QBE is moving around some of interest and capacity in its Lloyd’s syndicates for the new underwriting year. Its British subsidiary, Limit, manages a number of Lloyd’s syndicates with a premium income for 2001 of about $1.8 billion.

CEO Frank O’Halloran has $2 billion in his sights for the new financial year. He said substantial increases in premiums and new opportunities have prompted QBE to increase its underwriting capacity in the specialist non-US liability underwriter syndicate 386. It will also provide additional capacity for other specialty-aligned syndicates.

This will be offset by a withdrawal of capacity for property and aviation syndicate 318, whose management rights are likely to be sold.

Mr O’Halloran said QBE will continue to look for opportunities to increase its interest in specialist syndicates that it manages. “Recent and continuing premium rate increases have given us an opportunity to rearrange our capacity and reduce exposure to certain sectors of the property and aviation markets.”