A Dublin-based reinsurer, chaired by former Bank of Ireland head Maurice Keane, has paid dividends of $40 million (€32.32 million) to its parent group in Bermuda.
Axis Speciality Holdings Ltd, the Dublin division of Axis Capital, made pretax profits last year of $44.37 million, up from $24.82 million the previous year. No dividend was paid in 2003.
The parent group was set up in the weeks after September 11th, 2001, to capitalise on the surge in insurance premiums after the terror attacks on the US.
Its principal is John Charman, a former deputy chairman of Lloyds of London, who made his name during the 1991 Gulf War by making huge profits on war risk insurance.
The Dublin unit was established in early 2002 at Mount Herbert Court, a Victorian building on Upper Mount Street.
Accounts just filed in the Companies' Office state that the 10 directors of the Irish business, which employs 60, shared fees and other remuneration of $9.32 million last year. They shared $7 million in 2003. Axis Speciality Holdings Ireland Ltd is the holding company for two IFSC entities: Axis Re Ltd, which specialises in non-life reinsurance, and Axis Speciality Europe Ltd, which writes non-life insurance.
The consolidated accounts for Axis Speciality Holdings Ireland Ltd indicate that these companies wrote gross premiums last year of $660 million. With outward reinsurance premiums of $518.15 million, their net premiums were $141.92 million. They paid corporate taxes of $6.02 million last year, up from $3.3 million in 2003.
In the past year, the US holding company that owns the Bermuda parent has come under regulatory scrutiny in the wake of the investigations into the global insurance market led by New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer. However, a company spokeswoman said last night that it had not received any subpoenas in relation to the operations of the Irish unit.
Axis Capital said this week that an internal investigation had found no evidence of any improper practices and it would vigorously defend two class actions that have been taken against it.
"This investigation is complete and uncovered no evidence that we engaged in bid-rigging, fictitious or inflated quotes or related matters or conditioning direct insurance on the placement of reinsurance."
This statement followed quarterly results for Axis Capital, which showed that it made a net profit of $172.8 million in the three months to the end of June.
