Beleaguered Bermuda company Mutual Risk Management (MRM) is now the subject of a review by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA).

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 1, MRM advised of the company being put under BMA watch: "The company has entered in to an agreement with the BMA under which the authority has appointed a review team to monitor the company's business on an ongoing basis."

The filing also indicated that notice of this action, taken by the BMA's supervisor of insurance, Jeremy Cox, may have taken place in early March.

An officer in the Insurance division said the BMA felt it "prudent" to take action after MRM's financial situation showed increasing deterioration. He would not elaborate on what actions the BMA review team are taking.

The company has seen its value on the stock market - it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) until its delisting earlier this week - plummet to below a dollar after the announcement in February that it was reporting close to $100 million in fourth quarter losses. And this week MRM reported that loss had widened to a loss for 2001 of $99.2 million or nearly $113 million for the fourth quarter.

The company's Pennsylvania insurers were also put in to run off by state regulators in recent days and a string of rating agency downgrades has plagued the company in recent weeks, as its financial condition - despite a reported $2.6 billion in reinsurance recoverables on its books - has crumbled.

Meanwhile, the troubled company saw its market capitalisation drop by more than $20 million this week following the company being ousted from the NYSE.

Mutual Risk reportedly had 41.6 million shares outstanding, which were trading on Monday for 60 cents. On Tuesday the Exchange (NYSE) did not open trading in the company's common stock, and moved to delist the company's listing on Wednesday.

MRM subsequently moved to list its stock on the over-the-counter (OTC) bulletin board, where trading has moved between four and nine cents per share - leaving a market capitalisation of between $2 and $3 million.

The company's CEO Robert Mulderig, according to a filing with the SEC earlier this year indicated that he held more than one million MRM shares.

Those shares, within the last year would have been worth more than $12 million, would now be worth a little more than $100,000.

Mr. Mulderig's annual income, according to 2000 records, was about seven times that amount at $697,000.

The ultimate fate of the company could be its liquidation, according to the latest SEC filing.

The filing states: "We are currently in default under the agreements governing our debt facilities...Therefore, if these defaults are not waived or if our debt is not restructured, there is substantial doubt as to the company's ability to continue as a going concern."

The filing states further that shareholders would unlikely recoup any of their investment if the company were to pursue liquidation: "It is unlikely that any proceeds of the liquidation would remain after the claims of the general creditors were satisfied."

A clause in the SEC filing also indicates the adverse conditions facing MRM's US subsidiaries could affect the company's executive performance: "Defending against such actions may distract our directors and management from their duties, which may negatively affect our operations," the filing reads.