NEW YORK TIMES RAISES HANNOVER RE LINK TO FINITE SCANDAL

Reinhard Elers, the driving force behind the creation of Hannover Re Advanced Solutions in Dublin in 1996, was in June 2000 appointed to the board of Barbados-domiciled Union Excess Reinsurance, reports the New York Times. Union Excess Re was established in 1993 by AIG, which conceded in its recent 10-K filing that its reinsurance deals with Union Excess did not entail real transfer of risk. Hannover Re Advanced Solutions was at the “cutting edge” of finite deals, although it is not claimed that Mr Elers was involved in any of the deals transacted between AIG and Union Excess. However, the New York Times notes that Mr Elers is the first link between the reinsurance problems at AIG and those at failed Australian insurer HIH. “According to Australian government documents, Elers played a significant role in one of that country’s largest financial scandals”, the NYT said.