Cooke Brown Holdings resigned yesterday.

The shock news that company founder Nicholas Mark Cooke was to stand down came after several months of poor press, including at least one law suit filed by liquidators of an insolvent insurance company.

It has been claimed that those liquidators want $2.5 million for reinsurance premiums for business that a subsidiary of Stirling Cooke, allegedly failed to reinsure with the insurer after agreeing it would.

That case is unrelated to several others which kicked off in the UK last year over business brokered and underwritten by Stirling Cooke.

Previous auditor KPMG Peat Marwick resigned in April.

And rumours also circulated that major shareholder in the company Goldman Sachs, which owns around a quarter of Stirling Cooke, met with the company's senior management in April to discuss the "company's plight''.

Also that same month Bermuda-based director Warren Cabral resigned suddenly from the company -- but a spokesman from Stirling Cooke insisted to The Royal Gazette at the time there was "no news behind the resignation''.

Yesterday the company announced its "new management structure''.

It said the board of directors was "pleased that Mr. Cooke will retain his position as non-executive chairman of the board and that he will continue to provide leadership in the areas of client development and marketing.'' The board has created a new management structure and hired recruiters Heidrick & Struggles to find a new CEO.

In the mean time chief of US operations Len Quick will act as chief operating officer and interim CEO. He has also been elected to the board.

On stepping down Mr. Cooke said:"This new role will afford me the opportunity to concentrate on maintaining client relationships. I believe my decision is in the best interest of the long term goals of the company.'' Interim CEO Mr. Quick said the board's decision to create a new management structure would centralise decision making.

"And the addition of a new CEO will further strengthen our management depth and experience. These decisions were made with the objectives of enhancing client relationships and increasing shareholder value.''