Giant US conglomerate GE is starting to warm to the presence in its ranks of Employers Reinsurance Corporation (ERC), which GE Chairman Jeffrey Immelt was less than complimentary about last year after it took the insurance division to a $2 billion loss. But reports suggest the crisis has passed, with ERC now returning profits healthy enough to keep the GE bean-counters happy.

The longer-term future of the reinsurer within the GE fold remains problematic, because Mr Immelt doesn’t believe reinsurance fits the company’s business model.

ERC’s performance in the region will be discussed by Peter Nickerson, ERC’s man in Australia, in the upcoming issue of Insurance & Risk Professional.