Beleaguered Bermuda insurance and financial services company Mutual Risk Management reported in a US regulatory filing this month that its 2001 losses had widened by more than $10 million to nearly $110 million.

In April, the company - which has almost come to a standstill after its disastrous results - reported that its 2001 net loss stood at $99.2 million, but its form 10-K filed this month with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) states the loss as now standing at $109.2 million for the year.

In addition its fourth quarter loss was restated, in the filing on 8 November, 2002, as $122.7 million, in comparison to the $113 million net loss reported in April.

The magnitude of the company's losses sent MRM into a near death spiral. Over the course of the year the company's 2001 losses put it in default of certain credit agreements, its shares were delisted after ten years on the New York Stock Exchange, executives and directors resigned, state insurance regulators took over its US insurance units, and numerous legal actions were launched by unhappy clients and there were multiple class action lawsuits by disgruntled investors.

Ultimately, real questions arose as to the company's ability to continue.

In a November interview with The Royal Gazette newly appointed company head, David Ezekiel - who replaced CEO Robert Mulderig when he retired along with the company's board of directors after difficulty in securing D&O liability coverage at a reasonable price - said MRM was now "effectively in a box". Mr. Ezekiel said however that the company's future could be brighter if there was a "positive" outcome to its negotiations with state regulators in control of its US companies, Legion and Villanova.

The company maintained that its American units were solvent and that its financial woes could be solved if disagreements with reinsurers over recoverables were settled. There have been petitions by state insurance regulators to liquidate the companies, actions that have been fought by MRM.

But this month's filing did not mince words over MRM's future, stating that the company's "conditions and events" raised "substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern."

The company has however, since May, been seeking to restructure its service units into a separate company - IAS Park - as these companies have continued to perform well.

The restructuring would satisfy MRM creditors and make senior debt holders significant stakeholders in the new company. Mr. Ezekiel this week said the scheme of arrangement was to be filed in the Bermuda court shortly.

A vote by creditors, on whether or not to approve the scheme, is expected early in the New Year.

Meanwhile, the SEC filing noted that top MRM executives received handsome pay and benefits for the 2001 year.

Then CEO Robert Mulderig was compensated with a salary of $552,985 - up from $537,985 the previous year. President John Kessock, who quit the company early in the year, received $545,000.

Executive vice-president Richard Turner was given a salary of $338,000 in 2001 while CFO Andrew Cook, who moved to new company AXIS at the end of 2001, was paid $268,480.