Bermuda-based Arch Capital Group Ltd., which owns reinsurance and insurance companies, reported net income of $19.23 million for the second quarter.

During the same quarter last year, the company earned $8.4 million, although last week's release said comparing the two figures was meaningless because of new underwriting initiatives, related capital infusions and new reporting methods.

Arch Reinsurance, one of the company's subsidiaries, operates in Bermuda. The other holdings operate in the United States.

W.P. Stewart & Co., Ltd. has announced that Michael W. Stamm will join the company as the firm's general counsel, effective August 12 and will be responsible for legal matters covering all of the company's units worldwide.

William P. Stewart, chairman and CEO of W.P. Stewart & Co., Ltd., said: "We are delighted that Mike has decided to join the W.P. Stewart Group. Mike was our outside counsel for many years and has an in depth knowledge of our organisation. He played a decisive role in the development of our global organisation, and we will benefit greatly from his full-time presence."

Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Stamm was employed by HealthMarket Inc., an innovative and rapidly growing health care company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, were he served as vice president and general counsel for two and a half years.

During the ten-year period prior to his employment at HealthMarket, Mr. Stamm was a partner at the New York based law firms Kelley, Drye & Warren LLP and Anderson, Kill & Olick P.C. He attended Villanova University and obtained a law degree from Rutgers Law School.

XL Capital Ltd announced on Friday that it has agreed to sell 8,000,000 Series A preference ordinary shares pursuant to XL's currently effective shelf registration statement (plus up to an additional 1,200,000 preference shares issuable upon exercise of the underwriters' over allotment option).

The preference shares are being issued at an initial price to the public of $25.00 per share and will not be exchangeable for or convertible into ordinary shares of XL. The managing underwriters for XL's preference share offering are Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Salomon Smith Barney Inc., as joint book-runners.

The net proceeds from the sale of the preference shares will be used for general corporate purposes, including, without limitation, payment for any Liquid Yield Option(TM) Notes put to XL on September 7, 2002 by the holders thereof.