MARSH RESHUFFLES EXECS AS UK PROBE CONTINUES

AFOREIGN insurer said to have broken Philippine laws has removed the senior executive in charge of its aviation practice in the United Kingdom.

Marcel Chad, who was reportedly suspended by Marsh UK earlier this year after British regulators launched a probe of five firms for allegedly sharing confidential information, was replaced by Mark Cos- tin from the Marsh aerospace team.

Marsh, one of several insurance brokers being investigated by Financial Conduct Authority or FCA, is embroiled in a similar issue in the Philippines.

Lawyer Jose Antonio Bernas, who represents non- life insurer Prudential Guarantee and Assurance Inc., earlier this year claimed that the head of Marsh Singapore personally solicited business from carrier Cebu Air in behalf of Marsh UK, in the process breaking Philippine laws and also disclosing privileged information.

The Insurance Commission ( IC) in October said it was awaiting a formal complaint from PGA, which would allow the local regulator to start its own investigation.

Representatives from the IC and Prudential Guarantee were not immediately available for comment.

In several letters to the commission, Bernas claimed that Marsh UK – a former reinsurance broker for Prudential Guarantee — had directly solicited clients in the Philippines.

Cebu Air was reportedly offered a reinsurance package where Marsh

would assume all insurance risks through a “fronting insurer”, a matter Bernas claimed Marsh all but admitted in a let- ter to the IC where it said it was now able to compete against other local insurance firms.

Prudential Guarantee also asked the IC to consider revoking the license of Marsh’s Philippine unit but the commission said the matter should follow rules of procedure.