invited to remain on the board and as chairman continue to contribute to the success of the company. Over the past few years the Bermuda office has continued to develop into the primary reinsurance hub of the Group and plays a significant role within the Group’s long term strategy in this regard.”Bermudian Mr Lunn, who is now based in London, joined Lancashire in 2006, having previously worked for Ace in Bermuda where he was compliance counsel.Separately, Lancashire told us the company ceased writing property direct and facultative (D&F) insurance business due to “continued depressed pricing in that line of business”.“This unfortunately resulted in a number of redundancies in the Group’s operating subsidiary in London,” a Lancashire spokesman said. “LICL ceased underwriting D&F business in 2011. LICL remains the reinsurance arm of the Lancashire Group and currently employs 38 people in Bermuda.”The insurer, which moved its head office and tax base to Britain this year but remains registered in Bermuda, last week reported a 33 percent drop in quarterly profit, blaming bigger payouts related to the Costa Concordia disaster and a drop in investment returns.Still, Lancashire, which insures heavy-duty assets like oil rigs, ships and aircraft, said it made a pretax profit of $60.6 million in the second quarter. That was down from $91 million a year earlier. The combined ratio, which divides payouts by premium income came in at 60.7 percent during the quarter.