certificate of financial responsibility (COFR) scheme to determine if it can compete with Shipowners Insurance and Guaranty Company (SIGCo).

Skuld, which formed a new Bermuda-based company, Arvak Ltd., to administer the scheme, recently decided to defer approval of the plan. Club managers are expected to produce a new plan for Skuld directors by year end, Lloyd's List said.

Bermuda-based Stockton Reinsurance Company Ltd. recently set up SIGCo, also a Bermuda company.

"If Arvak is not competitive with SIGCo, we will have to think long and hard about whether we wish to proceed,'' Skuld managing director Havar Poulson said.