Willis Reinsurance Arm Aligns Resources

Willis Re, a leading reinsurance advisor and part of Willis Group Holdings (NYSE: WSH), the global insurance broker, announced today that it has merged its teams handling Continental European and UK-based property and casualty business into an expanded European unit and is establishing a new Specialty Casualty Practice Group.

The creation of Willis Re Europe brings together the reinsurance broker’s UK and Continental Europe business under Willis Re International & Specialty, capitalizing on synergies of expertise and knowledge across a deep talent pool of highly-skilled individuals to deliver the increasingly complex client array of services that Willis Re brings to its pan-European clients. London-based Managing Director Tony Melia has been appointed head of the unified European team. Concurrent with this, Colin Kiddie will take on overall leadership of Willis Re’s Specialty business, which comprises its Non-Marine, Marine and Aviation capabilities.

Commenting on the expansion of Willis Re’s European capability, CEO of Willis Re International & Specialty Jason Howard said, "With the advent of Solvency II, EU insurers and reinsurers are looking for enlightened advice from their brokers to help them navigate new capital adequacy requirements. Our unified approach to the European trading environment will enable Willis Re’s clients to grow and prosper through this challenging time.”

Willis Re has also created a Specialty Casualty Practice Group that will operate on a global basis. Led by David Thomas, who has also been appointed to run all UK- based North American operations, this new group brings together a number of classes of reinsurance business that demand unique expertise, including: Professional Indemnity (excluding Healthcare), Directors & Officers, Public Entity, and Environmental Liability.

Explaining the rationale behind the formation of the new practice group, Peter Hearn, CEO of Willis Re said, "Specialty Casualty exposures are increasingly global and interconnected. We are leveraging the collaborative strength of Willis Re to form an international team that will help our clients to grow their business by drawing on detailed product knowledge, advanced risk transfer capabilities, and sophisticated financial and analytical skills.”

About Willis Re

One of the world's leading reinsurance brokers, Willis Re is known for its world-class, Analytics capabilities, which it combines with its Capital Markets and Reinsurance expertise in a seamless, integrated offering that helps clients increase the value of their businesses. Willis Re serves the risk management and risk transfer needs of a diverse, global client base that includes all of the world's top insurance and reinsurance carriers as well as national catastrophe schemes in many countries around the world. The broker's global team of experts offers services and advice that help clients make better reinsurance decisions, access worldwide capital markets and negotiate optimum terms. For more information, visit www.WillisRe.com.

About Willis

Willis Group Holdings plc is a leading global insurance broker. Through its subsidiaries, Willis develops and delivers professional insurance, reinsurance, risk management, financial and human resource consulting and actuarial services to corporations, public entities and institutions around the world. Willis has more than 400 offices in nearly 120 countries, with a global team of approximately 17,000 employees serving clients in virtually every part of the world. Additional information on Willis may be found at www.willis.com.