for reinsurance ventures in Bermuda such as ACE, EXEL and Mid Ocean, has been named chairman and chief executive officer of Marsh & McLennan Risk Capital.

Mr. Brian O'Hara, president and chief operating officer of XL Insurance, said Mr. Clements "has so much enjoyed creating ACE, EXEL and Mid Ocean that he wanted to make a full time job of looking after the interests of those companies, and looking at what the next one might be,'' he said.

Marsh & McLennan Risk Capital is a wholly owned subsidiary of New York-based Marsh & McLennan Companies -- the world's biggest insurance broker and insurance services group.

Described as "a creative, intelligent, intense, and yet soft-spoken man,'' Mr. Clements, 61, is regarded as one of the most innovative thinkers in the international insurance industry.

Mr. Clements was instrumental in the establishment of ACE, EXEL and Mid Ocean.

"Necessity is the mother of invention and back in 1985, the casualty insurance market tightened, resulting in little capital for corporate risks.

"As Marsh & McLennan is the largest broker to corporations, there was a pressing problem. Bob found the way to solve it,'' said Mr. O'Hara.

Mr. Clements joined Marsh in 1959, and has for many years headed the group's worldwide insurance brokering operations.

He has been president of the parent company since 1992, a position he will now relinquish.

Marsh McLennan Risk Capital was formed in 1992 to manage and develop Marsh & McLennan's insurance market-making activities.

Mr. Clements says it will invest in start-up operations in the industry and make "friendly investments in existing insurance and reinsurance ventures where it believes it can increase shareholder value.'' ACE, EXEL, and Mid Ocean are public companies, and today have a total market value of $4.8 billion. Marsh & McLennan Risk Capital is a major shareholder in each.

Mr. Clements is a director of EXEL and Mid Ocean Reinsurance.