A new brokerage firm, North Atlantic Brokers Ltd., has set up on the Island and management is billing it as the only truly independent brokerage company in Bermuda.

North Atlantic Brokers is a joint venture between Giles North, who is president of the company and Atlantic Security Ltd., a Bermuda-based captive management and brokerage company.

?Over the years there has been quite a bit of consolidation in the brokerage business,? said Mr. North.

?Marsh has, through acquisition, reduced the field, as did Aon and there is a limited number of what we would view as independent brokerage services on the market.?

And he went on to explain that if insureds in the US do not have Aon or Marsh as their brokers, they do not have direct access to Bermuda companies.

?And they would be reluctant to place business with what is in effect a competitor,? he said.

?And I think it just gives more choice both to insureds and their US brokers.?

Mr. North is well-known in the brokering business and after more than two decades in Bermuda he has witnessed influx after influx of new companies starting with ACE Ltd. and XL Capital.

He started his Bermuda career with Marsh in 1981, but left to start up his own company, Triangle Brokerage in 1988.

Triangle was then sold on to Jardine Lloyd Thompson, but this was sold off in the 1990s in phases and Mr. North was tied by a golden handshake agreement which only saw him leave the company a year ago.

And under a non-compete clause, he took a year off before even thinking of looking for a new avenue for his brokering skills ? and was not sure at the time if this was going to be a permanent retirement or a sabbatical.

?I went skiing three times, sailed in the Caribbean and spent more time with my children and family,? he said. ?But I found that I couldn?t stay away.

?You make a lot of friends in this business, not only underwriters, but also clients, it is still a very personal business. And there is definitely a challenge aspect to the job which makes it interesting.?

So he was lured out of early retirement and into partnership with Atlantic Security and together they merged their names to come up with North Atlantic Brokers.

And they have big plans for the small brokerage firm, hoping to expand with another couple of brokers plus support staff during the year.

The business has already been dealing with one Fortune 500 company (they declined to name it) and are hopeful that more lucrative deals can be struck.

?We have had interest on the ground,? said Colin James, president and chief executive officer of Atlantic Security Ltd. ?And there are more on the way.

?We are confident about the direction of the company.?

And Mr. North said that as he has been in the business for a while, he has a good feel and idea about how the business will pan out.

?We are anticipating growth,? said Mr. North. ?But it does take time to grow the business. You can sometimes have between six months and nine months lay time between meeting with clients and getting the business. You have to be patient and persistent ? and ultimately you have to be able to provide a good service.?