Industry reports this morning have chairman of AON Re, (Bermuda) Ltd. and Aon Risk Services (Bermuda) Ltd. Robin Spencer-Arscott leaving his post at the Bermuda AON office.

Some sources say he will be out of Aon altogether, while others expect that he may play an honorary role of some kind in the company.

A stalwart in the Bermuda insurance industry who has played a significant part in its development and Aon's presence here, the popular Mr. Spencer-Arscott was yesterday not available for comment.

But reliable industry sources have confirmed their knowledge of a split between him and one of the world's largest insurance/reinsurance brokers.

There was no confirmation at news time what the future holds for the 55-year-old career insurance man.

Hundreds in the insurance industry have been speculating for weeks about the local fall-out of two gigantic mergers in the global broker market, involving four companies that all have local operations.

Aon's $1.2-billion deal to swallow up Alexander & Alexander, was followed two months later in March by Marsh & McLennan's devouring of rival broker, Johnson & Higgins, for $1.8 billion.

It brought a degree of uncertainty in the market in general, and for the hundreds of workers in brokerage and captive offices across Hamilton. Yet industry insiders have been waiting patiently to hear what restructuring will be worked out for the emerging overall companies, and for the Bermuda operations.

A prevailing view is that how the new companies, like J&H Marsh McLennan Inc., proceed from here, will determine the degree of immediate success they can obtain with conflicting corporate cultures.

In fact, more so than Mr. Spencer-Arscott, industry insiders have wondered for weeks about the future of one of the largest figures in the Bermuda market, Brian Hall, a J&H director, who would have already benefited handsomely from his directorship of the global concern, including as a result of the merger.

And the local subsidiary, J&H (Bermuda), was by far the Island's largest captive manager with a Business Insurance survey last month listing them as being responsible for combined premium volume of $1.653 billion in 1996 through 193 captives, using 141 staff.

By contrast, Marsh & McLennan Management Services (Bermuda) Ltd. last year was responsible for half a billion dollars worth of premium through 97 captives, using 45 staff.

But Marsh & McLennan Global Broking (Bermuda) Ltd. (followed by J&H Global Broking) was the leader here in broking operations. A third company in the Island for the global broking powerhouse was Marsh & McLennan Risk Capital Holdings (Bermuda) Ltd.

One view was that broking operations of the merging companies would be concentrated in the "Marsh Mac'' offices at Craig Appin House on Wesley Street, while all of the captive management expertise would be joined at the Victoria Hall offices of J&H on Victoria Street.

Mr. Hall was chairman of Johnson & Higgins (Bermuda) Ltd. operations, comprising captive management and brokerage businesses. He's been in the insurance industry for nearly 40 years, and worked with J&H for more than a quarter of a century. He had been on the J&H board for eight years until this year's buy-out.

He has also chaired, for a number of years, government's influential Insurance Advisory Committee (IAC). Both he and Mr. Robin Spencer-Arscott, also a member of the IAC, have worked for many years on behalf of the Island and Bermuda's insurance industry.

It would be a surprise for either to leave their respective companies altogether, as one knowledgeable insurance observer noted, because each of them bring many intangibles to the table.

Apart from the general expertise, their Bermuda market experience and their political savvy of the local scene should be more than any international company could resist.

"Why wouldn't you keep titular chairman who are Bermudians, well connected, and who could really smooth things over,'' the observer commented. Mr. Hall is one of the driving forces behind the Bermuda Foundation for Insurance Studies, both in helping to raise money for the significant fund that is paving the way for an endless number of future Bermudians to earn scholarship money for top level training in insurance, and, by putting his money where his mouth is by making personal monetary contributions to that fund.

When contacted yesterday, Mr. Hall had little to say about his future. He said transition reports were requested, and have been delivered, which details how business was done at J&H (Bermuda).

He was heading for New York yesterday for meetings, although he would not say if the meetings dealt with his future or any other company changes.

He did confirm that recent departures from J&H Bermuda through normal attrition has led to an unofficial moratorium on replacements. The same thing is happening at Marsh & McLennan.

Marsh Mac president in Bermuda Andrew Carr, who is also on the IAC, said that several weeks had been spent exploring and understanding each companies business, while decisions for the future had not yet been made.

"Those decisions have not been made and they may not be for a while. These are large organisations that operate internationally. It takes time to learn about each other, to decide what's the right thing to do in the future and then to set those wheels in motion. It just doesn't happen very quickly.'' Mr. Carr agreed that mergers of this size generally led to speculation, and said he had tried to advise staff against such speculation, but to "keep their head down and get on with their work. We are all busy people and I'm sure we will be as busy in the future.

"It is too early to imagine what might happen. We are still in the exploratory stage.'' UNCERTAIN FUTURES -- Robin Spencer-Arscott (left) and Brian Hall.