completion of its merger with NAC Re, it announced.

New board members Ronald Bornhuetter and Daniel McNamara were both directors of NAC Re Corp.

Chairman of the board Michael Esposito welcomed the addition.

XL president and CEO Brian O'Hara said: "Having grown extensively over the past year, the company will greatly benefit from their expertise and I look forward to working with them.'' Mr. Bornhuetter has been chairman of NAC Re since 1993 and chairman of the board of NAC Reinsurance Corporation -- the NAC Re property and casualty reinsurance operating company since 1990.

Mr. McNamara is counsel with the law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed.

GORHAM'S NAMES BERMUDIAN GM'S APP Gorham's names Bermudian GM's Gorham's has announced the appointment of two young Bermudians as assistant general managers.

Current general manager Rod Ferguson said Henry Durham and Andrew Mackay would both step into and share the "number two slot'' at the home supply store which employs 77 people.

Both men had attended retail programmes at Purdue University as well as being Dale Carnegie graduates, he said.

Mr. Durham joined the store in 1982 as a warehouse worker before working his way up to sales floor manager and then head of the service department and floor merchandising.

After working in Gorham's hardware warehouse as a part-time job, Mr. Mackay joined the store full-time in 1992 doing some merchandising and buying.

SOVEREIGN HIRES VP NDERWRITER APP Sovereign hires VP/underwriter Sovereign Risk Insurance, ACE and XL Capital's Bermuda-based political risk underwriting agency joint venture, has hired a senior underwriting officer.

The company has announced Christina Westholm-Schroder is set to become their new vice president and senior underwriting officer.

She joins Sovereign from the World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency -- which was set up to encourage private sector investment into developing nations -- where she worked since 1988.

Before this Ms Westholm-Schroder worked as a political risk insurance broker in the Bank of America's Global Trade Finance Department in New York and as a political risk manager at AB Max Matthiessen in Sweden.

Sovereign Risk president and CEO Price Lowenstein said his new vice president brought a tremendous amount of experience in political risk underwriting and international finance.

And she would be an integral part of Sovereign's effort to continue expansion of business in its third year of operations.

CATASTROPHES COST INSURERS $3.25B BUC Catastrophes cost insurers $3.25b US property and casualty insurers had losses estimated at $3.25 billion to homeowners and businesses for property damage from 13 catastrophic events in the second quarter, according to the Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO).

Last year damage from catastrophe claims was higher at $4.5 billion from 16 events in the second quarter.

The bulk of the losses in the 1999 second-quarter came from tornadoes and tropical storms in Oklahoma and 17 other states in early May. The storms caused an estimated $1.5 billion in insured property damage.

The ISO estimated losses at $5.1 billion on about 2.1 million claims due to 18 catastrophic events during the first half of 1999, $460 million less than the $5.5 billion in losses the same period last year.

The ISO defines a catastrophe as an event that causes $25 million or more in insured property losses.

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